Artsy Vanguard 2026 artist Heidi Lau and Hong Kong–based painter Wong Ping have been named winners of the 2025 Sigg Prize. This is the first time that the award, run by the Hong Kong–based museum M+, has been won jointly.
“Heidi Lau and Wong Ping, in their own compelling ways, demonstrate bold possibilities for expression through their distinctive use of medium and mature artistic languages, offering profound insights into the complexities of our shared experience,” said Suhanya Raffel, director at M+, and chairperson of the Sigg Prize, in a press statement.
The Sigg Prize was established in 2018 to recognize contemporary artists from China and its diaspora. The 2025 edition carries a total prize fund of HK$1 million ($128,000). Each of the shortlisted artists receives HK$100,000 ($12,800), while Lau and Wong are awarded HK$300,000 ($38,500) each. Previous recipients include Samson Young in 2019 and Wang Tuo in 2023.
Lau, born in 1987 in Oakland and working between Macau and New York, is recognized for Pavilion Procession (2025). This installation comprises ceramic sculptures and a programmed kinetic spider assembled from ceramic and mechanical parts. Lau has been recognized for her unconventional approach to her medium. She has been featured in a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and will be part of a two-artist show at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco in 2026.
“Receiving this recognition for a predominantly ceramic piece feels surreal, especially since the medium is often seen as secondary in contemporary art,” Lau said in a press statement. “This experience affirms my early conviction to devote my practice to this medium, which I believe has the power to create form and meaning out of the unknowable.”
Ping, born in 1984 in Hong Kong, was honored for Debts in the Wind (2025), a video installation staged within a miniature environment. The installation uses animation and voiceover narration to tell loosely connected storylines set around a golf course. “Making art often means facing unease, uncertainty, and ambiguity,” he said in a press statement. “Winning the Sigg Prize feels like a soothing remedy. It calmed my mind just enough to let me step into the next unknown with boldness.”
The Sigg Prize exhibition—which is currently on view at M+ through January 4th, 2026—also features works by four other shortlisted artists: Shanghai-based artist Bi Rongrong, Singaporean artist Ho Rui An, Taiwanese artist Hsu Chia-Wei, and Berlin-based artist Pan Daijing.
