For the first time, Künstlerhof Frohnau and Kunstamt Reinickendorf are awarding the Dieter Ruckhaberle Award, to the artist Luiza Prado. The award commemorates the life and work of the artist, curator, and cultural leader Dieter Ruckhaberle. The prize includes a two-month residency at the Künstlerhof Frohnau, a production budget of 2,000 euros for artistic work, as well as a solo exhibition in an exhibition space in the Reinickendorf district or a comparable public presentation.

This year’s recipient of the Dieter Ruckhaberle Award is Luiza Prado. Born in Brazil in 1985, the interdisciplinary artist works with various media such as photography, performance, text, installation, and video. In 2012, she earned her Master of Arts degree at the University of the Arts in Bremen, and in 2017, she completed her doctorate at the University of the Arts in Berlin. In her work, Prado explores the extent to which different birth control techniques influence the hierarchies of gender, ethnicity, social class, and national belonging shaped by colonial history. Her project, *The Councils of the Pluriversal*, which she will focus on during her residency at Künstlerhof Frohnau, examines the historical connections between the control of women’s bodies in matters of childbirth and the ongoing restriction of the mobility of non-European bodies.

From the jury’s statement: “Luiza Prado’s artistic practice impressed the jury with its playful and performative power, through which she finds forms to crystallize contemporary discourses on decolonization and scientific critique. Her work brings together scientific research, artistic and design-based experimental forms, and communicative-ritual practices in a surprising interplay that opens poetic spaces for images and resonances on pressing societal issues.”

Luiza Prado will begin her residency in September 2019. The results will subsequently be presented during the Transmediale and at a public forum in Berlin Reinickendorf.

The prize is awarded by a jury composed of:
Antonia Alampi (Curator and Artistic Co-Director of Savvy Contemporary)
Kaya Behkalam (Artist, Curator, Künstlerhof Frohnau)
Dr. Cornelia Gerner (Director Kunstamt Reinickendorf)
Gabriele Horn (Director of the Berlin Biennale)
Heike Ruschmeyer (Artist and Curator of the Ruckhaberle Estate).