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The 36 Game-Changers of the Art Basel Awards 2025
May 16, 2025
A Bold New Chapter in Global Art Recognition
The Art Basel Awards 2025 mark a powerful new chapter in the global art world, honouring 36 trailblazing figures across disciplines and geographies. These inaugural awards spotlight artists, curators, designers, institutions, patrons, and storytellers who are not only transforming the present but shaping the future of contemporary art.
Launched by Art Basel and presented in partnership with BOSS, this forward-looking platform recognises cultural innovation through a wide lens, eschewing the traditional, retrospective structure of art prizes in favour of a model that is interdisciplinary, inclusive, and visionary.
“The Art Basel Awards are not a competition, but a beacon,” said Vincenzo de Bellis, Chair of the Art Basel Awards and Art Basel’s Director of Fairs & Exhibition Platforms. “They shine a light on those working with radical vision, skill, and commitment to building communities of practice and exchange.”
Redefining Excellence Beyond the White Cube
Spanning nine categories, the Art Basel Awards 2025 recognise a full ecosystem of creativity—from pioneering visual artists to behind-the-scenes facilitators, from cross-disciplinary designers to critical cultural theorists.
Courtesy – Art Asia Pacific
The award categories include:
Icon Artists
Established Artists
Emerging Artists
Cross-Disciplinary Creators
Curators
Museums and Institutions
Patrons
Media and Storytellers
Allies (behind-the-scenes contributors)
“The spirit of the awards was about how to further support the progression of artists’ careers,” said Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel. “We’re aspiring to fill a void, there’s no leading platform that honours the art world in its full complexity.”
The 36 Medalists Cultural Innovators of Art Basel Awards 2025
An international jury, comprising experts such as Hans Ulrich Obrist, Suhanya Raffel, Elena Filipovic, and the late Koyo Kouoh, selected this diverse cohort for their visionary impact and boundary-pushing practices.
Icon Artists
These artists have left a profound mark on global art history:
Lubaina Himid – British Black Arts Movement pioneer and 2026 Venice Biennale representative
David Hammons – Known for conceptual critiques on race and social systems
Joan Jonas – A foundational figure in performance art
Adrian Piper – Celebrated for politically charged conceptual art
Betye Saar and Cecilia Vicuña – Exploring ancestral knowledge, identity, and ecological activism
Courtesy – Lan Kwai Fong
Established Artists
Recognised for sustained global influence:
Cao Fei – Chinese multimedia artist working with brands like Prada and Gucci
Ibrahim Mahama – Known for monumental installations exploring labour and materiality
Delcy Morelos – Famed for immersive Indigenous earthworks
Ho Tzu Nyen, Tony Cokes, and Nairy Baghramian – Innovators in video art, installation, and sculpture
Emerging Artists
Voices defining the next generation of contemporary art:
Meriem Bennani – Surreal, satirical video installations
Pan Daijing – Sonic and performance-based explorations
Saodat Ismailova, Mohammed Alfaraj, Lydia Ourahmane, and Sofia Salazar Rosales – Engaging climate, identity, and diasporic histories
Cross-Disciplinary Creators and Critical Thinkers
Unlike many contemporary art awards, the Art Basel Awards 2025 place strong emphasis on cross-disciplinary creators, those whose practices transcend visual art to influence fashion, literature, design, and critical theory.
Recipients include:
Grace Wales Bonner – British-Jamaican designer blending diasporic memory and literature through fashion
Formafantasma – Italian duo challenging ecological design norms
Saidiya Hartman – Cultural theorist, reshaping the historical narratives of Black life and memory
“They represent the gold standard for excellence for art practitioners and professionals who defy categorisation and challenge conventions,” Art Basel said in a statement. “These individuals are cross-disciplinary and are relevant beyond the art world and through allied fields of fashion, design, music, film, publishing, and the performing arts.”
Institutions, Curators, and Behind-the-Scenes Heroes
Curators
Candice Hopkins – Championing Indigenous knowledge systems
Shanay Jhaveri and Eungie Joo – Innovating curatorial models around the world
Courtesy – Art Basel
Institutions
RAW Material Company (Dakar) – A cultural incubator founded by the late Koyo Kouoh
Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai) and ART + PRACTICE (Los Angeles) – Community-focused institutions championing accessibility
“Art is not the work of artists alone, but the fruit of an ecosystem, curators, patrons, institutions, and collaborators, who sustain and amplify creative practices,” noted the Art Basel Awards team.
Allies
Art Handlxrs* – Collective supporting queer, BIPOC, and gender-nonconforming art workers
Gasworks / Triangle Network (London)
Sandra Terdjman – Co-founder of KADIST and AFIELD (Paris)
Media and Storytellers
Negar Azimi – Editor-in-Chief of Bidoun
Barbara Casavecchia – Curator and art writer
The Journal of Curatorial Studies – Advancing curatorial discourse globally.
The Upcoming Art Basel Gold Medals and Summit
In a unique peer-led model, the 36 Art Basel Award medalists will vote among themselves to select 12 Gold Medalists during Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. This process, unlike anything in the traditional art award ecosystem, ensures recognition flows from within the community.
“With this initiative, Art Basel stands to deliver ever more opportunities for the art world’s key players, forge new paths for exchange and collaboration across industries, and create new touchpoints with our core and rapidly expanding audience,” said Noah Horowitz.
Gold Medal recipients will receive:
$50,000 in unrestricted funding for Emerging and Established Artists
Public commissions and exhibition opportunities
Charitable donations of $50,000 in the name of Icon Artists
“The Art Basel Awards tap the global power of our brand in new and truly significant ways, underlining our absolute commitment to industry leadership through innovation and impact,” Horowitz added.
Fashion Meets Art: BOSS as Presenting Partner
The collaboration with BOSS reflects the growing convergence of art and fashion.
“Fashion and art are deeply connected and, as a result, art is an integral part of our DNA,” said Daniel Grieder, CEO of HUGO BOSS. “HUGO BOSS has a 30-year history of art sponsorship, and by supporting the Art Basel Awards with BOSS, we are taking our commitment to the next level.”
Courtesy – Magzoid Magazine
“With the support of BOSS, the Art Basel Awards aim to nurture a self-sustaining ecosystem and alumni network, with the continued objective of powering the future of art,” the company said.
Art Basel Awards in Switzerland and Miami Beach
The 36 medalists will be honoured on June 19, 2025, at the Kunstmuseum Basel, followed by the Art Basel Awards Summit on June 20, a public forum exploring the future of art and culture.
The Gold Medalists will be announced in December 2025, during Art Basel Miami Beach, a global celebration of contemporary creativity and collaboration.
“We are thrilled to honour this year’s Medalists, artists and allies whose work is reshaping how art is created, experienced, and channelled across contemporary culture,” concluded de Bellis.
The Future of Art Through Recognition and Community
The Art Basel Awards 2025 are not just accolades, they are a bold intervention in how contemporary art is valued, supported, and celebrated. By embracing a holistic, global perspective, Art Basel is reshaping what it means to honour creativity in the 21st century.
From emerging artists and established visionaries to critical thinkers and cultural caretakers, this program reflects a deeply interconnected art world that is, above all, collaborative, inclusive, and transformational.
