Canvassing for upcoming Swiss artists

Hadrien Dussoix's art work was one of those to receive a prize

As all eyes turn to the Art Basel contemporary art fair, young Swiss talents are showing what they have to offer in a parallel exhibition in the city.

The 31 works on display in a hall just across from the international fair are all prize winners in the annual Swiss Art Awards, aimed at encouraging the country’s fledgling talent.

The awards, handed out at a ceremony in Basel on Monday, are organized by the Federal Culture Office.

The winning entries, which included five joint works, were picked from more than 600 applicants by the Federal Art Commission. The total prize money is SFr806,000 ($778,00).

Started in 1899, the competition is the oldest of its kind in the country. It has been taking place on the sidelines of Art Basel, which opens on Wednesday, since 1994.

“Switzerland is a cultural crossroads and this meeting place of the international art world is very good place for young talents to be discovered and also be discussed,” commission president Hans Rudolf Reust told swissinfo.

“It’s an information point for young artists in Switzerland and for collectors and art dealers,” the art critic said.

There are some marked trends among the works this year, with slightly fewer paintings, drawings and sculptures and more installations and video pieces, according to Reust.

“These pieces are mostly representations of thinking. There’s a lot of thinking in Switzerland, I was astonished and there is a lot of political awareness about globalization, ecological projects. These media are used to express these thoughts,” he explained.

One such example is a huge picture showing an overgrown “grave” of a well-known Swiss brand of petrol, symbolizing the effects of the energy crisis.

New and old names

This year also brought with it new names, with a higher proportion than ever coming from a migration background. Reust said it is proof of the reality of multicultural Switzerland.

However, not all the prize winners are new to the game. For Urs Zahn, an artist from Bern, it is the second time he has received an award.

“It’s an honour,” he said, as he put the finishing touches to his installation ahead of the ceremony.

For Zahn and his fellow artists, the federal competition is the most important of its kind. “It’s the first opportunity for most of us to see each other working and have a chat, whether in French, German or Italian,” said Zahn.

Being a young artist is not always easy, in Switzerland or anywhere else, said Zahn, who welcomes the platform offered by the exhibition and competition.

Swiss art market

Switzerland has in recent years gained in standing as an international art market, driven in part by the highly successful Art Basel. It is currently the fourth largest market in the world behind the United States, Britain and France.

There are also many impressive private collections in the country, according to experts. One of them, the Bührle collection in Zurich, recently hit the headlines when four major works were stolen in an audacious heist. Two were later found in an abandoned car.

Reust says that Switzerland – which in the past has produced Alberto Giacometti and Ferdinand Holder – also has a thriving contemporary art scene.

“Of course we have the well known international names like Fischli Weiss, Thomas Hirschhorn and Pipilotti Rist,” he explained.

“But there are lots of youngsters that you might also discover here as well.”

swissinfo, Isobel Leybold-Johnson in Basel

Swiss Art Awards

Of the entries sent in, around 80 were chosen for the second round. In the end, 31 pieces, some of them joint works, were given prizes.

Among the recipients were 2 architects and 4 art mediators. All prize winners are under 40 years old.

Several other prizes from private institutions are also given out in parallel to the Swiss Art Awards.

The exhibition runs until June 8, the last day of Art Basel.

Art Basel

Art 39 Basel takes place June 4–8, 2008.

The international art show for Modern and contemporary works features almost 300 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

More than 2,000 artists are represented in the show’s multiple sections. The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works.

55,000 people attended Art Basel last year, including art collectors, art dealers, artists, curators and other art enthusiasts. The New York Times has called Art Basel the “Olympics of the Art World.”