Intended as a leg-up for young graduates who have studied the visual arts and media art at a Swiss art school, the award first launched in 2004 underscores Helvetia’s long-standing commitment to Swiss art. The prize is reserved for young artists just at the start of their career and while the focus of Helvetia's own collection of contemporary Swiss art – which incidentally counts among the most important of its kind – is on painting, drawing, and photography, the Helvetia Art Prize is not restricted to those disciplines. Its purpose is to bring the ideas and art forms of the next generation of artists to the public’s attention. The Helvetia Art Prize comes with prize money of CHF 15,000 as well as the chance to stage a show at the international art fair LISTE – Art Fair Basel.
The prize is awarded every year as part of the Plattform exhibition.
Anita Mucolli (*1993) is the winner of the 2021 Helvetia Art Prize. The winner holds a Bachelor's degree from the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel. Inspired by Jonathan Crary's book "24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep", she uses various media and technical precision to tackle the issue of how late capitalist systems aim to penetrate even further into human biology and needs. The jury is impressed by the reflected, complex rendering of the subject.
In her latest work, "The Bank of Dreams" (2021), which is currently on show at the Plattform21 exhibition at the Museo d'arte della Svizzera italiana (MASI) in Lugano, she addresses a future scenario in which capitalism is appropriating technological progress, entering the human subconscious and commercializing dreams.
In the foyer of the Palazzo Reali museum building in Lugano, which is architecturally reminiscent of a bank, Anito Mucolli has installed an ATM. It remains unclear in this ambiguous scenario between reality and fiction whether the machine is real or a work of art. The outer frame of the ATM is made of scagliola, which resembles marble. Its design picks up the classical style of the architecture. In the middle, a flat screen shows video ads for the bank and its innovative technology. Once the music and voice from the adverts are heard over the speakers, it emerges that this is no ordinary ATM, rather dreams are being sold here: test-driving your dream car, trying on special clothing, seeing loved ones again or even visiting alluring locations.
Anita Mucolli, The Bank of Dreams, 2021. Installation view Plattform21, MASILugano 2021. Photo: Mattia Angelini
Year |
Prizewinners | Stories |
---|---|---|
2020 | Tiphanie Kim Mall | «Helvetia Art Prize winner 2020» |
2019 | Kaspar Ludwig | «Helvetia Art Prize winner 2019» |
2018 | Gina Proenza | «Helvetia Art Prize winner at LISTE in Basel» |
2017 | Andriu Deplazes | «Andriu Deplazes wins Helvetia Art Prize 2017» |
2016 | STELLA | |
2015 | Dijan Kahrimanovic |