TALLINN.- Initiated by artist George Steinmann in 2014, “Prix Art and Ethics” is a sculpture in the form of a € 20,000 art prize, since its inception the prize has been awarded four times. This year for its recipient was Tallinn Art Hall (Estonia) for its commitment as a visionary cultural bridge builder in Estonia.

The prize was awarded to Tallinn Art Hall Director Paul Aguraiuja on 16th November 2024 at a public ceremony at Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland where George Steinman recently exhibited Back to the Future / George Steinmann, Lofty Dryness. A growing Sculpture, 2003–2024.

The Tallinn Art Hall, built in 1934, is an important institution/place for Estonian art and culture. The building on Freedom Square in the city of Tallinn is a listed building.

Due to severe damage to the foundations, caused among other things by the bombing of Tallinn by the Soviet Union in 1944, the building has to be extensively renovated again. Tallinn Art Hall’s exhibition operations were relocated to a temporary site until the end of 2026, while construction works take place. The location is in Lasnamäe, a district with substantial socio-cultural tensions, bringing into focus the isolation of communities such as the Russian-speaking one in Lasnamäe.

In this context, the relocation of the historic Art Hall to the district Lasnamäe is a courageous project, a symbolic bridge-building of dialogue between districts and the estonian-and russian speaking population.

George Steinman has a deep connection to the institution through his work “Ruumi naasmine” / "The Revival of Space" (1992-95), when the artist was involved in the renovation of Tallinn Art Hall as sustainable, growing sculpture.

The work “Prix Art and Ethics” demonstrates solidarity with the Tallinn Art Hall in a fragile geopolitical environment. George Steinmann’s growing sculpture is a commitment to practices that operate against linear timelines, includes collaboration and mindfulness and is maintaining the concept of sustainability through cultural participation.

The term “Growing Sculpture” has developed organically over the years of my artistic practice. Growing sculptures are about cyclical processes, change and development. They are inquiring, contain vagueness and cannot be fully planned in advance.

Growth does not mean the linear-quantitative progress, the “faster, higher, further, more” of industrial modernity. It is rather growing beyond accumulating.

Growing Sculptures are always in flux. Something grows, transforms, but also dies at the same time. This position includes an awareness of “being in transit” and refers to a different understanding of the culture of time. I like to imagine an art that is guided by the cycles and rhythms of nature.

Growing Sculptures are always a laboratory of communication. This indicates, that my work is not simply a manifestation of personal creation, but also is based on networking, transdisciplinary processes. This commitment is not a lack of artistic potential, but rather more reflecting the deeper dimensions of collaboration as a mindful practice.

Growing Sculptures have another culture of respect. They include questions beyond the anthropocentric worldview and include subtle dimensions of perception.