What will the future of the arts look like? If the winners of the Chanel Next Prize are any indication, it will be interdisciplinary, genre-bending, digitally savvy, and committed to reviving and building on marginalized histories. Chanel has named the winners of its biannual award, which is given to 10 artists who are reshaping their disciplines. Each receives €100,000 and two years of mentorship facilitated by cultural institutions including the Royal College of Art in London.
This year’s winners hail from six countries across four continents and work across visual art, film, dance, video game design, performance, opera, and digital art. A group of 50 anonymous nominators from around the world submitted names for consideration by the jury, which included actor Tilda Swinton, artist Cao Fei, and curators Legacy Russell and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
During a discussion that lasted “hours and hours,” according to Yana Peel, the global head of arts and culture at Chanel, the panel asked themselves, “Whose practice is most relevant to the zeitgeist today, and who, as an artist, can advance the conversation? Which ideas are propelling culture towards a better future?” Peel says: “We came back to those questions until we had a perfect group of 10.”
The fashion house established the Next Prize in 2021 as part of a new fund created during the pandemic to expand Chanel’s support of the arts. Winners from the debut cycle included visual artist Precious Okoyomon and filmmaker Wang Bing. This year’s winners are:
–Oona Doherty (born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, based in Marseille, France), a choreographer whose work engages real-life situations and relatable characters
–Tolia Astakhishvili (born in Tbilisi, Georgia, based in Berlin and Tbilisi), an interdisciplinary artist known for architectural installations whose first US solo exhibition opens at SculptureCenter in New York later this year
–Kantemir Balagov (born in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia, based in Los Angeles), an artist and filmmaker whose second feature, Beanpole, won best direction at that year’s Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard section)
–Sam Eng (born and based in New York), an independent game developer who has collaborated with digital artist Ian Cheng
–Fox Maxy (born and based in San Diego) is an artist and director whose films merge horror and documentary
–Moor Mother (born and based in the U.S.), also known as Camae Ayewa, a musician, poet, and visual artist whose soundscapes have been featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in Documenta 15
–Dalton Paula (born in Brasilia, based in Goiânia, Brazil), an artist and educator who creates portraits of figures who have been excluded from Brazilian history
–Anna Thorvaldsdottir (born in Iceland, based in Greater London), a composer charting a new path for symphony orchestras
–Ho Tzu Nyen (born and based in Singapore), an animation and video artist whose midcareer survey will tour the Art Sonje Center in Seoul and the Hessel Museum of Art in upstate New York this year
–Davóne Tines (born in Virginia, based in Baltimore), a singer and curator working across theater and opera
