Gyeonggi-do 17068
Korea
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Nam June Paik Art Center (Director: Namhee Park) is pleased to announce that the Jury of the 9th Nam June Paik Prize has selected Ryoji Ikeda (b. 1966, Japan) as the winner of the 9th Nam June Paik Prize. Born in Gifu, Japan, Ikeda is an internationally acclaimed media artist based in Paris, France, and Kyoto, Japan. One of Japan’s leading composers and artists, he has explored the essential characteristics of sound itself and the distinctive qualities of visuals realized as light, by means of mathematical precision and aesthetics. His practice convincingly bridges visual art and sonic art, and he has continued to present sensory and immersive live performances and installations that elaborately orchestrate sound, physical phenomena, and mathematical notions.
The Nam June Paik Prize is awarded to artists who have contributed to the development of contemporary art, mutual understanding, and world peace. The aim of the prize is to promote the relevance of the art of Nam June Paik, who envisioned a world without conflict through experimental and creative exploration, to contemporary artists. The recipient is selected every two years and presents a solo exhibition the following year. Initially called the Nam June Paik Art Center Prize, the award was presented from 2009 to 2021 and then reorganized and renamed the Nam June Paik Prize in 2024. It is funded by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and hosted by the Nam June Paik Art Center.
The Jury for the 9th Nam June Paik Prize in 2026 comprises John G. Hanhardt, Curator and Art Historian; Sabine Himmelsbach, Director of the House of Electronic Arts (HEK); Sook-Kyung Lee, Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery; Namhee Park, Director of the Nam June Paik Art Center; and Aaron Seeto, Deputy Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
In particular, John G. Hanhardt, who has maintained a longstanding artistic exchange with Nam June Paik, served as Chair of the Jury. Following thoughtful and in-depth deliberations, the Jury selected Ryoji Ikeda as the recipient of the Prize. Hanhardt praised Ikeda’s work, stating, “Like Nam June Paik, he is creating challenging and open opportunities to learn and experience hybrid aesthetic texts that become for the viewer an adventure, a contemplative space, and an opportunity to expand one’s horizons of experience and knowledge. Like Paik, he is a true visionary who welcomes the mystery and adventure of new art forms.”
Sabine Himmelsbach, Director of the House of Electronic Arts (HEK) in Basel and a member of the Jury, emphasized that Ikeda “has fundamentally reshaped the aesthetic language of media art through the integration of sound, data, mathematics, computation, and immersive installations. His practice of translating scientific and computational systems into profound aesthetic experiences extends Paik’s experimental legacy into the age of data and algorithmic culture.”
The Prize ceremony will take place on September 8 at the Nam June Paik Art Center, followed by a conversation between Prize recipient Ryoji Ikeda and Sam Ozer, curator-at-large at Canyon New York City and artistic director at TONO Festival Mexico, an invited curator. As the winner, Ryoji Ikeda will be awarded a prize of KRW 50,000,000, and his solo exhibition will be presented at the Nam June Paik Art Center in 2027.
