THORNICO's LE NON MOI prize is presented to an individual or team who, through their art, research or communication, enables more people to experience le non-moi.

Le non-moi is the important state of mind in which we forget the certainty of the self and allow ourselves to be absorbed, so that it feels as if time stops, disappears and everything is flowing. It is in that state of mind that we as humans are at our best and feel best.

It can be the work of art in which we forget ourselves, the music that makes us forget about time and place, the book that lifts us away. But it can also be research into the mind, for example, consciousness or psychedelics or dissemination of or teaching in meditation, breathwork, yoga or biohacking.

This is precisely what we want to pay tribute to with the LE NON MOI - THORNICO PRIZE, of DKK 250,000 as well as a unique artwork from a globally recognized artist.

The prize cannot be applied for but is given to a specially selected individual or team by Thor & Christian Stadil and THORNICO Holding.

LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize recipient 2026

Prize recipient 2026 | Nick Cave

This year, we are deeply honoured to present the LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize to Nick Cave.

Through decades of music, literature and artistic exploration, Nick Cave has created works that allow audiences to lose and transend themselves - in and through beauty, grief, love, darkness and wonder. His art inhabits that rare space where vulnerability becomes transformative and where the personal becomes universal.

Few contemporary artists have explored the depths of the human condition with such honesty, courage and spiritual intensity. Through his music, writing and reflections on loss, love, faith and creativity, Nick Cave reminds us that art is not merely entertainment - it is a way of understanding what it means to be human.

Learn more about Nick Cave here

Artwork

Alongside the LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize of DKK 250,000, the recipient receives a unique piece of artwork.

This year, we have chosen the British artist Mark William Kilford to create the artwork, which is beautifully made in ceramic. Growing up immersed in skate, punk, graffiti, and tattoo culture, Mark has developed a lasting fascination with the objects, symbols, and characters that populate alternative subcultures. Fragments of personal memory, lived experience, and cultural references form the foundation of his artistic practice.

The artwork accompanying the 2026 LE NON MOI Prize is a tribute to the person, the man, and the talent - Nick Cave. Its symbols refer to his poems, texts, and elevated perspectives on life and death.

Discover more about Mark and his work here

LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize recipient 2024

Prize recipient 2024 | Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

As a globally revered spiritual and humanitarian leader, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has reached millions of people through his teachings and organisations, including the international, non-profit, educational and humanitarian organisation Art of Living.

Sri Sri’s Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique has proven effective worldwide across all levels of society and is a central cornerstone in the Art of Living organisation. The techniques facilitate physical, mental and emotional well-being to a degree that prisons have decided to reduce sentences for prisoners who participate in the Art of Living prison program – a program that has reached 8 million prisoners around the world.

The techniques facilitate physical, mental and emotional well-being and enable more, at least partially and temporally, to let go of ego and self-consciousness. That is what the LE NON MOI Prize celebrates: people who, through their art, teachings or research, help others reach this state if only now and again.

Learn more about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar here

Artwork

When we present our LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize of DKK 250.000, it is accompanied by a unique piece of artwork.

This year, we chose to have the artwork made by Malene Bjelke, a sculptor. Her choice of subject is often the human figure in 'pause' - when the body tells a story - without grand gestures but with simple presence.

The 2024 LE NON MOI Prize statue is a portrait of the recipient, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Malene did great research before moulding the artwork as a common thread was to try to encapsulate and convey the warmth that Gurudev radiates. The next step was to make sketches with pencil on paper and then model the figure in the wax material Farcolina and finally cast it in bronze.

Film production: Flig Collective

LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize recipient 2023

Prize recipient 2023 | Wim Hof

Wim Hof is a leading global teacher and inspirator when it comes to the health of mind and body as well as spiritual development. He promotes the importance of using a combination of breathwork, cold exposure and commitment; The Wim Hof Method, as a way of getting people out of their minds and into their bodies, to achieve increased physical as mental health and well-being - ultimately to experience Le non-moi; the state of mind where we let go of ourselves, to find ourselves and where we as humans are at our best and feel the best.

Learn more about Wim Hof here

Artwork

When we present our LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize of DKK 250.000, it is accompanied by a unique piece of artwork.

This year, we chose to have the artwork made by a young emerging sculptor artist, Chimi Wangchuk, from Bhutan, who, despite his young age, is well known for his iconographies and statues in Bhutan.

Chimi Wangchuk is Lhuentse - the northeast region of Bhutan and also one of the least developed districts in the country of the Himalayas. His love for making art started with painting, where he learned traditional painting techniques from his cousin, a traditional painter (Lhadri).

After finishing his academic education at Minjey Middle Secondary School in Lhuentse, Chimi came to the capital city, Thimphu, to learn a new form of art. He chose the art of sculpting, leading him to make some of the most beautiful and fascinating Bhutanese iconographies and statues.

Film production: Flig Collective

LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize recipient 2022

Prize recipient 2022 | Torben Ulrich

Torben Ulrich is the natural first choice as recipient of the LE NON MOI Prize. Besides, as one of very few people, being a true polymath working across sports, art, music and literature, he has also communicated and embedded the notion of No-Mind and Le non-moi concretely into his oeuvre as well as having actively experimented with different states and the science of mind and consciousness via yoga and meditation.

Learn more about Torben Ulrich here

Artwork

Besides the LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize of DKK 250,000 the prize is accompanied by a unique artwork from a globally recognized artist. The artist behind this year’s unique artwork is Rose Eken. Rose holds an MA from Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited extensively in- and outside of Denmark at for example AROS and The New Carlsberg Foundation. She is especially known for her clay sculptures which she favors for their versatility and clumsy form. This manifest itself in the artwork Rose has created for the LE NON MOI – THORNICO Prize of 2022 – a handmade ceramic reproduction of our Stadil et Stadil, champagne bottle with the shared name; LE NON MOI.

Film production: Tobias Scavenius

Lars Movin receiving the LE NON MOI Prize 2022 on behalf of Torben Ulrich.

By the Danish filmmaker Andreas Johnsen of Rosforth Films