Tarik Kiswanson wins the Marcel Duchamp Prize.

Palestinian Swedish artist Tarik Kiswanson has been named the winner of the 2023 Marcel Duchamp Prize, an annual award recognizing significant contributions to the French contemporary art scene. Born in Sweden in 1986 and currently based in Paris, Kiswanson was honored for his diverse body of work that spans sculpture, writing, performance, drawing, sound, and video.

The artist’s work often explores themes of rootlessness, regeneration, and renewal. His formally solid, minimalist sculptural pieces and videos examine subjects including memory, heritage, birth, loss, and belonging; at times drawing on the artist’s personal experience of arriving in Sweden as a child from Palestine.

Kiswanson, who is represented by carlier | gebauer, has had a series of recent exhibitions that have garnered attention both nationally and internationally. In 2023 alone, his work was shown at the Salzburger Kunstverein, Bonniers Konsthall, and Museo Tamayo. Previous exhibitions include the M HKA-Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp and the 16th Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2022, as well as a 2018 showing at the Centre Pompidou (where the Marcel Duchamp Prize is also hosting an exhibition of the nominated artists).

The prize, which was founded in 2000 to recognize artists born or based in France, includes €35,000 for the winner, as well as a residency at Villa Albertine in the U.S. The other nominated artists were Bertille Bak, Bouchra Khalili, and Massinissa Selmani.