AMSTERDAM—Lithuanian film and video artist Deimantas Narkevičius has been announced as the winner of the 2008 Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe. According to the official Web site, Narkevičius was presented with the €50,000 prize at a ceremony at the Stedelijk Museum on September 12. The presentation was witnessed by a cast of notables, including the HRH Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, chairman of the European Cultural Fund, with the prize presented by Janusz Stanczyk, ambassador of Poland.

Judged on his films "The Head" and "The Dud Effect" during the course of a three-month exhibition, Narkevičius was chosen for his ability to make an immense impact on his audience; the jury described him as an artist who “shows us that the only way we can possibly grasp the contemporary socio-political situation in Europe is by re-examining the past.”

The 2008 shortlist of European nominees — deemed “highly relevant to the art of today” by a jury of six members of the European art world — also included Francis Alÿs, who won a €5,000 Public Prize, as well as Liam Gillick and Rebecca Warren.

A fifth shortlisted nominee, Austrian artist Peter Friedl, stirred up the competition by withdrawing himself from it in June. Friedl cited a laundry list of complaints, declaring his “ethical objections” to a process that he didn't believe could be “truly democratic” due to alleged biases and the lack of a production budget. Stedelijk director Gijs van Tuyl dismissed Friedl’s objections, claiming an honest procedure from the start and only vaguely admitting to “several irritations” between the two parties.