Swiss Art Awards Open Art Basel Week with 10 Honorees

The Swiss Federal Office for Culture announced the laureates for the 70th anniversary Swiss Art Awards, ahead of Monday evening’s ceremony in Basel. For the first time, in 2014, eight artists (including one collective), and one architectural collective, and one curator have won the prize, each receiving CHF 25,000 ($27,765): BITNIK (Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoji Smolji), Vancessa Billy, Kim Seob Boninsegni, Claudia Comte, Emilie Ding, Andreas Hochuli, Emanuel Rossetti, Jules Spinatsch, CKÖ (Daniel Lütolf and Sarah Widmer), and Emilie Bujès.

The prize-winners’ works are currently on view at Messe Basel’s hall 4 along side the works of 46 artists, 4 architects, and 18 critics who were shortlisted for the award. Each of the exhibition’s artists and architects received CHF 5,000 to cover production costs of their contribution. Four-hundred sixty artists, architects, and critics/curators applied for the exhibition.

The Swiss Art Award was founded in 1899 and has taken place during Art Basel for the past 20 years. This year’s exhibition architecture was designed by Vécsey Schmidt and Victoria Easton.