Mexican Film Collective Colectivo Los Ingrávidos Receives 2026 Schering Stiftung Award

Colectivo Los Ingrávidos has been named the recipient of the 2026 Schering Stiftung Award for Artistic Research. The announcement was made jointly by Schering Stiftung and KW Institute. The Tehuacán-based film collective, established in 2012 during significant protests against Mexico's government, will receive a €15,000 prize. The award includes a solo exhibition at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin, featuring a newly commissioned artwork and an accompanying publication. The collective operates anonymously and collaboratively, using film as a tool for resistance. Their practice aims to challenge the authority of the individual creator and expose ideological frameworks within mainstream media. Their artistic methodology incorporates documentary techniques, archival footage, and both analog and digital media. A jury selected the winners, consisting of Antonia Alampi from Spore Initiative in Berlin, Emma Enderby of KW Institute, Charlotte Klonk from Humboldt University Berlin and Schering Stiftung's foundation council, Damian Lentini of Ludwig Forum Aachen, and artist Jenna Sutela. In a statement, the jury praised the collective's films and videos for capturing collective and human-centered conflicts. They noted that the work merges sound and imagery into hypnotic collages that test sensory boundaries and promote decolonized perspectives. The jury also highlighted the group's social initiatives and written works, such as their 'Thesis of the Audiovisual' manifesto, describing their output as a 'cosmopolitical approach to audiovisual creation and thought.'