Art Basel Names 33 Medalists for Its 2026 Awards, With Gold Prizes to Follow in Miami
Art Basel has unveiled the 33 medalists for the second edition of its Art Basel Awards, widening the scope of its annual honors program to include artists, curators, collectors, institutions and other figures it describes as essential to the art ecosystem. The 2026 medalists will be recognized during Art Basel’s flagship fair in Basel, Switzerland, from June 15-21, with a smaller group later selected for gold medals at Art Basel Miami Beach in December.
The awards are structured to reflect different forms of influence across contemporary art. In the emerging artists category, Art Basel named Farah Al Qasimi, Carla Gueye, Diego Marcon, Aziza Kadyri, Precious Okoyomon and Tiffany Sia. The established artists category includes María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Arthur Jafa, Theaster Gates, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Julie Mehretu. Barbara Kruger, Howardena Pindell and Jenny Holzer were singled out in the icon artists category, which recognizes artists whose work has had a lasting impact on the field.
A separate cross-disciplinary category brings together Laurie Anderson, Sumayya Vally and Kulapat Yantrasast, underscoring the awards’ interest in the overlap between contemporary art, music and architecture. The program also extends beyond artists themselves. Patrons named as medalists include Pamela J. Joyner, Mercedes Vilardell and the Teiger Foundation, while curators Azu Nwagbogu, Stuart Comer and Diana Campbell are also among the honorees.
Institutions and art-world platforms are part of the picture as well. This year’s medalists include Savvy Contemporary in Berlin, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation in Saudi Arabia and the Brick theatre incubator in Brooklyn. In the media and storytellers category, Art Basel recognized Hilton Als, Siddhartha Mitter and Anton Vidokle, the artist and founder of e-flux. The Allies section honors Independent Curators International, New Curators in London and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s artist-in-residence program.
Gold medal recipients will be chosen from among the medalists themselves and announced in December in Miami. Those honorees will receive more than $250,000 in flexible support, including honorariums, philanthropic contributions and public commissions. Art Basel launched the awards last year as a way to recognize people and institutions for the work they do on a daily basis, with an emphasis on future-facing influence rather than retrospective acclaim.
