Miriam Cahn Wins the14th Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen

Miriam Cahn will be awarded the 14th Rubens Prize from the City of Siegen in June 2022. Every five years since 1957, the Rubens Prize has been awarded to an artist living in Europe for their complete work focusing on painting and graphic art. The renowned art prize is endowed with € 25,000 and comes along with a publication and an exhibition at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen. A jury of experts has selected artist Miriam Cahn, born in Basel in 1949, as the new prize winner.

The Jury (from left to right): Prof. Dr. Astrid Mania, Prof. Jutta Koether, Prof. Philipp Pirotte, Prof. Dr. Beate Söntgen, Thomas Thiel (moderator, director of MGKSiegen), city councillor Arne Fries (Chief Councillor for Culture, City of Siegen). Prof. Susanne Pfeffer is missing. Photo: Carsten Schmale

The jury comprising Prof. Jutta Koether (Professor of Painting and Drawing, HFBK Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Astrid Mania, (Professor of Art Criticism and Modern Art History, HFBK Hamburg), Prof. Philippe Pirotte (Professor of Art History and Curatorial Studies, Städelschule Frankfurt), Prof. Susanne Pfeffer (Director, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Beate Söntgen (Professor of Art History, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg) justified their decision as follows:

”Miriam Cahn occupies an idiosyncratic painterly position of great expressiveness. Subjective perceptions and feelings are combined in her work with social and political questions. The focus is on the body with all its fragility and exposure - also to external factors. This is particularly evident in the works engaging with the situation of refugees. The relationship between the human body and the machine is a theme as well as the organic, also in the sense of connections between human and non-human beings. From the beginning of her development, Cahn has adopted a consciously feminist, independent and uncompromising stance. Her painting has unfolded free of academic rules and aesthetics, and employing a wide variety of forms and materials.“

Miriam Cahn has personified one of Switzerland’s most respected artistic standpoints since the 1970s and is now regarded as one of the world’s most important artists. She was invited to documenta 7 in Kassel as early as 1982 and was also represented at the Venice Biennale in 1984. Her work has since been shown in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including Kunsthalle Basel (1983), Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984), Kunstmuseum Bonn (1985), Kunsthaus Zurich (1993), Fundación La Caixa, Madrid (2003), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2004), Badischer Kunstverein (2014) and Kunsthalle Kiel (2016). Miriam Cahn was represented at documenta 14, Kassel (2017), and the 21st Sydney Biennale (2018). In 2019 alone, Cahn had major exhibitions across Europe, including the Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Reina Sofía Madrid, Haus der Kunst Munich, and the National Gallery of Modern Art Warsaw. This year, The Power Plant, Toronto is showing an extensive solo presentation of the artist’s work. She is currently realising ”FREMD das fremde“ at Palazzo Castelmur (Canton Graubünden/Switzerland) – a site-specific exhibition accompanied by a series of panel discussions and a publication. 

The Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen, established in 1955, is one of the most prestigious international art prizes. It is awarded every five years to a painter or graphic artist who has distinguished himself or herself in European art with a pioneering life's work. The award commemorates the painter-diplomat Peter Paul Rubens, who was born in Siegen and who, as a leading master of European Baroque painting, set the artistic standards to which the award has been committed since 1957.

Miriam Cahn, Installation view ”Me As Happening“, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Courtesy the artist and Meyer Riegger Berlin/Karlsruhe/Basel, Photo: David Stjernholm

Miriam Cahn, DAS WILDE LIEBEN (frauenräume), état de guerre 1984, Installation view Serpentine Gallery London, Courtesy the artist and Meyer Riegger Berlin/Karlsruhe/Basel, Photo: Unknown