Glenn Scott Wright (UK):
The whole process of discovery through the auspices of the Ars Fennica Prize was an especially rewarding experience for me. Without wishing to sound platitudinous, I can honestly avow that at different stages of the judging process, in my own mind, I had decided to give the prize to each and every one of the four finalists; Elina Brotherus, Markus Kåhre, Elina Merenmies and Anna Tuori, for the strength of each of their individual approaches to the creative endeavour. Meeting with all four of the artists and learning about their practice was a wonderful journey for me and I have to thank each of them for their generosity, their time and the great gift of their work.
I am sure too that in the mind of anyone who has spent time looking at the remarkable exhibtion on show at Kiasma – one of my favourite museum venues in the world – every single artist who has had their work exhibited here at the Ars Fennica Exhibition is a winner. However, as I have been elected to choose one artist from the group, I have decided to give the prize to an artist whose work filled me with a sense of genuine wonderment – in itself, a rare feat – while challenging modes and notions of representation, perception and meaning with a universal quality. It is with pleasure, therefore that I announce the winner of this years’ Ars Fennica Prize to be Markus Kåhre.
Glenn Scott Wright (UK), Director of Victoria Miro Gallery in London (2007)