Exhibition: Ars Viva, Kunstverein Hannover (2021)

Ars Viva Prize 2021 – Since 1953, the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e. V. awards the prestigious ars viva prize for visual arts annually to outstanding artists being under the age of 35 living in Germany. The jury focuses on works that display an independent formal language and an awareness of contemporary issues in relation to (cultural) history.

“The impressive cinematic and photographic portraits of Rob Crosse (b. 1985 in Hertfordshire, UK) are poetic images of men at different ages in all their fragility. Through his works, the viewer is confronted with his own age and, though positively in Crosse’s case, with the decay of his own body – a state in which we may already find ourselves or which will await us. Crosse’s interest in the world focuses on the group activities organized by elderly people to help and assist one another. Whether he focuses on volunteer signal keepers, Hong Kong songbird owners, so-called mall walkers in Nebraska, or homosexual vacationers: His audiovisual work highlights the specifics of various pastimes in terms of the well-being of the people by whom they are engaged.”