Meet the Winners of the First Art Basel Awards

Summary

• Art Basel reveals the 36 medalists for its inaugural Art Basel Awards, co-presented by BOSS.
• Across nine categories, the winners include artists across all career stages, institutions, curators and behind-the-scenes allies.
• The winners will be honored at the marquee Swiss fair in June, and 12 finalists will be announced during Art Basel Miami.

Art Basel has unveiled the 36 recipients of its first-ever Art Basel Awards, an ambitious new program spotlighting the visionaries shaping contemporary culture. Unlike conventional accolades focused on past achievements, these awards signal an ambitious commitment to cultural stewardship by celebrating artists and institutions that embody boundary-pushing and future-facing creativity.

Among the cohort inaugural honorees are performance art pioneer Joan Jonas; conceptual provocateur David Hammons; Turner Prize-winner Lubaina Himid; cultural theorist Saidiya Hartman; menswear designer Grace Wales Bonner, who recently made her MET debut as a host committee member; and post-industrial, electronic artist Pan Daijing.

Presented in collaboration with BOSS, the 2025 Art Basel Awards span nine categories, including arts of the emerging, established and icon varieties, alongside cross-disciplinary creators, curators, institutions, patrons, allies and media and storytellers. The winners are selected by a global jury – featuring the likes of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Suhanya Raffel and the late Koyo Kouoh — based on their “vanguard vision,” skill and cross-cultural resonance.

The winners will be honored next month at Art Basel’s flagship event in Switzerland, and headline the Art Basel Awards Summit — the fair’s debut leadership forum. In December, the 12 finalists will be revealed at Art Basel Miami. Artist awardees will receive nearly $300,000 USD in honorariums, along with international platforms for collaboration and new commissions.

Check out the full list of 2025 medalists below:

Artists – Icon
David Hammons
Lubaina Himid
Joan Jonas
Adrian Piper
Betye Saar
Cecilia Vicuña

Artists – Established
Nairy Baghramian
Tony Cokes
Cao Fei
Ibrahim Mahama
Delcy Morelos
Ho Tzu Nyen

Artists – Emerging
Mohammad Alfaraj
Meriem Bennani
Pan Daijing
Saodat Ismailova
Lydia Ourahmane
Sofia Salazar Rosales

Cross-disciplinary Creators
Formafantasma
Saidiya Hartman
Grace Wales Bonner

Patrons
Shane Akeroyd
Maja Hoffmann
Joel Wachs

Institutions
ART + PRACTICE
Jameel Arts Centre
RAW Material Company

Curators
Candice Hopkins
Shanay Jhaveri
Eungie Joo

Allies
Art Handlxrs*
Gasworks / Triangle Network
Sandra Terdjman

Media and Storytellers
Negar Azimi
Barbara Casavecchia
The Journal of Curatorial Studies