Michael Meier and Christoph Franz, Winners of the Art Prize 2013
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Feuertreppe, 2013
wooden slats, flame resistant raw particle board
JPG (2,18 MB) |
The Nationale Suisse sponsorship award, launched in 2004, is intended to give a helping hand to graduates in visual arts and media arts from the Swiss universities of applied sciences. It emphasizes the long-term commitment of the company to Swiss art. Artists at the beginning of their careers are specifically targeted for this sponsorship. Nationale Suisse’s own collection of contemporary Swiss art is considered one of the most important collections of its kind. While this collection focuses primarily on painting, drawing and photography, the sponsorship award for young artists is deliberately broader in scope. It is therefore intended specifically to provide a platform for the new ideas and art forms of the next generation of artists.
The Works of Michael Meier and Christoph Franz
The artist duo Michael Meier and Christoph Franz (born 1982 and 1980 respectively), which have been chosen by an independent jury of experts as the winners of the Nationale Suisse Art Prize 2013, have collaborated on works of art since 2007. Their temporary interventions deal with the transformation of the urban space and the relationship between art and everyday reality. In their interventions in public spaces, they explore the function of a location and its social and historical background. With their creations, they are therefore contributing to a topical social debate. They link the past with the present and thus make the invisible visible. Their constructions, which they install for a limited time in urban public spaces or within the specific context of an exhibition, combine elements of sculpture, architecture and painting.
The Art Prize consists of prize money of CHF 15,000 plus the opportunity for the artist to exhibit her work at the international art fair LISTE, the Young Art Fair in Basel (LISTE 18: June 11th - 16th, 2013).
The Jury 2013
The members of the jury for this year’s Art Prize were: Jean-Paul Felley (Co-Director of the Centre culturel suisse de Paris), Fanni Fetzer (Director of the Lucerne Museum of Art), Sabine Schaschl (Director of the Kunsthaus Baselland) and Thomas Schmutz (Deputy Director of the Aargauer Kunsthaus).
The judging took place as part of the annual art exhibition “Plattform” at the ewz-Unterwerk Selnau in Zurich. A selection of works by the most promising graduates from eight Swiss universities of applied sciences is shown there.