Pax Art Awards 2022
The year 2022 marks the fifth edition of the Pax Art Awards. These art prizes, awarded by the Art Foundation Pax in collaboration with HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel, honour and promote media-specific practices of Swiss artists whose works involve media technologies or cast light on their impact.
The main prize of CHF 30,000 goes to the artist Pe Lang for his trailblazing and long-standing work in the field of media art. The artist receives CHF 15,000 in support of the production of new work. Further CHF 15,000 go toward the acquisition of a work for the Art Foundation Pax collection. Two additional prizes are awarded young, up-and-coming media artists. This year Johanna Bruckner and Jennifer Merlyn Scherler each receive CHF 15,000, which comprise prize money and acquisition.
Pe Lang
The jury was impressed by the distinctive and consistent development of Pe Lang's (*1974) oeuvre, which now spans three decades. His works are characterised by clear compositions that conceal nothing. Taking an almost scientific approach, he continuously poses new questions of form, colour, space, rhythm and sound. With the subtle whirring of their engines, the sensual rustling of paper, the flashing coloured stripes or the microscopic rippling of silicon dots, his works hold a magical and poetic quality capable of enchanting their viewers.
Johanna Bruckner
Johanna Bruckner’s (*1984) artistic work appears as a kaleidoscope of moving images, sound, narration and performance, built on an elaborate theoretical and poetical foundation. Operating in what Bruckner describes as an ecology of trust and care, it is the imagination that emerges as the central instrument in building a new reality where human, non-human and technical bodies fluidly merge into one another. The jury was impressed by Bruckner’s visually striking eloquence in negotiating current discourses on identity politics, feminism, queer theory, post-humanism and the capitalisation of corporeality and intimacy.
Jennifer Merlyn Scherler
Jennifer Merlyn Scherler’s (*1996) work explores issues of intimacy, identity, gender fluidity, self-image and nostalgia through various (not exclusively digital) formats and media, ranging from video, lecture performance, sound, installation, photography and poetry. Investigating internet culture and setting a spotlight on cultural behaviours, Scherler reveals how offline structures of cultural dominance are mirrored in the digital sphere. The jury was impressed by Scherler’s manner of addressing complex social issues in their work, achieving both substantive depth and a persuasive aesthetic and form.