2021 edition
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia is pleased to announce that the latest edition of the publication series Collection Cahiers d’Artistes is now available. The Cahiers d’Artistes series enables Swiss artists to have an initial monograph published in their name underscored by a text from a renowned Swiss or international critic. At the recommendation of a jury, the following artists were selected for the 2021 edition:
Dorota Gawęda (b. 1986 Lublin, Poland) and Eglė Kulbokaitė (b. 1987 Kaunas, Lithuania), Roman Gysin (b. 1984 Möhlin, Switzerland), Andreas Hochuli (b. 1982 Zurich), Sandra Knecht (b. 1968 Berne, Switzerland), Marie Matusz (b. 1994 Toulouse, France), Noha Mokhtar (b. 1987 Geneva), Elena Montesinos (b. 1971 Geneva) and Ramaya Tegegne (b. 1985 Geneva).
With texts by Jeppe Ugelvig, Sylvain Menétrey, Ingo Niermann, Koyo Kouoh, Alan Longino, Sarah Rifky, Samuel Gross, Eve-Marie Knoerle, Irène Languin, Luca Pattaroni, Claude-Hubert Tatot and Chaédria LaBouvier.
The Cahiers were conceived in close collaboration between the artists and their respective authors, the graphic designers from Bonbon (Zurich), the publisher Edizioni Periferia (Lucerne/Poschiavo) and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
The Cahiers d’Artistes will be presented in the autumn (September 20–26, 2021) in connection with the Swiss Art Awards in Basel.
The artists
Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė are an artist duo based in Basel. Both graduated in 2012 from the Royal College of Art in London. Their work spans performance, installation, fragrance, sculpture, drawing, photography and video. They are the founders of YOUNG GIRL READING GROUP (2013–) and co-initiators of its online archive. Gawęda and Kulbokaitė are among the finalists of the Swiss Art Awards 2021.
Roman Gysin lives and works in Zurich. His work examines materials and objects of everyday use, resulting in sculptures, objects and installations. He holds a BFA from the Zurich University of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Fine Arts Hamburg. Gysin is represented by Cologne-based Galerie Christian Lethert.
Andreas Hochuli currently lives and works in Geneva, and was previously based in Lausanne, Leipzig and Berlin. Besides his practice in painting, within which he developed a unique work method involving digital conceptualisation and physical execution, he is part of the artist-run band “L’Acte pur” together with Tristan Lavoyer. Hochuli studied fine arts, art history, philosophy and literature in Lausanne.
Sandra Knecht lives in Buus, a small village in Baselland, together with her many animals. Her artistic practice encompasses cooking, photography, video, sculpture, and installation. From 2016 until 2019, she hosted regular dinners in her restaurant Chnächt. After working in the field of social pedagogy for many years, she completed an MFA at the University of the Arts in Zurich.
Marie Matusz lives and works in Basel. She obtained a BA in Visual Arts from HEAD Geneva in 2016 and an MA from the Academy of Art & Design (FHNW) Basel in 2018. Matusz’ installations deal with topics such as historical and contemporary power structures, nature and justice. She was a resident at Temporars, Muzeum Susch in 2021 and a nominee for the Dorothea von Stetten-Kunstpreis in 2020.
Noha Mokhtar lives and works in Zurich and New York, and is currently a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology and Critical Media Practice at Harvard University. Her artistic practice includes mainly photography, installation and objects. She is interested in how spaces and objects are connected to social and political questions.
Elena Montesinos lives and works in both Geneva and Cyberspace, mixing activism and sociological art. In her works, she often breaks the glass ceilings of the art world. She was co-director of the Forde art space in Geneva (2012–2014) and since 2020 has curated “Home of TMF” (The Montesinos Foundation). She received the Swiss Art Award in 1998 and is a natural born media mixer.
Ramaya Tegegne lives and works in Geneva. Through performances, installations, discussions and publications she spotlights mechanisms of dominance and power structures within culture. She holds an MFA from HEAD Geneva and a BA of Design from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. She was awarded numerous residencies in Paris, Rio de Janeiro, London and New York.
The jury
Once every two years, based on the recommendation of a jury, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia selects eight artists out of those who have applied following an open call. The jury for the 2021 edition was composed of Fanni Fetzer, Director of Kunstmuseum Luzern; Luca Frei, artist, Lugano/Malmö; Samuel Leuenberger, curator of SALTS and Art Parcours, Basel and Denis Pernet, associate curator of Audemars Piguet Art Programme, Lausanne.
Further information
The Cahiers d’Artistes series was launched by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia in 1984 and has been published by Edizioni Periferia since 2006. The Cahiers can be ordered from the publisher, either individually or as a series in a slipcase.
Previous artists who have been involved with Cahiers d’Artistes for their first monograph include Valentin Carron, Claudia Comte, Fischli/Weiss, Pipilotti Rist and Pamela Rosenkranz.
This online platform makes all the monographs published over the past 30 years available in digitised form.
Further information about the 2021 edition can be found here.
Press contact
Joseph Lamb at Pickles PR: joseph [at] picklespr.com
Contact
Josiane Imhasly at Pro Helvetia, jimhasly@prohelvetia.ch
