2006 Cultural Prize: Huber.Huber

On 7 September 2006, the “2006 Julius Baer Cultural Prize”
(formerly the “EvE Cultural Prize”), which is endowed with CHF 20,000, was awarded to the Zurich twins, Reto and Markus Huber (born 1975).

The two artists use large groups of works to examine everyday social and scientific relationships. Behind what initially appears to be scientific note-taking, research and sketches there lies an uninhibited, childlike pleasure in observing complex systems. Huber.Huber are alert to banal everyday situations that in their triviality are sometimes almost unnoticeable. Thus, all over the city of Zurich, for example, you can find works by Huber.Huber that at first sight do not appear to be works of art at all: bird houses that seem to have turned out wrong - like touching objects that an awkward young child has put a great deal of effort into. As far as the birds are concerned, however, it makes no difference whether they were built by children or artists. In this work Huber.Huber take our almost reflex-like ideas of right and wrong and good and bad to ridiculous lengths and playfully destabilise our automated judgments.

Awarding the Julius Baer Cultural Prize to Huber.Huber singles out two smart, witty young Swiss artists at the start of a promising career. With their unconventional and - in a positive sense - childishly refreshing reflections on contemporary patterns of behaviour, they subtly and humorously infiltrate rigid ways of thinking.