Praemium Imperiale | Artists’ Legacy Foundation | Prix du design IMA | Visa pour l’image | Re:Paris Prize | LDF | Maison&Objet

Praemium Imperiale | Artists’ Legacy Foundation | Prix du design IMA | Visa pour l’image | Re:Paris Prize | LDF | Maison&Objet

2026-09-14 10:53:00

2026-09-14 10:54:59

2026-09-14 10:54:59

Marion Hirsch

Awards of the Week Praemium Imperiale 2026artAndy GoldsworthyPraemium Imperiale for SculptureAndy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor and one of the most prominent figures in contemporary art, renowned for his innovative explorations of time, nature, and the land. Working across sculpture, installation, photography, and film, he examines the human connection to the natural environment through both monumental permanent projects and delicate, ephemeral works. His five-decade practice captures the subtle balance between tumultuous force and quiet beauty, documenting the cycle of loss and regeneration inherent in the natural world. Image: Andy Goldsworthy, Oak Passage, 2025. Dumfriesshire, Scotland. © Japan Art AssociationartJenny HolzerPraemium Imperiale for PaintingJenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist who has transformed the way language is experienced in contemporary art for over four decades. Working with text as her primary medium across electronic signs, stone carvings, light projections, and paintings, she brings words into public space to address issues of power, memory, and human rights. Challenging conventional communication with clarity and moral courage, her distinctive practice explores the political and social implications of public speech and the relationship between language and space. Image: Jenny Holzer, All Fall, 2012. L&M Arts, Venice, California, USA, 2012. © 2012 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Photo: Joshua White/JW Pictures.architectureDaniel LibeskindPraemium Imperiale for ArchitectureDaniel Libeskind is a Polish-American architect and urban designer celebrated globally for creating emotionally resonant, innovative, and sustainable architecture. Guided by a deep engagement with music, philosophy, and literature, he serves as Principal Design Architect of Studio Libeskind, leading major international projects including museums, concert halls, and cultural centers. Through his practice and public discourse, he continues to shape contemporary architectural thought and influence the cultural evolution of modern cities. Image: Studio Libeskind, Bundeswehr Museum of Military History, Dresden, Germany, 2011. Photo: Roland Horn. © Japan Art AssociationAbout the Praemium Imperiale Artists’ Legacy Foundation 2026 Artist AwardartMildred HowardArtist AwardThe Artists’ Legacy Foundation has announced Mildred Howard (b.1945, San Francisco) as the recipient of the 2026 Artist Award. Howard’s sculptures, public artworks, installations, and collages evoke memory, place, pain, and belonging through their powerful visual sensibilities. Through a sophisticated and dynamic use of material and commentary, Howard’s distinctive style of assemblage is purposeful in its mission to elicit feeling from her audience, "My work has evolved out of a desire to communicate and remember in a world that regularly forces silence and amnesia upon large groups of people—especially people of color—and in which both actors and spectators are numb to the pain of the other side," said Howard in 2021. Image: Mildred Howard, Black Has Always Been a Color, 2024, glass bottles, wood, glue, high heels, 20 1/4 x 28 3/4 x 22 inches. Photo: Chris Grunder, courtesy of Anglim/Trimble, San Francisco.About the Artists’ Legacy Foundation Artist Award Prix du design de l'IMA 2026designSalima NajiGrand PrixSalima Naji is the winner of the Grand Prix in this year's Prix du design de l'Institut du monde arabe, for the Tiznit Living Heritage Centre, a rammed-earth cultural space, with vernacular structures constructed on site by master craftmen. Salima Naji founded her firm in Morocco in 2004 to offer a constructive alternative, prioritizing traditional (earth and stone) and bio-based materials as part of an innovative and environmentally responsible approach. As one of the few women working in rural areas and southern Morocco, where she has been based since 2008, she is leading the way and, through her ongoing advocacy, is helping to gradually change architectural practices and urban planning regulations. Image: Studio Salima Naji, Tiznit Living Heritage Centre, Morocco.About the Prix du design de l'IMA Visa pour l’image 2026photographyLuis TatoVisa d’or News Roger ThérondThe winner of the 2026 Visa d’or News Roger Thérond, funded by Paris Match, is Luis Tato/AFP for his coverage of