Every two years, the city of Offenbach awards the Rudo Spemann Prize on behalf of the Klingspor Spemann Foundation. With this prize, the city of Offenbach am Main commemorates the lettering artist Rudo Spemann, who died as a prisoner of war in 1947 and whose artistic estate was donated to the Klingspor Museum by his family. Three works were honored at the award ceremony on July 14, 2023 at the Klingspor Museum. The award-winning works and 9 other works selected from the entries are on display until October 29 in the exhibition "Achtung enthält Leben. Notebook, Bullet Journal, Diary" until 29 October.
The Rudo Spemann Prize honors students and trainees who are undergoing artistic or design training and is awarded for a written artistic work. "How do I organize myself, what keeps me busy, what do I need, how can I document or solve problems? Today, we have a wide range of digital tools at our disposal that focus more on functionality. With the Klingspor Museum, we have a museum in our city that not only preserves the art of writing, but also transforms it. The brief for this year's Rudo Spemann Prize took this into account, as the aim was to depict life themes or strategies that could be brought to bear in a diary or notebook. I am delighted that so many young artists have taken up the challenge," says Lord Mayor and Head of Cultural Affairs Dr. Felix Schwenke. The jury selected this year's three winners from 64 entries. Catherine Sanke (HGB Leipzig) and Laura Walker (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) share the first prize of EUR 1,000 each, while the third prize of EUR 500 goes to Lola Mais (Rhein Main University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden).
1st prize
Catherine Sanke: CIAO
Catherine Sanke's book is characterized by its small-scale, well-organized handwriting, which, in combination with small photos and collages, forms a sophisticated document of the culture of remembrance. Long lists, crossed out after processing, notes of everyday observations, feelings, things and people's names form a fine network of everyday structures. "By writing all these things down, I am able to retrace my thoughts years later and bring forgotten things back into my consciousness."
1st prize
Laura Walker: MEMO KIT
The submitted MEMO KIT is a miniature world made of pink paper, pencils, an eraser and a small ruler. In tiny handwriting, Laura Walker jots down memories, thoughts, drawings, to-do lists and shopping lists that no one uses for shopping. Because "as the mother of a baby, it's hard to remember anything at all. Diaries and notebooks require discipline and perseverance. The MEMO KIT allows you to get bogged down" and impressively depicts a phase of life in which the person writing does not play the main role.
3rd prize
Lola Mais: A love letter to the notebook
Lola Mais' work is a theory on the notebook as a medium. The concept deals in handwriting with what a notebook can be, what functions it takes on and how one can think about it. "Notebooks are fascinating works. Unwritten, completely inconspicuous, open to everything and far-sighted. Only through handwriting do they become valuable objects that give us the freedom to think, spin and dream."
Offenbach am Main, July 24, 2023