The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas announced today that Pierre Huyghe has won its 2017 Nasher Prize. Huyghe, who hails from France, will now receive $100,000 as part of the award, which is given annually to an artist who has made significant strides in sculpture. This is the second time the award has been given; the inaugural prize went to Doris Salcedo in 2015.
Huyghe’s work was the subject of a show at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany, earlier this year in which visitors were asked to wear LED masks over their faces. His installations and sculptures focus on the connection between humans, technology, and nature, often featuring hard-to-curate elements, such as bees, ice, and dogs.
“It was very important for those of us on the jury to continue to expand the purview of the Nasher Prize in its second year with the choice of an artist whose practice is dynamic, challenging, edifying, and in the case of Pierre Huyghe, very enigmatic,” Okwui Enwezor, who was on the prize’s jury, said in a statement. “Huyghe’s work extends far beyond any tidy definition of sculpture in ways that continue to grow and develop well into his career, allowing for ever-new discoveries and artistic possibilities. In that, we found him exceedingly deserving of this significant award.”
Other jury members included artist Phyllida Barlow, Guggenheim Museum curator Pablo León de la Barra, and Tate director Nicholas Serota.