Cildo Meireles receives Europe's highest-value art prize from Kunsthaus Zürich

Brazilian conceptual artist Cildo Meireles has been awarded the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, Europe's most financially significant art honor with a value of CHf150,000 (£134,955). The Kunsthaus Zürich presents this lifetime achievement recognition. Meireles first gained prominence during the 1960s as part of a Brazilian conceptualist movement that politicized Neo-concretism in response to military dictatorship censorship. His Insertions Into Ideological Circuits series from the 1970s involved modifying Coca-Cola bottles with political statements and instructions for creating Molotov cocktails before returning them to store shelves. He also altered banknotes with political messages before circulating them. The artist later achieved institutional acclaim for immersive installations including Red Shift (1967), featuring three entirely red domestic rooms, and Através (1983-89), an installation with barriers and a floor covered in broken glass. Established in 2001 and named after Swiss art dealer Roswitha Haftmann, the prize was first given to Walter de Maria. Previous recipients include Maria Lassoing, Mona Hatoum, Carl Andre, and Lawrence Wiener. Meireles represents the first South American artist to receive this distinction.