11 September 2025

The Young Generation Art Award

The Young Generation Art Award. An initiative by Degussa in cooperation with Monopol.

The Young Generation Art Award is a new international art prize that we have launched together with Monopol, the magazine for art and life. It is aimed at emerging artists at the beginning of their careers. Its purpose is to support promising artists on their path into the art world and to promote talent. From a shortlist of five international artists, an expert jury selects the prize winner. The prize money amounts to €10,000. In addition, the winner receives a one-year travelling exhibition presented at several international locations.

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The artists

THUY TIEN NGUYEN

Born in 1993 in Hanoi, Vietnam, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema in 2015 and completed her studies as a master student at the Städelschule – Hochschule für Bildende Künste in 2024. She lives in Frankfurt am Main and Hanoi.
Thuy Tien Nguyen is one of the five shortlisted artists. In her work, she combines personal and collective memories with experimental materials. She has created, for example, a sugar sculpture inspired by childhood memories in Vietnam and a folding screen that raises questions about safety and values. With a fine sensitivity for how memories can be expressed through material, her works tell of discipline, tradition, transformation and remembrance.

Photo credit portrait: Wolfgang Stahr
Photo credit artworks: Nikolaus Steglich

BORIS SACCONE

Born in 1991 in Schongau, he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he was a master student in the class of Gregor Hildebrandt from 2021 to 2023. He lives in Munich.
Boris Saccone is one of the five shortlisted artists. His painting draws on the spiritual intensity and allegorical expressive power of the Old Masters and translates it into a contemporary visual language through comic-like abstraction. His brushwork is as bold as that of the Brücke artists, while his colours have recently become more pastel-toned and faded. Rather than unfolding in the virtual realm, his experimental approach takes place in the physical: he expands his paintings into the three-dimensional space with sculptures or creates free-standing, altar-like triptychs. “I was looking for something that would completely fill me, that would consume me. With art, I found it.”

Photo credit portrait: Julia Rotter
Photo credit artworks: Nikolaus Steglich

HANGYOL KIM

Born in 1991 in Seoul, South Korea, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Art & Design from Korea University in 2016. Since 2018, she has studied fine art at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe. She was a master student in the class of Sophie von Hellermann and lives in Karlsruhe.

HanGyol Kim is one of the five shortlisted artists. She intuitively incorporates personal experiences and interests into her art. After studying art and design in Korea, she moved to Germany, where she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe in 2023. Her works, characterised by vibrant colours and a successful balance between lightness and depth, draw on scenes from her everyday life and transform them into poetic, illusionary visual worlds.

Photo credit portrait: Daniel Schreiber
Photo credit artworks: Nikolaus Steglich

ALLISTAIR WALTER

Born in 1994 in Berlin, he studied at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig from 2016 to 2020 and at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin from 2020 to 2024. He lives in Berlin.
Allistair Walter is one of the five shortlisted artists. He experimentally combines painting with photographic imagery or synthetic resin. “The vulnerability of youth runs through the work, a nostalgic undertone, and at the same time a great strength – in the bold, fearless use of colour, in the motifs, which are not always delicate and fleeting but sometimes hit like a strong beat,” says Elke Buhr, editor-in-chief of Monopol.

Photo credit portrait: Oliver Mark
Photo credit artworks: Nikolaus Steglich

LARA KOCH

Born in 1993 in Munich, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Munich University of Applied Sciences in 2019. In spring 2024, she completed her studies in the class of Gregor Hildebrandt at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. She lives in Berlin. Lara Koch is one of the five shortlisted artists. In her art, human and non-human actors appear on equal footing. Ships and water, movement, creation and metamorphosis are central aspects of her artistic practice. Her works tell stories of departure and transformation, shaped by a particular sensitivity to materials.
With elements such as a third boat, archaeological body forms or kinetic installations, Koch creates arrangements that uniquely combine physics and spirituality, mechanics and intuition.

The jury

Jurors: Elke Buhr, Maya Heckelmann, Yilmaz Dziewior.

© Photo credit: Wolfgang Stahr, Michaela Rehle, Falko Alexander.

Short biographies of the jurors:

Elke Buhr, born in 1971 in Bochum, is an author and art critic. Since 2016, she has been editor-in-chief of Monopol, the magazine for art and life.
Maya Heckelmann, born in 1972 in Munich, is an art historian and curator. Since 2010, she has been director of Künstlerhaus Marktoberdorf, a museum for contemporary art. Since 2023, she has been responsible for art and cultural sponsorship at Degussa.
Yilmaz Dziewior, born in 1964 in Bonn, is an art historian and curator for contemporary art. Since 2015, he has been director of Museum Ludwig in Cologne.