The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas has honored Otobong Nkanga, an artist based in Antwerp, with its prestigious Nasher Prize. This esteemed accolade comes with a cash prize of $100,000 and the opportunity for Nkanga to showcase her work in an exhibition at the museum. The exhibition, set to open in April 2025, will also be accompanied by a monograph.
Notably, the Nasher Sculpture Center has decided to shift the prize’s frequency from an annual to a biennial event. This change is intended to provide both the museum and the laureate with more time to prepare and present their works, produce a printed monograph, and effectively communicate their significance in the realm of sculpture.
Otobong Nkanga is renowned for her multidisciplinary approach to art, drawing on extensive research to create impactful installations and performances. Her work explores humanity’s intricate relationships with the Earth’s resources, shedding light on the fragile, tenuous, and extractive nature of these connections within systems of capital and consumption.
In a statement, Jeremy Strick, Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center, emphasized that Nkanga’s art reveals the multifaceted connections—historical, sociological, economic, cultural, and spiritual—that link individuals to the materials that shape their lives. He praised her ability to delve deeply into the various meanings these materials embody and underscored the pivotal role of sculpture in contemporary life through her work.
Nkanga’s art has been featured in prominent international biennials, including Documenta 14 in 2017, the 2022 Busan Biennial, the 2019 Sharjah Biennial, Manifesta 2017, and the 2019 Venice Biennale, where she received a special mention for her contribution to the main exhibition. She is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at the IVAM Centre Julio González in Valencia, Spain, following recent solo shows at renowned institutions worldwide.
In the United States, Nkanga had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2018, and her work was included in group exhibitions at institutions such as the Hammer Museum and the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College.
Notably, Otobong Nkanga was also the inaugural recipient of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme, another $100,000 prize that includes the opportunity for an exhibition. Her work has consistently pushed the boundaries of contemporary sculpture and received acclaim from art experts and institutions around the world.
A distinguished jury comprising artists, curators, and art historians selected Otobong Nkanga for the Nasher Prize, recognizing her profound contributions to the world of sculpture. Briony Fer, an art historian on the jury, highlighted Nkanga’s ability to address urgent global issues in subtle, enigmatic, and thought-provoking ways. She commended the artist’s use of materials that draw from diverse aspects of the world’s resources, with complex historical narratives embedded in her creations. Nkanga’s dedication to exploring formal and material questions marks her as a significant figure in contemporary sculpture.
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