Basel, 11 June 2024. The Baloise Art Prize has been awarded to Tiffany Sia and Ahmed Umar. 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.

Tiffany Sia

Tiffany Sia’s installation invites viewers to experience video in an unconventional way. In the course of following the traces of King Hu – a martial film director who shot his movies in the Taiwanese countryside – she presents a visual meditation on the notion of what Salman Rushdie once called the "imaginary homeland"; that is, the (romanticised) view of their native country often cultivated by people living in the diaspora. In her collection of essays, On and Off-Screen Imaginaries, she critically examines vernacular documentary cinema. By projecting the film "The Sojourn" on a curved curtain and "Antipodes II" on a rear-view mirror, she conjures the feeling of disruption and underscores the materiality of the image while also introducing a painterly dimension to the medium of film.

Tiffany Sia, *1988, lives in New York City, NY, USA
Statements Stand M14, Felix Gaudlitz gallery, Vienna, Austria 

Ahmed Umar

Ahmed Umar takes souvenirs that have hardened into clichés and transforms them into poetic and spiritual forms, lined up like prayer beads in 15 different poses. He combines materials, such as wood, plaster, rubber or metal, to create smooth, handmade assemblages that seem to glide through one’s hands. In this way, Ahmed Umar demonstrates the complexity of Islam, the diversity of ways in which it is handed down and practiced in different regions, while at the same time drawing attention to the mistaken conviction that spirituality is confined to the written word.

Ahmed Umar, *1988, lives in Oslo, Norway
Statements Stand M17, OSL contemporary gallery, Oslo, Norway

This year’s jury includes: 

• Karola Kraus, General Director MUMOK Vienna and Chair of the Jury 
• Marie-Noëlle Farcy, Curator/Head of collection MUDAM, Luxemburg 
• Susanne Pfeffer, Director MMK Frankfurt 
• Ann Demeester, Director Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich 
• Uli Sigg, Collector and patron of the arts 

During Art Basel 2024 (from 13 to 16 June 2024) all the winners will be presented at the Baloise Studio (Hall 2.2).

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