Prix Meret Oppenheim - A New Phase The steady glow of starlight.
The Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim was created by the Federal Office of Culture in conjunction with the Federal Art Committee. It honours artists, architects, curators, scholars and critics who have helped Swiss art and culture to shine, nationally and internationally, over the course of many years. This year the artists Christoph Büchel and Olivier Mosset, the curator Urs Stahel and the architects Astrid Staufer and Thomas Hasler are receiving the award in recognition of their brilliant and sustained contribution to the history of art and architecture in Switzerland. For its 15th edition, the The Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim has been updated and opened to the public. Now part of the Swiss Art Awards exhibition, the Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim enjoys a dedicated space in which to look back on its history and to highlight the 2015 winners. We are delighted about this close cooperation with the Swiss Art Awards. Bringing together these two swiss awards has made it possible for both amateur and professional audiences to meet all the key players on the artistic scene : talented newcomers, rising stars, and established figures.
This publication was created in close collaboration with the awardwinners. A conversation from 2000 between Olivier Mosset, Lionel Bovier and Christophe Cherix has been adapted for publication here a decade later. Christoph Büchel, who has avoided doing interviews for the past ten years, wished to make a contribution to the publication “in the spirit of Meret Oppenheim”. Urs Stahel reminisced with Martin Jaeggi about various episodes in his career as a curator of photography. And the duo Staufer / Hasler spoke to Beat Schläpfer about their activities designing, teaching and researching architecture.
Our heartfelt congratulations to the winners! The Federal Office of Culture would like to thank the authors and the translators, as well as the following people : Marietta Eugster for the graphic design ; Mathilde Agius for the photographs ; Jessie Fischer and her team for the filmed portraits and Manuela Schlumpf for her excellent work in coordinating the project.
Léa Fluck Cultural Production, Art Promotion