Jessie Kleemann looked incredulous on his phone.
Had she really heard right?
Jessie Kleemann looked incredulous on his phone.
Had she really heard right?
On the other end of the line, an employee from the Statens Kunstfond had just told her that she had been awarded the foundation’s lifetime honorarium.
– I was totally blown away. I looked at the phone and thought: Is this really real? But luckily it was, says Jessie Kleemann with a big laugh.
In fact, the message hit her so hard that it actually shook her a little. When she later told her brother about the honor, his reaction was immediate:
– Now you don’t have to starve.
Jessie Kleemann laughs again. Because even though the brother’s remark was said with a twinkle in his eye, it struck something quite essential about life as an artist. The economy is uncertain.
With the lifelong honorarium, she gets financial security, which allows her to concentrate on what she is passionate about: art.
A secret that was hard to keep
Jessie Kleemann got the message on September 30. But there was a special condition with the happy news: She was not allowed to tell anyone about the honor (only to her husband) until the Statens Kunstfond announced it a week later.
It turned out to be quite a challenge. Because the very next day she took part in the opening of the art exhibition: Ataqatigiinneq – That which connects us in the Spinderihallerne in Vejle, where she herself is among the exhibiting artists.
– I had to walk around among a lot of people I know without having to say anything. It was very strange, she says, laughing.
So while the other guests enjoyed the art and each other’s company, Jessie Kleemann walked around with a secret that was almost too good to keep.
Freedom to say no
The Statens Kunstfonds’ lifetime honorarium is not something that artists themselves can apply for. The recipients are selected by the foundation’s scholarship committee, and in the case of Jessie Kleemann, it is the Project Support Committee for Visual Arts that has decided to honor her.
For Jessie Kleemann, it is not only a great artistic recognition. It is also a gift that can be decisive for her future work.
– Above all, it gives me peace of mind at work. I don’t have to constantly focus on the economy, and I get the opportunity to work more long-term, she says.
At the same time, the honor gives her a freedom that can be difficult to achieve as an artist.
– Now I can also allow myself to say no to something I am not one hundred percent passionate about.
She doesn’t hide how much it means.
– It is a fantastic gift to receive.
A kayak that can move
Although the financial future now looks more secure, Jessie Kleemann has no plans to sit back. On the contrary. She almost feels that she is married to art.
She is already working with ideas for new artistic projects that can span the next two years.
What exactly they will be about, she will not yet reveal. The projects are still in an artistic development process, where the ideas can take new and unexpected directions.
But she nevertheless lifts a small sliver of the veil. One of the ideas is about a movable kayak that she can walk around with (for a performance). The first version is made for a video work. But what the finished work will look like and what shape the project will end up taking is still open.
– Then we’ll have to see where it ends, she says with a smile.
And although Jessie Kleemann doesn’t yet know where the kayak will take her, one thing has changed: She no longer has to let the economy decide the direction.
Her art can currently be experienced at Copenhagen Contemporary and in Spinderihallerne in Vejle until 18 December.
