The Baloise Art Prize - awarded annually to two young, emerging artists exhibiting in the Statements sector at Art Basel - has been awarded to Jenni Tischer from Germany and Kemang Wa Lehulere from South Africa. The two prizes of CHF 30,000 will be presented at the Art Fair by a jury of international experts. The prize includes the acquisition by the Baloise Group of a selection of works by the award winners, which are donated to two important museums in Europe: currently the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna.

 

Both of the winning artists responded to socio-cultural and political concepts in their work, with Tischer drawing on Modernist techniques to explore ideas of authorship, production and feminism, and Lehulere exploring questions of collective memory, seeking to uncover the traces of South African history.

 

Art Basel runs until June 16, 2013.

 

Jack Smylie