Autofocus
6 November – 30 December 1999
Kunsthalle Zurich
Eidgenössische Preise für Freie Kunst Swiss Art Awards 1999
Installation:
– Adhesive letters, dimensions variable
Artist's book:
– Typography with Theo Leuthold, 24 pages; 6 x 9 inches
Commissioned by the Swiss Art Commission on the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Art Awards, 1999
Müller produced “Autofocus” in 1999 at the request of the Swiss Art Commission. In commemoration of the centennial anniversary of its Prize for Fine Art, Müller presented a colored text installation on a glass wall in the entrance area of the Kunsthalle Zurich. Through fifteen questions, the installation explored the prestige, reputation, selection criteria, and usefulness of the prize for artists. Müller had posed the following questions to participants in the Swiss competition and art facilitators involved in the prize: “To what extent is this a federalist competition?” “Does it offer particular support to artist groups?” “Was this prize established instead of a national art academy a hundred years ago?” “Is this academy lacking today?” Over the course of its one hundred year history, the Swiss Art Prize has developed a consistent standing, which, as Bernhard Mendes Bürgi comments in the catalogue, does not bring with it the glamorous aura and immediate success of the British Turner Prize. Instead, it is an expression of the cultural funding policies of a grass-roots democracy and federalist system.
Müller used contrasting colors for the questions and answers and organized the texts in a tabular format according to the individual segments of the window façade. The differentiation in color among the answers in accordance with their origin was carried through in the artist’s book — for example, whether they came from prizewinners, jury members or art critics – although the answers were condensed into one-page clusters in which individual answers were grouped around the corresponding question. In both versions, the object of investigation — the internal workings of the competition — is clearly revealed in the positions formulated in the questions and answers. “Autofocus” is concerned with the self-reflection of a specific production segment of contemporary Swiss art, the support of young talents, and not with its assessment from without, as the answers of those questioned illustrate: “My suggestion would be to include foreign members in the jury. The commission is very inbred.” “The 20,000 Francs do not give you a sense of security.” “Again and again, you are fixated on this provincial track, where regionalism is considered a strength, and you don’t have a chance to grow, like German or American artists do.”