18. Oktober 2016
Praemium Imperiale 2016

Speech Award Ceremony

Your Imperial Highnesses,
Excellencies and distinguished guests,
 
As every year it is a great honour for me to take part once again in this prestigious event here in Tokyo.
 
The fundamental notion behind the Praemium Imperiale is the conviction that art, the transnational awareness of artistic creation, can contribute to peace and help people to live harmoniously together. As President of the Goethe-Institut I must in this context quote the man whose name we have adopted for our own organisation, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Perhaps we will soon come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as patriotic art or patriotic science. As with all good things, both belong to the whole world and can only be furthered by general, free interaction between all those who live at the same time, constantly taking heed of what we still possess and know of the past." Goethe pleaded for openness to and curiosity about the world, for the appreciation of diversity and the equal value of others, for understanding and reconciliation by encounter and exchange. Cultural exchange is particularly sustainable here. After all, art is not a playground for artists and intellectuals, but an essential part of a society. And this applies to a very special degree with respect to this year’s five prize-winners: Cindy Sherman, Annette Messager, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Gidon Kremer and Martin Scorsese.  They are all concerned with social phenomena, with society’s grievances and highly topical challenges: In their creative work they focus on themes such as women’s rights (Sherman and Messager), social housing (Mendes da Rocha), social inequality and brutal violence (Scorsese) or social inclusion through music (Kremer’s commitment to the promotion of youth). At the same time they all operate on the highest artistic level. 
 
And so the Praemium Imperiale once again brings together outstanding personalities from different disciplines who, with their imaginative power and creativity, with their excellent artistic works, stimulate and inspire the world to reflect - and who have the power by this means to change the world.  Gidon Kremer said in September when the prize-winners were announced in Berlin: "As people - all of us, whether artists, musicians or composers, come and go. But our art remains for ever for the generations to come." This statement is in complete accord with the values for which the Praemium Imperiale stands.

I wish to offer the five prize-winners my heartfelt congratulations. My congratulations also to this year’s winner of the Grant for Young Artists, the Five Art Center in Malaysia.
 
And finally I wish to express my gratitude to Your Imperial Highnesses and to the Japan Art Association, dear Mr Hieda, for making this extraordinarily important award possible every year. In doing this you show recognition to the most remarkable artists and cultural workers of our time and strengthen them in their highly significant cultural endeavours.
 
Thank you.
 
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.