Paul Boesch Art Prize 2026 awarded to Raphael Hefti

Raphael Hefti winner of Paul Boesch Art Prize 2026

Raphael Hefti (*1978, Biel/Bienne Switzerland) has been awarded the Paul Boesch Art Prize 2026, which honours the work of a Swiss artist in the field of visual arts. The prize ceremony will take place on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at the Kunstmuseum Bern.

Raphael Hefti is among the most internationally recognised Swiss artists of his generation. At the cor2Titleaddexpandmore-dots Titlee of his practice is an engagement with industrial materials and manufacturing processes, which he deliberately alters and transfers into an artistic context. Built through close relationships with specialised skilled workers, his works emerge from processes of exchange, trust, and shared experimentation, redefining the boundaries between art, craftsmanship, and industry.

His works often emerge through interventions into existing production methods: materials are overstretched, chemical processes intentionally misdirected, or industrial procedures manipulated. The resulting objects and installations are characterised by a distinctive aesthetic language shaped equally by precision and unpredictability. Hefti’s works reveal hidden structures and forces while simultaneously addressing questions of control, chance, and materiality.

After completing an apprenticeship as an electronics technician, Hefti turned to art in 1998 and studied at ECAL in Lausanne and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. His artistic trajectory has led from early experiments at Kunsthaus Glarus to international institutions such as Camden Art Centre in London and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, culminating in his largest institutional survey exhibition to date at Kunsthalle Basel. Through his consistent, radical, and innovative practice, Raphael Hefti has established a highly distinctive artistic language.

The Paul Boesch Art Prize is both the youngest and one of the most highly endowed art prizes in Switzerland. Since 2016, it has been awarded annually to honour the work of a Swiss artist in the field of visual arts.