Isabel van de Stadt and Lina Holinski win the Sieger White Young Talent Award 2026

Jury recognises innovative perspectives on everyday experiences

The jury consisted of artist Marie Reintjes, Margot Appelman (project leader at CODA Museum and advisor to the Creative Industries Fund NL), artist and AKI lecturer Ide André, and Stijn Geutjes, secretary of the Sieger White Foundation.

From all the nominees, the jury selected two winners who each place the senses at the heart of their work in a distinctive way. According to the jury, both artists encourage us to look more consciously at everyday phenomena. One offers a slow and attentive alternative to our screen-driven reality, while the other demonstrates how scarcity can lead to a richer and more meaningful experience. The jury believes both artists have strong potential for further development.

A tribute to seeing

With Om Gezien Te Worden Met Blote Ogen (To Be Seen with the Naked Eye), Isabel van de Stadt explores how we look at the world in an age increasingly dominated by screens. Her kinetic light sculptures combine self-built constructions, optical effects and light as a material. Inspired by early image-making techniques and a DIY approach, she creates installations that invite visitors to slow down and reconnect with the physical world.

A future in which wine becomes a luxury

In A Good Day to Open a Bottle of Wine, Lina Holinski explores how climate change may transform our relationship with wine. As many wine-growing regions could disappear in the future, she asks how we might experience an increasingly scarce product with greater awareness.

For the installation, she cut apart and reconstructed old wine glasses into new forms that guide visitors through a four-course experience. Rather than abundance, the work centres on attention. Visitors are invited to discover aroma, taste and texture step by step, creating space to reflect on something that feels ordinary today but may no longer be tomorrow.