Award ceremony
June 12, 2017, 5pm
The Swiss Federal Office of Culture is presenting the 17th Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim to outstanding Swiss culture practitioners: artist Daniela Keiser, architect Peter Märkli and curator and author Philip Ursprung. The laureates will be honoured together with the winners of the Swiss Art Awards on June 12 in Basel.
Conceptual artist Daniela Keiser works with the means of photography and language, which she translates into different exhibition and presentation formats. The Zurich-based artist has just initiated a meeting of translators who discussed her various texts from the past years. Entitled In and Out of Translation, the texts are summarized in a publication. In addition to the word, the photographic image occupies a decisive place in her artistic work. In mostly extensive installations and series, Daniela Keiser appeals to the perceptions of viewers.
Peter Märkli is one of the most important architects of our time. His architecture, his drawings as well as his teaching have received a high degree of recognition, especially in the younger generation, and internationally, a special appreciation. Märkli’s understanding of the architectural profession follows a building that is always historically and socially integrated, but at the same time has to be independent and present in parts.
Finding, exploring and crossing boundaries: Philip Ursprung researches both within his own discipline and beyond. With the transfer of terms and concepts and experimental methods of investigation, he extends the theoretical discourse within research. In his multifarious functions and with different formats he conveys a sensitivity to those fuzzy boundary zones, in which rigid definitions fail, vital forces are in motion, and unexpected connections arise, opening up new intellectual and creative freedoms.
Jury
The jury for the Prix Meret Oppenheim 2017 is chaired by Nadia Schneider Willen (collection curator, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich). Its members are Giovanni Carmine (Director Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen), Julie Enckell Julliard (Director Musée Jenisch, Vevey), Gabriela Mazza (mazzapokora, Zurich), Aldo Nolli (Durisch+ Nolli, Massagno), Andreas Reuter (sabarchitekten, Basel), Anne-Julie Raccoursier (artist, Lausanne), Anselm Stalder (artist, Basel) and Noah Stolz (curator, Geneva).
Awards ceremony and exhibition
The award ceremony will take place on June 12 at 5pm (Hall 3, Messe Basel). Film portraits of the Prix Meret Oppenheim winners will be on show in the exhibition SWISS ART AWARDS 2017, running in parallel to Art Basel (June 13–18, daily from 10am to 7pm, admission free).
Publication
On the occasion of the award ceremony, the Federal Office of Culture is to release the publication Prix Meret Oppenheim 2017 with portraits and interviews of the winners. Interviews by Thomas Seelig, Georg Krüger and Judit Solt. Editorial: Manuela Schlumpf and Suzanne Schmidt. Design by Larissa Kasper, Rosario Florio and Samuel Bänziger. Photography: Katalin Deér.
Prix Meret Oppenheim
The Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim has been presented on the recommendation of the Federal Art Commission since 2001 to figures from the worlds of art, critique/edition/exhibition and architecture whose work is of particular relevance and importance to contemporary art and architecture. Each award carries prize money of CHF 40,000.
For further information please visit: www.bak.admin.ch
For press enquiries please contact: media [at] swissartawards.ch
