Established in 1994 in honour of the Cologne art collector Wolfgang Hahn, the Wolfgang Hahn Prize has since been awarded annually to an exceptional, internationally known artist who is nonetheless not yet well known in Germany. In 2015 the prize was awarded for the first time to two artists, R.H. Quaytman and Michael Krebber. This publication honours the prizewinners, both of whom approach the medium of painting from a decidedly conceptual standpoint. With a foreword by Mayen Beckmann, an introduction by Yilmaz Dziewior, a laudation by Daniel Birnbaum, and an afterword by Hanspeter Sauter.

More than thirty years ago the Swiss-Argentine artist Vivian Suter (*1949) moved to the rain forest in Panajachel, Guatemala, to live on a former coffee plantation. Since then she has worked on her impressive paintings in her wooden-hut studio, as well as outdoors. Her canvases lie on the sandy ground or hang in trees; dust, mud, leaves, mangos, and insects leave their traces on them. Her painting is influenced by organic processes and coincidence—even natural disasters are her material, when flood waters make their mark on canvases, becoming part of her large, colorful paintings. With texts by Adam Szymczyk, contributions by R.H. Quaytman, Moyra Davey, Hendrik Folkerts. Designed by Studio Manuel Raeder.

You can see Rosalind Nashashibi’s film Vivian’s Garden here.