About a decade ago, Deutsche Bank initiated the Artist of the Year program. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary it is now for the first time awarding three artists at the same time: Maxwell Alexandre, Conny Maier, and Zhang Xu Zhan. What all three have in common is that they came to contemporary art via unusual paths and bring very specific life experiences and cultural influences with them. Maxwell Alexandre was born in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela, where he still lives today. The paintings and installations of the artist of African descent revolve around community and violence, hip-hop and spirituality. Conny Maier lives and works in Berlin and Portugal and is one of the most important discoveries in the current German painting scene. Maier’s art reflects a world shaped by representation and materialism, in which people seem to lose control. Zhang Xu Zhan was born in 1988 into a family that has been making and trading in traditional paper figurines for over a century. His stop-motion films, staged in immersive installations, take us into the realm of nature spirits and demons. With translations of the text about the work of Maxwell Alexandre in Brazilian Portuguese, with translation of the text about the work of Conny Maier in German and with a translation of the text about the work of Zhang Xu Zhan in Chinese. Text in English, Portuguese, Chinese and German.

The transition from the analogue to the digital age has radically changed our present. The global flow of data shapes social systems, but the circulation and processing of data does not seem to be linked to the reality of our lives. As Deutsche Bank's 'Artist of the Year', young Lebanese artist Caline Aoun (*1983) reveals how data manifests itself materially and how inseparable the real and the virtual world have become. For her, the permanent flood of images and data resembles 'noise' that dominates our lives. Instead of further intensifying this media noise, she lends it a material dimension in order to create new experiences, forms of silence, and empty spaces, and to show otherwise scarcely tangible connections. Text in English and German.