The AUSTRIAN FREDERICK KIESLER PRIZE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND THE ARTS 2012 goes to the American artist ANDREA ZITTEL.

The bestowal of the highly renowned award for “outstanding achievements in the field of architecture and the arts”  by the Vienna City Councillor for Cultural Affairs Andreas Mailath-Pokorny will take place in the SKY ROOM of the New Museum in New York on the 15th of November 2012.

“Andrea Zittel is a superb choice, and I am greatly pleased by the jury’s decision. Andrea Zittel’s artistic work is devoted above all to analysing and shaping our immediate environment. She designs clearly defined dwelling units intended to cater for human needs and the everyday requirements of our lives. By optimising prevailing living standards, she also accommodates the intention of the Viennese authorities to continue to refine social housing, architecture and design.” (Andreas Mailath-Pokorny)

The award, with a substantial prize-money of 55,000 euros, is presented alternately by the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna every two years “for outstanding achievements in the field of architecture and the arts that conform to Frederick Kiesler’s experimental, innovative conceptions and his theory of correlated arts” (Statutes of the Kiesler Prize).

The international jury of the Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts 2012 pays tribute to Andrea Zittel as a “leading artist at mid-career, who is both influential and somewhat under-recognized.  Based in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California, Zittel takes an expansive approach to art and space making, creating social sculptures that traverse boundaries between art, architecture, design and technology. […] The jury selected her primarily for her experimental and innovative work that has extended the dialogue of contemporary art and ideas. In the spirit of Frederick Kiesler, her work is both intellectual and yet deals with real life situations and occurrences. Zittel's sculptures and spatial installations transform everything necessary for life - such as eating, sleeping, bathing, and socializing - into artful experiments and scenarios for new ways of living.” (Decision of the Jury, extract)

Kiesler Prize Jury 2012:

Hermann Czech (AT), architect, lives and works in Vienna, visiting professor at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst (Vienna), Harvard University (USA) or Cambridge (USA); numerous international exhibitions including solo exhibitions in London and Basel

Bartomeu Marí Ribas (ESP), currently Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA), 1996 – 2002 director of Witte de With, Contemporary Art Centre in Rotterdam, Curator of numerous international exhibitions and the Spanish Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennial (2005)

Lisa Phillips (US), director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York since 1999, international art critic and curator of numerous exhibitions, has authored over 20 publications and written articles for several journals and magazines

Hani Rashid (US), architect and co-founder of Asymptote Architecture, has received numerous awards and recognition for visionary projects, Professor of Architecture at the Angewandte University of Applied Arts in Vienna since 2011, head of “Studio Hani Rashid” at the Institute for Architecture

Dietmar Steiner (AT), director of the Architekturzentrum Wien, president of ICAM (International Confederation of Architectural Museums), architecture consultant on a number of juries and for a number of appraisals, many published articles on the topics of architecture and urban development

For more information on the Prize-winner:

Press material

Andrea Rosen Gallery