Three recently graduated artists rewarded with a residency at AHC

The 15. Juni Fonden has just awarded its annual prize for emerging artists to Aase Agnes Nielsen, Zuzanna Kozłowska, and Julia O. Laszczka. The award includes, among other things, an 11-month residency and development programme at AHC at Thoravej 29.

With a shared vision to promote and support the practices of emerging visual artists, AHC and the 15. Juni Fonden entered into a three-year partnership last year developing the foundation’s award to recently graduated visual artists in Denmark: the 15JFEmerging Artist Award.

Each year, the foundation—assisted by an external expert jury—now selects three visual artists who, based on their graduation projects from Danish art academies, not only receive a prize of DKK 50,000 but also an 11-month residency at AHC.

This residency has its focus on artistic development and offers the artists their own studio, access to professional workshops, and a programme comprising curator meetings, excursions, workshops, and mentoring, as well as the opportunity to become part of AHC’s interdisciplinary community.

THIS YEAR’S RECIPIENTS
This year, the award goes to artists Aase Agnes Nielsen, Zuzanna Kozłowska, and Julia O. Laszczka. They were selected by the 15. Juni Fonden’s expert jury, consisting of Maria Kjær Themsen (author and art critic), Mikkel Bogh (Professor at the University of Copenhagen and the Center for Practice-based Art Studies), and Mai Misfeldt (author and art critic).

Aase Agnes Nielsen, who graduated from the Schools of Visual Arts at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2026, was selected for the music and film work Gudesange (Songs of the Gods). Drawing on sources including Eddic poetry, skaldic verse, and historical níð poetry, the work explores Old Norse cultural heritage and the stories, voices and ideas that were preserved—or suppressed—during the transition to Christianity.

Zuzanna Kozłowska has been selected for her work Abstract man (1-7), which was exhibited at the Funen Art Academy’s graduation exhibition this year. Comprising seven red wooden elements follow the walls of the exhibition space and extend around a corner, the work draws on the modernist traditions of abstract painting and minimalist sculpture, while examining and challenging the concept of the abstract, universal human figure.

Julia O. Laszczka also graduated this year—from the Schools of Visual Arts at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts—and is being honored for her graduation piece, Arch. This conceptual work consists of two massive, dark, and nearly identical desks, interrupted by slight shifts where colored metallic paper protrudes between the tabletop and the base. Here, materials and surfaces serve as tools to explore how power is staged—and how resistance can emerge through the cracks.

AWARD PRESENTATION
The three artists will begin their residency at AHC early in the new year; they will move into their new studios and work alongside the many other artists in residence and workshop members at AHC.

The 15JFEmerging Artist Award will officially be presented to the three artists on Friday, 23 October 2026, at an award ceremony at O ​​– Overgaden in Copenhagen.

Last year, artists Tilda Lundbohm, Sebastian Møller Jørgensen, and Andrej Kiripolsky received the foundation’s award and are currently participating in AHC’s development programme at Thoravej 29. You can meet them and experience their artistic practices at AHC’s Open Studios on 26 November 2026, starting at 5:00 PM.

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This text incorporates elements from the 15. Juni Fonden press release, which can be found here (in Danish).