Basel, 13 June 2023. The Baloise Art Prize has been awarded to Sky Hopinka and Sin Wai Kin. The prize of CHF 30,000.- will be presented at the Statements sector of Art Basel by a jury of international experts. The prize includes the acquisition by Baloise of works by the award winners, which are donated to two important museums in Europe: the MMK Frankfurt and the MUDAM, Luxembourg.  

Sky Hopinka
“Just a Soul Responding” is a four-channel film by Hudson based artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka. It starts with the classical motif of the road movie – driving through the landscapes of the United States. The poetic montage of filmed images, short texts by the artist and recorded music in the tradition of experimental film addresses the trauma of the inexorable loss of indigenous tradition and the spiritual significance of natural environs. In his film collages, the artist, himself a native American of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, succeeds in subtly invoking time-honored traditional ways of life threatened with annihilation by the onslaught of modern civilization.

Sky Hopinka, *1984, lives in Hudson, USA
Statements Stand M7, Broadway, New York, USA
 

Sin Wai Kin
Various characters take shape gradually and insistently on the green screen in the exhibition space, but what we see goes much beyond classical representation. Several fields of research overlap in Sin Wai Kin’s portraits, ranging from the spectres of femininity or masculinity to the diverse embodiments of the printed matter of art history and their respective staging. These video works enlist a diversity of metaphors to demonstrate the binary in the form of surreal narratives that transcend the normative processes of constructing identity, desire and objectification. A compelling blend of performance, moving image, cultural history and theatricality characterizes these intense productions.

Sin Wai Kin, *1991, lives in London, UK
Statements Stand M4, Soft Opening, London, UK
 

This year’s jury includes:

• Karola Kraus, General Director MUMOK Vienna and chair of the Jury
• Bettina Steinbrügge, Director MUDAM, Luxemburg
• Susanne Pfeffer, Director MMK, Frankfurt
• Uli Sigg, Collector
• Gabriele Knapstein, Hamburger Bahnhof/ Nationalgalerie Berlin

During Art Basel 2023 from 15 to 18 June 2023 all the winners will be presented at the Baloise Studio (Hall 2.2).

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