Painting has long outgrown the quiet confines of stretchers and framed linen. Few artists demonstrate this radical evolution as boldly as German painter Kerstin Brätsch (b. 1979), who has been awarded the twentieth Zurich Art Prize.
Conferred annually by Museum Haus Konstruktiv alongside the Zurich Insurance Company, the prestigious CHF 130,000 ($161,000) award honors artists who bridge constructivist-concrete and conceptual legacies with contemporary modes of creation. With CHF 100,000 earmarked for production, Brätsch’s solo exhibition at Museum Haus Konstruktiv in June 2027 promises a major spatial transformation.
Born in Hamburg, Brätsch developed her foundational rigor in Berlin studying under conceptualist Lothar Baumgarten before completing her MFA at Columbia University in New York. Since 2024, she has led the painting department as a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, shaping a new generation of artists.
Rather than adopting the trope of the isolated genius, Brätsch’s practice thrives on collaboration. Her work actively disrupts singular authorship through long-term collective platforms:
This fluid boundary between individual studio practice and shared production allows Brätsch to continuously test where painting ends and installation begins.
Brätsch’s recent works demonstrate a commitment to embedding art within functional, lived environments. Rather than mounting static objects on gallery walls, she constructs responsive physical ecosystems.
Joining previous prize recipients such as Kapwani Kiwanga, Tino Sehgal, Leonor Antunes, and Carsten Nicolai, Brätsch brings an approach that feels especially resonant for Museum Haus Konstruktiv. Her upcoming June 2027 presentation will test how constructivist geometry, historical craft, and raw materiality can co-exist within the same exhibition space.
By dissolving the distinction between painting, sculpture, and social utility, Kerstin Brätsch demonstrates that the canvas is not a static window to look at—it is a living structure to inhabit.