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The Federal Office of Culture awards the Grand Prix Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim to the art educator Jacqueline Burckhardt, the architectural duo Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi, and the painter Valérie Favre.
Great honor for three women and one man: The Federal Office of Culture announced the winners of the Grand Prix Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim 2024 today, Thursday. This is the 24th time that the BAK has honored outstanding Swiss cultural workers.
Networker in the art scene
With the award for Jacqueline Burckhardt, this prize goes to a cultural mediator who chaired this commission herself (1998–2006). She was instrumental in setting up the Grand Prix Kunst / Prix Meret Oppenheim.
However, Burckhardt’s career extends far beyond this role. In the mid-1980s she co-founded the art magazine “Parkett”. In 101 issues until it was discontinued in 2017, the magazine “brought together the most important artists of their generation,” writes the BAK.
She has “successfully campaigned for the international positioning of the Swiss art scene and the recognition of contemporary art,” writes the BAK in justifying the award.
Environmental awareness in architecture
The BAK credits Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi with “pioneering achievements in modern timber construction”. The two ran the Burkhalter and Sumi office together in Zurich, which is now called “Oxid Architektur” after the generational change in 2020. Both Burhalter and Sumi continue to work in the areas of architecture, theory and exhibitions and they accompany their former office.
Since the beginning of their careers, both have focused their construction and research activities on sustainability. They continue this activity under the name Burkhalter Sumi, even after they have handed over the baton in their office to their partners.
One of their pioneering achievements is that they developed new types for housing construction based on their environmental awareness. The BAK particularly refers to the so-called “adaptive reuse”, a reuse strategy that has become an example for today’s architecture.
Feminist pioneering role in painting
In the work of the painter Valérie Favre, the BAK highlights “her figurative and narrative painting”. With her artistic work, which has been developed over more than 30 years, Favre plays a pioneering role, writes the BAK.
While conceptual art and minimal art were discussed in contemporary art before the turn of the millennium, Favre created expressionist compositions. She also made a name for herself as a feminist painter. In her works she refers to film, literature and art history.
The artist often works on different series at the same time over several years: for example, “Lapine Univers” (2001–2012) about a hybrid figure with long rabbit ears who is both a heroine and anti-heroine. Another series is her collection “Suicide” (2003–2013). With this, the artist deals with the topic of suicide in countless forms.