Otto Mauer Prize 2022 goes to Maruša Sagadin

Maruša Sagadin, an artist born in Ljubljana in 1978 and living in Vienna, is the recipient of this year's Mrsg. Otto Mauer Prize. The award, worth 11,000 euros, will be presented to her on November 22, the Otto Mauer Fund announced. Sagadin convinced the jury with her artistic practice at the intersection of architecture, sculpture and painting, as well as "through her distinctive idiosyncrasy, through her colors and through her form."
Jury statement

"The colors are strong, blue, yellow, pink, orange-brown, white. The shapes are reminiscent of works of pop art from the 1970s or 80s, Claes Oldenburg comes to mind, or fretwork with clear references to the outlines of bodies or letters," the jury statement continued. "All of this has a very attractive, accommodating, inviting effect."

The works of the 42nd Otto Mauer Prize winner have a humor all their own, he said, which is articulated not least in the relationship between the sculptures and their titles, such as Schnelle Beine (Fast Legs, 2019) or Das Herz in der Hose (The Heart in the Pants, 2018). "The works don't meet you from above, as 'high art,' but are on a level with those who encounter them."

The award has been presented by the Otto Mauer Fund of the Archdiocese of Vienna since 1981. This year's jury included artist Dorit Margreiter, Belvedere Director General Stella Rollig, Johanna Schwanberg (Director of the Dom Museum Vienna), artist Maja Vukoje and Jesuit Father Gustav Schörghofer. From December 10 to February 4, 2023, selected works of the laureate will be on display in the Jesuit Foyer in Vienna.

Maruša Sagadin studied architecture in Graz from 1997 to 2004, followed by studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 2005 to 2010, where she worked as an assistant professor from 2012 to 2017.