GOSLAR.- In 2025, the Mönchehaus Museum Goslar marks the 50th anniversary of the Kaiserring, one of Europe’s most prestigious contemporary art awards. This year’s recipient is Katharina Fritsch, honored for her influential sculptural practice. The Kaiserring Scholarship is awarded to Evan Ifekoya, whose sound-based work engages themes of spirituality, healing, and collective memory. At the same time, the institution welcomes Miriam Bettin as its new director, opening a new chapter in its history.

Katharina Fritsch to receive the 2025 Kaiserring

The 2025 Kaiserring of the City of Goslar will be awarded to renowned sculptor Katharina Fritsch, in recognition of her lasting impact on contemporary sculpture. Known for her figurative forms and striking use of monochrome color, Fritsch’s work operates in a space between familiarity and alienation. “The character of her works – their chosen scale, apparent simplicity, and painterly quality–gives them a powerful aura that is both immediate and highly complex. (...) This ambivalence is part of the tension that defines her work,” the jury states.

The award ceremony will take place on October 11 at the Imperial Palace (Kaiserpfalz) in Goslar. The accompanying exhibition is curated by Bettina Ruhrberg, who is concluding her long-standing tenure as director.

Katharina Fritsch (b. 1956 in Essen, Germany, works in Düsseldorf and Wuppertal) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and held professorships in Düsseldorf and Münster. Her work has been shown at leading institutions including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Venice Biennale, where she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2022. Additional honors include the Wolfgang Hahn Prize (2008) and the Käthe Kollwitz Prize (1998).

Evan Ifekoya awarded 2025 Kaiserring Scholarship

The Kaiserring Scholarship 2025 goes to Evan Ifekoya, whose solo exhibition The Archive Is An Altar opens on October 4, one week ahead of the Kaiserring ceremony. Curated by Miriam Bettin, it marks her first project as museum director.

The jury recognizes Ifekoya’s “compelling, cross-media, and research-driven practice,” which uses sound and spatial installation to explore identity, healing, and ancestral knowledge.

The exhibition centers on MODUPE (2025), a new film dedicated to Amelia Pedroso—a Yemayá priestess and pioneering Bàtá musician from Cuba. Alongside this, Ifekoya presents a living archive that invites reflection and communal engagement.

MODUPE was made possible through support from the BFI Doc Society Fund and The Elephant Trust.

Since 1984, the Kaiserring Scholarship has supported emerging artists with a solo exhibition, publication, and acquisition for the museum’s collection. It is funded by the AKB Foundation in Einbeck.

Evan Ifekoya (b. 1988 in Iperu, Nigeria; works in London) is a Spirit-led artist and embodiment practitioner exploring ancestry, belief, and belonging through practices of self-archiving and Blackness in abundance. Their immersive installations aim to foster spaces of liberation, refuge, and connection. Recent presentations include the Barbican in London, the 60th Venice Biennale, the 2024 Lagos Biennial, and Migros Museum in Zurich. Ifekoya co-founded the QTIBPOC-led collective Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.) in 2018 and has received numerous awards, including the Paul Hamlyn Bursary (2021).

New leadership: Miriam Bettin appointed Director

From September 2025, Miriam Bettin will lead the Mönchehaus Museum as its new director. A curator and writer based in Cologne, Bettin brings a strong focus on queer-feminist and decolonial perspectives. Her first annual program will launch in spring 2026.

Reflecting on her new role, Bettin states: “The Mönchehaus Museum uniquely connects the renowned Kaiserring award with contemporary discourse, set within a medieval urban landscape. I want to develop it as an open platform for artistic experimentation and democratic education—one that resonates both locally and internationally.”

Her recent curatorial projects include Grow It, Show It! at Museum Folkwang in Essen and Bricks and Grids, a duo show at 193 Gallery during the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2022, she received a curatorial fellowship from the G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria. Bettin previously held roles at Kölnischer Kunstverein and Kunstverein Braunschweig, and studied in Frankfurt/Main and Kassel.