‘Insight out’ and ‘Forever flow of wet long fingers’ win AHK Graduation Prize 2019

From left to right: Gabriela Acosta Camacho, Carmen Lamptey and Elisabeth Raymond (photo: Erwin van Amstel)

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The AHK Graduation Prizes for the best graduation projects in 2019 were awarded on Monday 25 November. The prize in the Bachelor category was won this year by Elisabeth Raymond (SNDO, bachelor Choreography in SNDO) with her performance Forever flow of wet long fingers. The prize in the Master category has been handed over to Gabriela Acosta Camacho and Carmen Lamptey (Master of Education in Arts) for their project Insight out. Traag naar de hemel (‘Heaven awaits’), the graduation film by Marlies Smeenge, became the winner of the Audience Award.

The Graduation Prize of the Amsterdam University of the Arts consists of a cash prize of € 3,000 in the bachelor and master categories and a public prize. Five bachelor projects and five master projects from the graduates of 2019, from different academies, were nominated. The jury assessed all entries on three criteria: the quality of the work, the way in which the graduates have made connections with the outside world and the relevance of their work for the development of the discipline.

Winning bachelor project ‘Forever flow of wet fingers’
Elisabeth Raymond graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Dance with her performance Forever flow of wet long fingers.

From the jury report: 'The mutual dependence of the dancers, the paper-thin lines that hold them together and the delay in the movements are of a deep beauty. This performance manages to go beyond the boundaries of the discipline and would also work excellently as an installation in a museum. An impressive achievement!'

Winning master project ‘Insight out’
Gabriela Acosta Camacho and Carmen Lamptey graduated this year from the Masters of Education in Arts. Gabriela and Carmen tell about their project Insight out: 'We developed a multidisciplinary curriculum for the NGO Young in Prison, in which ten young people from the Juvenile Detention Center Teylingereind and artists made an artistic short film about the philosophical question ‘what is freedom?’. The film can be used for information and debate with a wider audience and for recruiting other juvenile detention centers to get started with the teaching package.

From the jury report: 'It is extremely clever how they have managed to get to grips with this difficult target group, especially as two women in a boys youth prison. The result is also very successful aesthetically and philosophically. The fact that the lesson module was directly incorporated into the regular course programme of client Young in Prison shows the impact that Gabriela and Carmen have managed to achieve. A unique and richly deserved result.'

Winner Audience Award ‘Traag naar de hemel’ (‘Heaven awaits’)
The documentary Traag naar de hemel by director Marlies Smeenge won the audience award, with 22% of the 1749 votes. The prize this time was a drone with a built-in camera that Marlies Smeenge can use for her future film productions.

Award ceremony
The festive presentation of the Graduation Prize took place on 25 November at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. This year's jury consisted of chairman Xandra Schutte (editor-in-chief De Groene Amsterdammer), Dominique Vleeshouwers (co-founder & director of Combined Creatives), Els van der Plas (director of National Opera & Ballet) and Clayde Menso (director of Amerpodia, also a member of the Supervisory Board of the AHK).

More information about the AHK Graduation Prize

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