BEIRUT, 21 November 2004 — The British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum received the most valuable art prize in Europe at a ceremony in Zurich last night.
The 120,000 Swiss franc (just over $100,000) prize is awarded by the Swiss Roswitha Haftmann Foundation every one to three years to a living artist whose work is of outstanding importance. The three previous winners have been American sculptor Walter de Maria, Austrian artist Maria Lassnig and Canadian photo-artist Jeff Wall.
Hatoum’s work revolves around the theme of the vulnerability of the individual. Her large-scale three-dimensional pieces and installations are presently on show at several exhibitions worldwide including the “Magasin3 Konshall,” in Stockholm, the Rene Blouin Gallery in Montreal and the group exhibition “Cordially Invited” at the “Basis voor Actuele Kunst” in Utrecht.
She demonstrates — and useful, perfectly harmless objects can be turned into threatening instruments. Alienation is a central issue in Hatoum’s work, and evident above all in the substitution of one material by another: Rubber, for instance, replaces metal in a child’s bed that is consequently unable to fulfill its function and collapses.
According to Bjorn Quellenberg, editor of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation’s Website, the singular appeal of Hatoum’s works derives not least from the extreme precision of every detail and from their finely calculated placement.
The Roswitha Haftmann prizewinner is chosen by the foundation’s board, consisting of the Directors of the Kunstmuseum Bern, the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and the Kunsthaus Zurich, and other members named in the Constitution of the Foundation or co-opted by the Board itself.
Hatoum was born to Palestinian parents in 1952 in Beirut, where she was raised. She has lived in London for over 20 years.