KWS ART PRICE

The Art Prize of the Keller-Wedekind Foundation (KWS) serves to promote and honour outstanding achievements in the field of visual figurative art in Switzerland. The KWS Prize in 2023 will be awarded to the photographer Peter Hebeisen.

Hebeisen’s photographic series revolve around the theme of portraiture. His photographs are interpretations of what the camera lens captures. It is the sharp look behind and below the visible surface that allows penetration into the subcutaneous landscape of humans, animals and nature.

The 20th Century European Battlefields series is remarkably topical. Peter Hebeisen photographed places in Europe where the great warlike battles of the 1st and 2nd World Wars took place. Where nature and towns were devastated for kilometres and thousands of people died, today there are cities, tranquil groves or idyllic beaches with umbrellas and ice cream stands. Nevertheless, it is war photography that, as it were, posthumously portrays the place and its dead.

Hebeisen’s latest series of Swiss glaciers, What remains, is also impressive. The photograph brings the glacier close to a living being that suffers and dies – a fascinating counterpoint to the magnificent beauty of the mountain world.

AWARD CEREMONY
1 November, 2023, 6.30 pm
Laudatio: Nadine Olonetzy

ARTIST TALK
11 November 2023, 2 pm
Peter Hebeisen in conversation with Anna Wesle (Museum Franz Gertsch) and Detta Kälin (KWS)

PREVIOUS AWARDEES:
2021 Andrea Muheim
2019 Tobias Weber
2017 Thomas Ritz
2015 Joëlle Flumet
2013 Gabriella Gerosa

Further information on the Keller-Wedekind Foundation.

Further information on the photographer Peter Hebeisen.