The Swiss Art Awards exhibition in Basel (Switzerland) runs concurrently with Art Basel each year. The show features the finalists of the award and the laureates. The laureates each receive a prize of CHF 25,000. Among the 2023 laureates are Maria Guta (born in 1983 in Bucharest (RO) and Lauren Huret (born in 1984 in Paris (FR), who work in Neuchâtel and Geneva. The Swiss Art Awards 2023 exhibition shows their works Heads for Business and Bodies for Sin (2022), Baby’s Dilemma (2023), and Collapse (2023).

Official description: “In Heads for Business and Bodies for Sin, Maria Guta and Lauren Huret appropriate the motif of the ‘high-powered career woman’ from 90s Hollywood films as a sensual critique of this stereotype of femininity and success. Using re-en- actment and digital tools, the two artists step into this reference world in which they grew up (albeit in very different parts of the world) and whose ideas of female success have by no means been overcome. They also draw parallels with the current pressure of self-representation and the use of erotic capital on social media, including for female artists. The second work exhibited here, Baby’s Dilemma, explores the idea that societal notions of female success are linked in a contradictory way with the decision to have children or not. Maria Guta and Lauren Huret won over the jury with their witty, smart and unsettling work, which takes a clear-eyed look at both the history of media and pop culture, and current issues.”

The Swiss Art Competition, held annually since 1899, is the world’s oldest art award. The accompanying Swiss Art Awards exhibition, which is organized by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, offers an insight into current art and architecture in Switzerland and is a valuable reference for art professionals and art lovers. The jury of the Swiss Art Awards consists of seven members of the Federal Art Commission, selected by the Federal Council, as well as five invited experts.

Maria Guta & Lauren Huret / Swiss Art Awards 2023. Basel (Switzerland), June 12, 2023.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.