Sky Hopinka, 2023 Baloise Art Prize

«Just a Soul Responding» is a four-channel film by Hudson based artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka. It starts with the classical motif of the road movie – driving through the landscapes of the United States. The poetic montage of filmed images, short texts by the artist and recorded music in the tradition of experimental film addresses the trauma of the inexorable loss of indigenous tradition and the spiritual significance of natural environs. In his film collages, the artist, himself a native American of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, succeeds in subtly invoking time-honored traditional ways of life threatened with annihilation by the onslaught of modern civilization.

In addition to the cash prize, Baloise acquires a group of works by the award winners and donates them to two important European museums. The works of Sky Hopinka were presented to the collection of the MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt.