Mona Hatoum Awarded Sonning Prize 2004

For the first time a visual artist has been awarded the Sonning Prize, and the winner is Mona Hatoum, an artist of Palestinian origin. The Prize is awarded by the University of Copenhagen to a man or a woman who has contributed significantly to European civilization. The committee for the 2004 Prize said that ¿In the realm of culture, specifically in the realm of the visual arts, British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum has found the most significant visual expression of the experience of ¿new Europeans¿ who share their experiences on the unstable ground between two cultures ¿¿ The Sonning Prize was awarded in previous years to the Swedish filmmaker and dramatist Ingmar Bergman (1989); Vaclav Havel (1991,) writer and former president of the Czech Republic; German writer Günter Grass (1996); and Winston Churchill (1950.) The award ceremony will take place on Friday, April 23, 2004, in the University of Copenhagen auditorium, in Denmark.