Saskia Olde Wolbers links a real-life account of the kind that might be found in any daily newspaper with a world of hallucination and fantasy. In her videos, amoeba-like shapes mirror the content of texts spoken offscreen, accompany them for a while and then move off on their own again. The artist takes the viewer on a slow, suggestive journey of  exploration. Like a surgeon probing a body, she draws us into a universe of amorphous shapes where inside and outside have become interchangeable. The artist compellingly juxtaposes today's computer-generated virtual imagery with the handcrafted qualities of analog cinematic processing.

In addition to the cash prize, Baloise acquires a group of works by the award winners and donates them to two important European museums. The work of Saskia Olde Wolbers was presented to the collection of the S.M.A.K. in Gent, Belgium.

Spaces that deviate from our normal surroundings form a recurring motif in the work of Saskia Olde Wolbers. They often appear to be completely closed entities in which we endlessly wander around, and seem to originate in an utterly virtual and fantastic world. In fact it’s the opposite: in the filmed spaces the viewer occasionally recognises ordinary objects and waste materials, so that one begins to suspect that these films were made entirely in the traditional way.

Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam

Jury members:
Brigitte Oetker, Publisher, Berlin; Barbara Steiner, Director of the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig; Christoph Heinrich, Director of the Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburger Kunsthalle; Jan Hoet, Director, Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, Gent and Martin Schwander, Fine Art Advisor of Baloise, Chairman of the jury.