Baloise Group has a long-standing tradition of promoting talent. For many years, it has given access to careers with substance. The same idea of sponsorship is also paramount in the company's commitment to art – through acquisitions for its own collection and in the form of the Baloise Art Prize, awarded each year to two young and emerging artistic talents.
The two awards, which include a cash prize of CHF 30,000 each, are presented in the Statements sector of the Art Basel fair by a jury made up of renowned art specialists. In addition, Baloise buys groups of works by the prizewinners with the object of donating them to two leading European museums, currently the Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin and the MUDAM, Luxembourg.
Baloise's commitment to fostering the arts in the form of prize money, purchases of art works, financial support for Art Statements, and museum exhibitions for the prizewinners amounts to some CHF 250,000 each year. Many earlier prizewinners are now prominent members of the international art scene: www.baloiseart.com. During Art Basel 2021 (24-26.9.2021), the Baloise Studio will present all the winners and their works in Hall 2.2.
The nominees for the Baloise Art Prize 2021 are:
Evgeny Antufiev, Emalin Gallery, London
Vartan Avakian, Marfa' Gallery, Libanon
Elaine Cameron-Weir, JTT, San Francisco
Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Company Gallery, New York
Cameron Clayborn, Simone Subal Gallery, New York
Matt Copson, High Art, Paris
Rafa Esparza, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles
Edith Karlson, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn
Caroline Mesquita, Union Pacific, London
Hana Miletić, LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina
Diane Severin Nguyen, Bureau, New York
Andrés Pereira Paz, Isla Flotante, Buenos Aires
Jessi Reaves, Bridget Donahue, New York
Rose Simpson, Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
Diamond Stingily, Queer Thoughts, New York
Dena Yago, Bodega, New York
Liu Yefu, Magician Space, Beijing and
Min Yoon, Lars Friedrich, Berlin.
This year's jury includes:
- Marie-Noëlle Farcy, Curator/Head of Collection, MUDAM, Luxembourg;
- Grażyna Kulczyk, art collector and founder of the Muzeum Susch;
- Stéphane Aquin, Director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts;
- Sven Beckstette, Curator at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin and
- Martin Schwander, Fine Art Advisor of Baloise, Chairman of the jury.
The decision of the jury will be announced at the Art Basel media conference, Tuesday, 21 September, 2021, 2 p.m.