launched in New York<\/a> back in May, ahead of Art Basel\u2019s flagship fair in Switzerland, with 36 honorees\u2014or medalists, in the parlance of the initiative. That group was then asked to vote on up to 12 \u201cgold\u201d winners, which were announced on Thursday night in South Beach at the New World Center. A block from the fair\u2019s home at the Miami Beach Convention Center, it was designed by Frank Gehry, who died on Friday at 96.<\/p>\nThe night\u2019s host was musician and collector Kasseem \u201cSwizz Beatz\u201d Dean, who, as a Grammy winner, is no stranger to such events. \u201cAwards shows are interesting,\u201d he began his remarks. \u201cWe dress up, we practice our cute faces for the camera, we rehearse our thank yous. But tonight let\u2019s do it different. Let\u2019s celebrate the hustle, the craft, the reward. Let\u2019s celebrate the ones who said no to easy, and yes to hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendees included photographer Ellen von Unwerth, uber-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, dealer Nicola Vassel, collectors Don and Mera Rubell, and artist Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, who brought over from the fair two of his dystopic Regular Animals robots, one with the face of Jeff Bezos, the other of Elon Musk. It was quite the crowd, all seated together in the center\u2019s concert hall.<\/p>\n
The artists get $50,000 apiece, either as an honorarium or as a charitable gift that can they can give to an organization of their choice. Those in the \u201cestablished artist\u201d category also receive a commission that will debut at Art Basel in Switzerland next year. The top winners were as follows:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Cecilia Vicu\u00f1a in the \u201cIcon\u201d category,
\u2013 Nairy Baghramian and Ibrahim Mahama in the \u201cEstablished\u201d category for artists,
\u2013 Mohammad Alfaraj and Saodat Ismailova in the \u201cEmerging\u201d category,
\u2013 Formafantasma in the \u201cCross-Disciplinary\u201d category,
\u2013 Joel Wachs in the \u201cPatron\u201d category,
\u2013 RAW Material Company as the winning \u201cInstitution,\u201d
\u2013 Candice Hopkins won in the \u201cCurator\u201d category,
\u2013 Gasworks \/ Triangle Network got the \u201cAllies\u201d award,
\u2013 Negar Azimi won for \u201cMedia & Storytelling,\u201d
\u2013 and fashion brand Hugo Boss presented the BOSS Award for Outstanding Achievement to artist Meriem Bennani.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a lively affair. Actor Emma D\u2019Arcy, a star of HBO\u2019s House of the Dragon, lent her voice to help guide the action, and an abstract, glowing form on a large screen bobbed to the inflections of her announcements. \u201cWe\u2019re here to celebrate the full spectrum of creativity, and what\u2019s shaping arts and culture,\u201d she said, in a recording, at the start. \u201cPlease silence your cellphones and immerse yourself in the future of art.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the ground, Swizz kept the audience engaged, even at one point roving the aisles for someone to interview and landing on collector Komal Shah. \u201cIf you could predict the next big change in the art market,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhat would it be?\u201d She was quick: \u201cIt\u2019s a no-brainer that women artists deserve a lot more, and deserve to be at the top of the art world.\u201d<\/p>\n
On with the show! There was a lovely half-time performance by cellist Kelsey Lu, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, one of the jurors for the awards, addressed the audience. \u201cThe Art Basel Awards are trans-generational and inclusive, recognizing the many dimensions of the art world,\u201d he said. \u201cAt a time marked by separation, they nurture dialogue and remind us how vital the transformative power of art is for society.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd then adjourned to the New World Center\u2019s roof, where empanadas were passed around in cigar boxes and the mezcal pours were generous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Art Basel Miami Beach this year, a new marquee event joined the annual rotation of parties, dinners,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8],"tags":[1203,1377,15706,31347,31353,31354,13634,1936,31348,31356,31355,31363,27390,31362,77,31359,31349,31344,31346,31361,31351,31341,31343,31360,31345,31357,31342,1938,3370,31350,5529,31358,31352,31340],"class_list":["post-56041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basel","tag-art","tag-art-basel","tag-art-basel-awards","tag-art-basel-awards-2025","tag-art-basel-ceremony","tag-art-basel-honorees","tag-art-basel-miami","tag-art-basel-miami-beach","tag-art-basel-miami-beach-awards","tag-art-basel-new-world-center","tag-art-basel-winners-2025","tag-artnet-pro","tag-artnet-news","tag-artnet-news-pro","tag-basel","tag-candice-hopkins-award","tag-cecilia-vicuna-icon-award","tag-don-rubell","tag-ellen-von-unworthy","tag-hans-ulrich-obrist-art-basel","tag-ibrahim-mahama-award","tag-kelsey-lu","tag-koala-shah","tag-komal-shah-art-market","tag-mera-rubell","tag-meriem-bennani-boss-award","tag-merrier-bennani","tag-miami","tag-miami-beach","tag-nairy-baghramian-award","tag-noah-horowitz","tag-raw-material-company-award","tag-swizz-beatz-art-basel","tag-swizzle-beatz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}