Helvetia Art Prize
Award winner 2024: Virginie Sistek
Virginie Sistek’s (*1999) artwork examines social phenomena and the resulting power structures. The artist places a particular focus on the topic of domestication. Based on specific situations, her installations, performances and videos address the question of what creates consensus or disagreement between individuals. She is interested in forms of subjugation and their self-legitimisation over time and explores ways of resisting these automatisms. Virginie Sistek manages to convey pressing social issues to her audience with humour and empathy. She is able to recount stories that are compelling due to both their social relevance and their subversion.
With her room-filling installation "Resurrection Ranch", in which the artist deals with the domestication and exploitation of female horses in the so-called blood farm industry, she convinced the jury of the Helvetia Art Prize 2024 - consisting of Peter Bläuer (LISTE Art Fair Basel), Stefanie Gschwend (Kunstmuseum und Kunsthalle Appenzell), Nadia Veronese (Kunstmuseum St.Gallen), Maja Wismer (Kunstmuseum Basel) and Nathalie Loch (Fachstelle Kunst Helvetia).
The judging of the Helvetia Art Prize 2024 took place in March 2024 as part of the exhibition project "Plattform" at the Kunstmuseum Appenzell. The annual exhibition shows a selection of new works by the most promising graduates of various Swiss art schools.
Committed to the Arts
The Helvetia Art Prize is an important part of the internationally active insurance group’s commitment to art. The prize, which was launched in 2004, is intended as start-up aid for graduates of Swiss art schools and underlines the company’s long-standing commitment to Swiss art. It specifically promotes artists who are at the beginning of their careers. While the company’s own collection of contemporary Swiss art – which is considered one of the most important of its kind – focuses primarily on painting, drawing and photography, the sponsorship award for young artists is open to a wider array of artistic practices. This is intended to give resonance to new ideas and art forms explored by the upcoming generation of artists. The prize includes financial support of CHF 15,000 and an exhibition at Liste Art Fair Basel.
Past winners who exhibited at Liste Art Fair Basel include Bisso Yann Stéphane (2023), Jonas Van Holanda (2022), Anita Mucolli (2021), Tiphanie Kim Mall (2020), Kaspar Ludwig (2019), Gina Proenza (2018), Andriu Deplazes (2017), STELLA (2016) and Dijan Kahrimanovic (2015).
www.helvetia.ch/art
HEK (House of Electronic Arts)
HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel is a museum dedicated to digital culture and new art forms of the information age. As a Special Guest of Liste Art Fair Basel 2024, HEK presented three artistic positions that use worldbuilding as an artistic tool, showing interactive and immersive works by Mélanie Courtinat, Andy Picci and Moritz Piehl.
In recent years, gaming has become an important field of reference in contemporary art. 3D sculpting software and game engines have become natural tools for artistic expression. Worldbuilding strategies, such as imagining and creating a narrative, characters and an environment for alternative worlds, have also gained traction in discussions around the metaverse. The question of how we shape and move around within these emerging digital landscapes is becoming increasingly pressing.
Works by the three exhibited artists present viewers with a variety of imaginative solutions of how we can inhabit these new digital spaces. Mélanie Courtinat’s "Ten Lands" (2021) is a walking simulator videogame with 10 incredibly atmospheric immersive landscapes to explore. "Cloud 3.0" (2023) by Andy Picci is an exhibition space, studio and virtual home built by the artist in the metaverse Spatial that visitors can dive into with a VR headset. In his installation "An Image of Love" (2021), Moritz Piel remixes reality TV and social media into new physical landscapes, questioning how online lifestyles shape physical space.
do you read me?! – Berlin’s art bookshop at Liste
Liste Art Fair Basel is excited to team up with Berlin’s do you read me?! to create the fair’s first-ever bookstore featuring a handpicked selection of unique and exciting printed matter from the fields of contemporary art and culture.
do you read me?! is a renowned haven for book and magazine enthusiasts nestled on a serene street in Berlin’s Mitte district. The little shop boasts an inspiring curation of printed matter, catering to the diverse tastes of print aficionados. From publications on art, photography and design to fashion, architecture, literature, music, film and food, do you read me?! offers a captivating panorama of the contemporary printed realm. At the pop-up bookstore at Liste, visitors will discover an exciting assortment of the latest contemporary art books as well as a selected number of art magazines.
do you read me?! will be located on the Piazza in the middle of the fair hall.
Can't make it to the fair? Sorry you missed a title and want to explore their full selection? You can always browse and order online at www.doyoureadme.de
Email: info@doyoureadme.de
Instagram: @doyoureadme_berlin