The Botho Graef Art Prize 2025 of the City of Jena was awarded

The Botho Graef Art Prize of the City of Jena for contemporary visual art was awarded for the 11th time last Saturday, 17.05.2025, and is dedicated to an important historical figure in Jena: the mathematician, astronomer, educator, philosopher, calendar reformer and inventor Erhard Weigel on the 400th anniversary of his birth (born 16.12.1625 in Weiden/ died 21.03.1699 in Jena).

Weigel was one of the most important personalities in Jena in the second half of the 17th century and was known throughout Europe as a scientist and inventor during his lifetime. The university professor and three-time rector of the University of Jena made a name for himself primarily with his inventions of numerous devices, apparatuses and models.

These included, for example, Weigel's heraldic celestial spheres, a model of which can be seen in the exhibition at the "Göhre" city museum, or his legendary house, which is one of the Seven Wonders of Jena as the "Weigeliana Domus". He sought to realize his progressive pedagogical ideas in his own school of art and virtue in his house. Weigel's pupils and students included important personalities such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Samuel von Pufendorf.

Nevertheless, hardly anyone today knows the name of the scholar himself. This needs to change. The visionary universal genius, who was ahead of his time, should once again be present in the public memory. The 400th anniversary of his birth this year provides the ideal occasion for this.

To ensure a worthy presentation of Weigel, the city of Jena - in particular the JenaKultur municipal enterprise in charge - has teamed up with several stakeholders, such as the Erhard Weigel Society, the Ernst Abbe Foundation, the University of Jena and the Fulldome Festival Foundation. Among other things, a scientific symposium of the Erhard Weigel Society will take place from November 14 to 15, 2025 and an exhibition on Weigel's life and work will be held in the "Göhre" city museum from November 2025 to February 2026.

In addition to these and other events in 2025, the pioneering thinker will now be the central figure in an artistic experiment. As a special prize of the internationally renowned Fulldome Festival, a modern multimedia memorial in the format of a 360° film production for planetariums is to be designed.

The jury received seven highly qualified designs, all of which will be presented at the planned Weigel exhibition in the City Museum. The entrants are:

1. Alejandro Casales from Mexico
2. Claire Dorweiler from Germany
3. Xenia Meierson from Germany
4. Prefrontal Cortex from Germany
5. Alexandra Wolf and Sergey Prokovyev from Germany
6. Dan Tell from the USA
7. Graham Watts from Great Britain

A jury of four experts selected the winning design on May 5.

On May 17, 2025, the city of Jena, namely Head of Cultural Affairs Johannes Schleußner, awarded the Botho Graef Art Prize for Contemporary Fine Art 2025 to

Sergey Prokovyev and Alexandra Wolf (Germany)

for the artistic design of the work

Erhard Weigel. Visionary between science and wonder - An animated fulldome film on his 400th birthday

The jury's statement said:

"The elaborately animated film convinces with great visual power, an exceptionally modern and differentiated style as well as immersive narration and dramaturgy. At the same time, the design reveals a well-founded examination of the subject matter. It skillfully maintains a balance between aesthetic and artistic demands and didactic communication. The recurring reference to his visionary and open-minded way of thinking makes Weigel's topicality clear. The multimedia memorial is thus aimed at a broad, heterogeneous audience.

In the opinion of the jury, the artistic concept was the most convincing of the competition entries submitted and corresponded to the intentions of the competition brief"

The jury consisted of:

Dr. Kristin Knebel / Director of the Jena Municipal Museums

Stefan Kratochwil / Erhard-Weigel-Gesellschaft e.V. Jena

Markus Schäfer / Producer and Managing Director of HO3RRAUM MEDIA OHG, Hamburg

Kate Wellham / music journalist, producer of immersive films/ Great Britain

The two prizewinners will soon be commissioned with the further development of their design and completion of the fulldome film.

The multimedia memorial is to be premiered as a finished show shortly before Weigel's birthday on December 15, 2025, at the Zeiss Planetarium Jena and will then be included in the planetarium's program on special occasions.

You can find more information here: https://www.kunstpreis-jena.de