the Generation Z protests in Madagascar. Generation Z found itself at the center of several protests in 2025, notably in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, and Madagascar, where large-scale demonstrations—which began on September 25 and were violently suppressed—led the army to overthrow President Andry Rajoelina in mid-October. Luis Tato spent about ten days among the protesters, who were denouncing, among other things, the failure of public services, corruption, and persistent economic hardships. Image: © Luis Tato / AFP. Antananarivo, October 13, 2025. Outside City Hall, protesters celebrate as President Andry Rajoelina has been forced to step down.photographyJérôme GenceVisa d’or MagazineThe winner of the 2026 Visa d’or Magazine is Jérôme Gence for Virtual Marriages in Japan for Le Figaro Magazine. Jérôme Gence tells the story of women and men who choose to marry fictional characters, primarily from manga or video games. His work explores a phenomenon at the intersection of otaku culture, the merchandise economy, and new forms of attachment. Behind the subject’s apparent strangeness lie very contemporary issues facing our societies: loneliness—whether chosen or imposed—social pressure, economic hardship, the power of the virtual world, and the transformation of couples and perhaps already of the family. Image: Akihiko Kondo, the groom, leaves the chapel to the applause of the guests, holding a stuffed animal depicting Hatsune Miku, a Japanese virtual singer. Photo © Jérôme Gence for Virtual Marriages in Japan for Le Figaro Magazine.About Visa pour l’image 2026 Re:Paris PrizearchitectureArafa C. Hamadi Bled el Abar CollectiveRe:Paris PrizeVan Alen Institute and the Pan-African Biennale have announced Arafa C. Hamadi and the Bled el Abar Collective as the two Africa-based winners of the 2026 Re:Paris Prize. Arafa C. Hamadi’s project Who Designs Knowledge? asks how exhibition design can become a tool for building narrative spaces rooted in African aesthetic and material cultures. Bled el Abar Collective's project Ifriqya: A Territory of Hospitality looks at places of hospitality, including oases, tents, and wells, that punctuate the North African Sahara. For millennia, they have been sites of dwelling, gathering, and cultivation; today they are also tangible acts of resistance against colonial legacies, the authority of nation-states, and extractive economic systems. Together with those who live there, the collective will map these places, learn their stories, and investigate the contemporary realities they reveal. Image: Nomad of the Algerian Rebïa tribe, Grand Erg Oriental, South Tunisia, 2023. Courtesy of Bled el Abar Collective. Photo: Yann Gross.About the Re:Paris Prize London Design Festival 2026designJonathan AndersonLondon Design MedalDior's creative director and the founder of JW Anderson has won the London Design Medal, the highest accolade among the four medals recognizing creativity and excellence as part of the London Design Festival. Festival organizers described Anderson as a "champion of craft and art. Throughout his career he has curated exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield and the Offer Waterman gallery, and founded the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, the first international award for contemporary craft in 2016." Image: Dior, Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear.About London Design Festival Maison&Objet Pulse Rising Talent Awards 2026designRising Talent AwardsFor this new edition, Maison&Objet Pulse spotlights seven emerging creatives from South Africa whose practices bring fresh perspectives to contemporary design. The 2026 laureates are: Meetlo Studio, blending African tradition with contemporary craft to create bold, heritage-inspired pieces; Simphiwe Mlambo, whose multidisciplinary approach centers on storytelling and identity; Studio Lloyd, where crochet techniques evolve into monumental light sculptures; DEFT Studios, which offers contemporary objects navigating utility and artistic experimentation; Karlien van Rooyen, whose expressive ceramic sculptures draw inspiration from the environment and transformation; N I S H, which creates refined furniture pieces that celebrate imperfection and craftsmanship; and Pinda Interior Design, whose tactile design language blends craftsmanship with contemporary forms. Images: Studio Lloyd; Meetlo Studio; Simphiwe Mlambo; N I S H, DEFT Studios; Pinda Interior Design; Karlien van Rooyen.About Maison&Objet Pulse Rising Talent Awards Hire Your Future!Eyes on Talents is the international Talent Place that connects influential brands to talent.

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