Zurich Art Prize 2015: Latifah Echakhch

Museum Haus Konstruktiv and the Zurich Insurance Group are delighted to honor with Latifa Echakhch (b. 1974 in El Khnansa, lives in Martigny) the eighth winner of the internationally renowned “Zurich Art Prize”.

Latifa Echakhch, who was born in Morocco and lives in Switzerland, impressed the jury with her oeuvre, which is based on a precise concept and implemented in a clear, independent language. The divides between a precise reduced language of forms and the deliberations regarding content characterize Latifa Echakhch’s work and were the decisive factor that prompted the unanimous vote in her favor. This artist often turns her attention to issues regarding individual and cultural identity, as well as the phenomena of memory and absence. She incorporates poetry, literature, politics, society and history as recurring fields of reference. For instance, her 2007 installation “À chaque stencil une révolution” (For each stencil a revolution) initially comes across like an abstract wall painting. However, on closer inspection it becomes clear that Echakhch is also reminding us (and conveying through the title) that in times of political unrest, political manifestos used to be duplicated with the aid of blue carbon paper. Each of the blue sheets glued to the wall represents the possibility of a revolution. Thus, the supposedly abstract painting transforms into a politically explosive wall hanging. The divides between a precise reduced language of forms and the deliberations regarding content characterize Latifa Echakhch‘s work and were the decisive factor that prompted the unanimous vote in her favor.