Edwin van der Heide wins Art+Technology Award 2009

The winner of the 2009 Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award is sound artist/composer Edwin van der Heide.

An independent jury nominated him for the strength of his unique position within the new media and the visual arts. His innovative constructions incisively interconnect contemporary music, visual arts and architecture.

The artist
Van der Heide was born in Hilversum in 1970. He studied music technology at the Utrecht School of the Arts (1988). One year later he switched to studying sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where he graduated in 1992. Since then he has produced a closely knit oeuvre. Van der Heide makes installations centring on sound-time-space parameters, composing with sound and with spatial experiences.

The Work
The installations are regularly exhibited in the Netherlands and other countries. In 2009 Van der Heide has exhibited amongst others in Germany (Klangstaetten in Braunschweig and Singuhr-Sound Art Gallery in Berlin), Poland (Musica Genera Festival in Warsaw), Spain (Tabakalera in San Sebastian) and the United States (Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh). Examples of permanent installations in the Netherlands are the ‘Water Pavilion’ (1997-2002) on Neeltje Jans Island and the Son-O-House in the town of Son en Breughel, produced in cooperation with architect Lars Spuybroek.

Award presentation on 12 November 2009
The Art+Technology Award will be presented at the Bergkerk church in Deventer, the Netherlands, on 12 November 2009 (16:30 hrs). The presentation will be followed by the opening of an exhibition. Edwin van der Heide is developing a new work that is especially made for this location. This installation can be seen and above all experienced at the Bergkerk until 5 December 2009.

The Award
The Art+Technology Award was established to mark the 55th anniversary of Witteveen+Bos and consists of a cash prize of € 15,000, the publication of a book dedicated to the artist's works and an exposition. Through this ouevre award Witteveen+Bos seeks to highlight and emphasise the relationship that exists between art and technology and in particular the design creativity that art and technology have in common.
The award was first presented in 2002. Previous winners are Theo Jansen, Felix Hess, Giny Vos, Marnix de Nijs, John Körmeling, Gerrit van Bakel and Lawrence Malstaf. In 2009 the independent jury of experts consisted of Andrée van de Kerckhove, Mirjam Kuitenbrouwer, Marten Minkema and Arjen Mulder.