The 2026 Volker Hinniger Prize has been awarded to AdBK graduate Silja Beck. The prize is worth €3,000 and is awarded every three years.

Silja Beck, born in 1996 in Wasserburg am Inn, studied Fine Art and Art Education under Prof. Michael Munding, as well as Interactive Media and Dynamic Research in Prof. Jan St. Werner’s class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. In 2025, she completed her Master’s degree in Fine Art at the Royal Institute of Arts in Stockholm. Since 2019, she has also been working as a workshop leader, including in Berlin, at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, and at the Bergen Architecture School in Norway. Beck lives and works in Nuremberg and exhibits her work both nationally and internationally.

At the heart of her artistic practice lie social issues, which she brings to life through interactive and performative approaches. Her works combine technical elements with artistic forms of expression and actively engage the audience. In doing so, the boundaries between viewer and artwork become blurred: viewers themselves become participants. Her installations are often created in public spaces and are deliberately accessible and open to a wide audience.
Another characteristic of Beck’s work is her versatile use of materials. Alongside traditional materials such as ceramics and paper, she integrates everyday objects such as radios or vehicles into her installations. Her art is strongly site-specific, responding sensitively to existing environments and blending into them.

Interactive approach
“The decisive factor in the jury’s decision was Silja Beck’s performative and interactive approach, in which she continually rethinks her art. After the initial observation, the viewers themselves become participants in the artwork,” explains Ulrike Siebenhaar regarding the jury’s decision.
By awarding the prize to Silja Beck, the 2026 Volker Hinniger Prize honours an artist who addresses current social issues, integrates them into existing structures and, in an impressive manner, opens up new approaches to contemporary art in public spaces.

The Volker Hinniger Prize was established in 1990 by Gretel Hinniger in memory of her son, the artist Volker Hinniger, who died in an accident in 1988. The aim of the award is to promote young visual artists.