S’pore artist Ho Tzu Nyen among medallists for inaugural Art Basel Awards, could get major commission

SINGAPORE – Singapore artist Ho Tzu Nyen, whose

video work Night Charades was the centrepiece

during Hong Kong art week in March, is one of six medallists in the established artist category at the inaugural Art Basel Awards.

The 49-year-old shares the honour with other globally acclaimed mid-career artists, including China’s Cao Fei and Ghana’s Ibrahim Mahama, on the list posted on Art Basel’s website on May 16. The recognition puts Ho in line to potentially receive a major commission from Art Basel in December, when a shorter list of Gold medallists is due to be announced in Miami.

He tells The Straits Times: “I’ve been very busy preparing a new work at the Luma Foundation in Arles this summer, so it hasn’t quite sunk in. But one thing for sure is that I’m grateful to be in such great company, and I can’t wait to meet and learn about the other artists and medallists.”

The first edition of the Art Basel Awards – the details of which were first made known in February – is a two-round affair. This first longlist comprises a total of 36 medallists – six established artists, six “icon” artists, six emerging artists, three “cross-disciplinary creators”, three patrons, three museums and institutions, three curators, three members of the media and “storytellers”, and three “allies”.

They were selected by a nine-member international jury of art directors and curators including Venice Biennale curator Adriano Pedrosa and

Sharjah Art Foundation president Hoor Al-Qasimi

, and chaired by Mr Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s director of fairs and exhibition platforms.

The December shortlist of 12 Gold medallists will be decided by the medallists after a process of peer review and voting. The diverse categories seek to honour achievers in the entire art ecosystem, and come with networking, partnership and other support opportunities that will tap Art Basel’s global access through its annual fairs in Basel, Miami, Paris and Hong Kong.

Ho,

who has also been appointed artistic director

of the 16th edition of the Gwangju Biennale opening in September 2026, acknowledged that 2025 has been “a special year, with many new pathways, new perspectives, new adventures and new friends”.

He is one of Singapore’s biggest names in Asia and globally, scoring a string of significant achievements of late. They include a solo show at the Singapore Art Museum that has toured Seoul and New York and winning the 2024 Chanel Next Prize that comes with a cheque for €100,000 (S$146,000).

Ho’s works are known for combining archival images, animation and film to create immersive and theatre experiences that weave together documentary research and fantasy. They are eclectic in their reach for both Western and Eastern references, in fields from cinema to philosophy to music.