Bruce Nauman is this year’s laureate of the Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts, which has been awarded in the past to Frank O. Gehry, Toyo Ito, Olafur Eliasson, and Heimo Zobernig among others. The international jury of experts agreed on the conceptual artist Bruce Nauman, who was born in 1941 and now lives in New Mexico, USA. 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. It honours “extraordinary achievements in architecture and the arts that relate to Frederick Kiesler’s experimental and innovative attitudes and his theory of ‘correlated arts’ by transcending the boundaries between the traditional disciplines” (Statutes of the Kiesler Prize).

The award presentation took place at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York on March 30, 2015. Federal Minister Dr. Josef Ostermayer presented the award to Nauman's son Eric and his granddaughter, as the laureate had to cancel on a short note due to his health condition. Nauman sent a personal video message from New Mexico, his close friend Frank Owen read an acceptance speech.

 

 

"In Bruce Nauman one of the most significant artists of his generation is honoured. By awarding Bruce Nauman with the Frederick Kiesler Prize we continue a path that Frederick Kiesler with his holistic concept of the fundamental correlation of architecture, theatre, design, science and fine art already walked along. Here a tradition becomes apparent that significantly characterises the cultural life of Austria."
Dr. Josef Ostermayer, Austrian Federal Minister for Arts and Culture

 

"As one of the most creative and innovative architects and artists, Frederick Kiesler has decisively shaped the development oart and architecture in the 20th century. In the form of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation the significance of this universalist is strongly embedded in the cultural landscape of the city of Vienna. Bruce Nauman, one of the most radical and successful artists of his generation, fits perfectly into the prominent league of previous prize winners. I am very pleased that his work is honoured with the Frederick Kiesler Prize 2014."

Dr. Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, Vienna City Councillor for Cultural Affairs

 

"As Nauman stated upon the question of accepting the prize: ‘It makes sense’. It was Hans Hollein who brought back Kiesler home, to Austria: his own corporal machine - like objects and architectural labyrinths of the 1960s bring Kiesler and Nauman to mind. Kiesler, Hollein and Nauman, these three creators: the return of the aliveness of the cultural object, between art and architecture."

Chris Dercon, Director of Tate Modern, London, Chairman of the jury

 

"For Nauman, as for Kiesler, the circulation through indeterminate space and placelessness formulates an architecture of delirious continuum. Recognizing Nauman at this stage in the Kiesler Prize cycle situates the pertinence and profundity of such a journey for artists and architects alike."

Hani Rashid, President of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation, Vienna-New York

 

"Bruce Nauman stands in a line with the world’s re-inventors who fathom and re-define the endless space of art. Frederick Kiesler and the laureate of 2014 connect the 20th and 21st century and – with their open work concepts – the avant-garde with the current interdisciplinary discourse of art and architecture in a global world."

Peter Bogner, Director of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation, Vienna

 

 

 

Jury of the Kiesler Prize 2014:

• Mario Codognato, chief curator 21er Haus, Vienna
• Chris Dercon, director Tate Modern, London
• Juan Herreros, architect Juan Herreros Arquitectos
• Nicolaus Schafhausen, director Kunsthalle Wien
• Jasper Sharp, curator Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

 

With the friendly assistance of Le Méridien Vienna