Van Achterbergh Prize 2022: Alexandra Engelfriet

September 10, 2022 to April 9, 2023

From September 10, 2022 to April 9, 2023, Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics presents the exhibition Van Achterbergh Prize 2022: Alexandra Engelfriet. This year Engelfriet (1959) was honored with the Van Achterbergh Prize for her entire oeuvre and in particular her performances. On the occasion of this award, the Princessehof is showing three films by the artist. In these films, Engelfriet forms unbaked clay into characteristic shapes using her body.

Alexandra Engelfriet is fascinated by clay; due to the unruly plasticity of the material, the structure and the way in which the clay alternately yields and resists. For her work, the artist has tons of clay brought to a special location. Then the real work begins, because Engelfriet shapes the material in a special way: with rhythmic, almost dancing movements, she slides, crawls and steps through the material. The result is a series of striking patterns, formed by the artist's body.

Fortiter et Suaviter, still Jérémie Basset

Alexandra Engelfriet
Alexandra Engelfriet (1959) is a renowned and prize-winning artist and performer. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 2015, Engelfriet won bronze at the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in South Korea. Her work is included in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Engelfriet's work was previously shown in the Princessehof in the Sexy Ceramics exhibition (2016), when she covered the walls of an exhibition hall with clay.

Van Achterbergh Prize
The Van Achterbergh-Domhof Foundation awards the Van Achterberg Prize every two years to a person or institution that has made a special contribution to the development of ceramic art in the Netherlands. The winner of the prize will also receive an amount of €15,000 and an exhibition in the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics.

Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics is co-financed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Municipality of Leeuwarden.