Christian Naujoks—born in 1980 and based in Berlin—is a composer, musician, and artist. His works have been heard and seen internationally in a variety of contexts, such as at the Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, the Galerie Max Mayer in Düsseldorf, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara, California, at Sonic Somatic in Florence, as well as at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This year, he is presenting his artistic research at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has released several albums on the Berlin-based label Dial Records and was awarded the Villa Romana Prize in 2019. Works by Christian Naujoks are included in the collections of the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K21, among others.

The five-member jury consisted of Jana Dennhard (freelance curator), Elmar Hermann (visual artist), Dr. Barbara Engelbach (curator of the Collection of Contemporary Art, Photography, and Media Art, Ludwig Museum Cologne), Monique Behr (visual arts specialist, Cultural Affairs Office of the State Capital of Wiesbaden), and Lotte Dinse (director, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden). 

The jury reached a unanimous decision from among 408 applications and explained its choice as follows: “With his project proposal, Christian Naujoks impressed the jury with an interdisciplinary practice that convincingly links questions of hearing with social, physical, and spatial dimensions. Naujoks understands hearing not as neutral perception, but as something produced by technology, language, and social conventions. Drawing on his own experience with tinnitus and hearing impairments, Naujoks’s performances and sound works sensitively, powerfully, and astutely focus on moments when hearing becomes fragile, sounds become overwhelming, or dissolve.” 

The exhibition planned for the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden combines sound installations, participatory formats, and performative elements that incorporate different forms of hearing. This not only opens up new approaches to sound art but also creates a space for shared listening and diverse perceptions.

The foundation of the scholarship goes back to the "Fluxus Festival of New Music", which took place in Wiesbaden in 1962. This Fluxus event gave the new art movement its first broad echo.

The working scholarship is endowed with 10,000 euros and is awarded for three months from June to August. During this time, the scholarship holders are provided with living and studio space at the Nassauischer Kunstverein. Following the work scholarship, an exhibition of the scholarship holders will be held at the NKV from September to the end of May of the following year, accompanied by a publication.

For the duration of the scholarship, the scholarship holders should spend most of their time in Wiesbaden. National and international artists between the ages of 18 and 47 from the field of fine arts can be nominated. The scholarship is open to all artistic media, including performative approaches.