Irish photographer Richard Mosse is the recipient of the 2017 Prix Pictet
The CHF 100,000 prize, sponsored by the Pictet Group, was awarded to Richard Mosse for his series Heat Maps 2016-17, realized with the use of a military-grade thermal camera, able to detect body heat from a distance of 30.3 km. The project documents the journey of of migrants across Europe, the Middle East and north Africa.
The award, established in 2008, has become the leading international prize for photographers. Its six previous laureates are Benoit Aquin, Nadav Kander, Mitch Epstein, Luc Delahaye, Michael Schmidt and Valérie Belin. Mosse was chosen from a shortlist of twelve artists including Saskia Groneberg, Beate Gütschow, Rinko Kawauchi, Benny Lam, Sohei Nishino, Sergey Ponomarev, Thomas Ruff, Munem Wasif, Pavel Wolberg and Michael Wolf. An exhibition of work by the twelve shortlisted photographers will be on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London between May 6 and 28. More information via The Guardian.
Foundation Beyeler extension revealed
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has unveiled plans for an extension of the Foundation Beyeler in the Iselin-Weber Park, Basel, which was announced in September last year.
Adjoining the Foundation’s park to the south, the previously private land of the Iselin-Weber Park will be transformed in a public park in the heart of the Riehen municipality of Basel. The CHF 100 million extension project includes the creation of a group of museum buildings that will satisfy the needs of a visitor-friendly museum, increasing the amounts of accessible facilities. The size of the Foundation’s park will also be doubled. More information via the Foundation’s official website.
Beyeler — Courtesy Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner
Tate’s Switch House gets a new name
Tate Modern has announced that its new extension — temporarily named the “Switch House” — will be named after URSS-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, who was responsible for one of the largest donations in the institution’s history. Made in 2011, the Blavatnik Family Foundation’s donation covered the large majority of the £260 million needed to complete the Tate’s extension. More on The Guardian.
Occupy Museums to stage protest at the Whitney Museum
Following the February Anti-Trump protests organized at MoMA, Occupy Museums are back in New York, where they are planning on staging “a counter-commencement debtors ceremony” this Friday during the Whitney Museum’s “pay what you wish” hours. (19:00-21:00)
Occupy Museums’ action aims to call attention to what the group the severe debt burden weighing down recent art-school graduates. The issue was denounced in their installation Debtfair, presented at the Whitney Biennial and consisting of an infographic detailing the profits of the company Blackrock, which also owns the debts of several artists whose work was included in the installation. artnet news has more information.
