Art Basel has revealed the first cohort of medalists to be honoured with its newly-launched annual award series, selecting 36 leaders from across the contemporary art community. Winners include artists, curators, art critics and other industry professionals, along with art patrons. The medalists will be honoured in a reception at the Kunstmuseum Basel during Art Basel’s upcoming Swiss fair in June.
Medals have been awarded to 16 artists across three different categories. The icon category, for “legendary artists” with enduring careers and impact, includes Lubaina Himid, the pioneer of the British Black Arts Movement who will represent Britain at next year’s Venice Biennale; Betye Saar, whose work explores her African American identity and intersection with other cultures; and the Chilean fibre artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña who was creating work tied to environmentalism decades before it came to the forefront of the art world. The American artists David Hammons, Joan Jonas, Adrian Piper were also medalists in this category.
The second category, “Artists Established”, celebrates mid-career artists including the Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei, who works in photography, video and installations; Ibrahim Mahama, whose large-scale installations investigate labour, trade and materials; Colombian artist Delcy Morelos, well-known for her massive, site-specific installations often made of dirt and pigments. Other medalists in the Artists Established include Nairy Baghramian, Tony Cokes and Ho Tzu Nyen.
Artists earlier on in their careers were selected for the “Artists Emerging” category, featuring the sculptor and video artist Meriem Bennani; Pan Daijing, who creates immersive installations using sound, performance, choreography and film; and Saodat Ismailova, an Uzbek film-maker and artist who centres Central Asian women in her practice. Other winners in this section include Mohammed Alfarah, Lydia Ourahmane and Sofia Salazar Rosales.
Medals will also be awarded in categories for cross-disciplinary creators along with patrons, institutions, curators, members of the media and a section for “allies” for the “unsung heroes” who do behind-the-scenes work in support of artists. Medalists across these sections include the fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, Forge Project executive director and chief curator Candice Hopkins and the Raw Material Company arts centre in Dakar, Senegal. The Swiss billionaire and collector Maja Hoffmann, who founded the Luma Foundation, won the medal in the patron category.
The medalists were chosen from a pool of nominees by a jury consisting of nine members, including Serpentine artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist, Museu de Arte de São Paulo and 2024 Venice Biennale curator Adriano Pedrosa and the late Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa and 2026 Venice Biennale curator Koyo Kouoh.
Later this year, the 36 medalists will vote amongst themselves to select a group of 12 gold medal recipients, who will be revealed in December during a ceremony at Art Basel Miami Beach. Those winners will receive nearly $300,000 combined, according to Art Basel, along with opportunities for networking, tailored partnerships and high-profile commissions.
