About Nairy Baghramian
Iranian-born, Berlin-based artist Nairy Baghramian’s work addresses relationships between language, history, and the present, with internationally acclaimed installations that create a dialogue between architecture and the human body, as well as objects and their meaning.
When the Nasher Prize jury deliberated in June 2021 to determine the 2022 laureate, the world was under the grip of a global pandemic—a grip that is still very firm—that required people everywhere to stay home, isolated from friends and family, and without the opportunity to engage with vital social spaces—restaurants, libraries, museums—that nurture the human body, relationships, and the imagination. Bearing in mind the deep longing for the physical presence of loved ones, places and things, the work of Nairy Baghramian stood out to the jury as exemplary for its tender and ebullient considerations of the material virtue of our bodies, our built environments, and of the great, good, and lasting service that sculpture in the most traditional sense—that is, physical objects—can offer the human spirit.
Nairy Baghramian is a German citizen born in 1971 in Iran. She is a visual artist living and working in Berlin since 1984. Her work has been the subject of monographic exhibitions in an array of institutions, including GAM, Galleria d'arte Moderna, Milan (2021), MUDAM, Luxembourg (2019); Festival d’ Automne á Paris at Écoledes Beaux-Arts (2018); Museo ReinaSofia, Madrid (2018); SMK, Copenhagen (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016); S.M.A.K, Ghent (2016); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2015); Museo Serralves, Porto (2014); the Art Institute of Chicago (2014); Serpentine Gallery with Phyllida Barlow (2010); Studio Voltaire London (2009);and Kunsthalle Basel (2006). Baghramian also participated at Venice Biennale (2019 and 2011); Yorkshire Sculpture International (2019); Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens (2017); Skulptur Project Muenster (2017 and 2007); Lyon Biennale (2017); Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, Scotland (2012); and the Berlin Biennale, Germany (2014 and 2008). Baghramian was a nominee of the Hugo Boss Prize 2020 and has been the recipient of the Malcolm-McLaren-Award with Maria Hassabi (2019);the Zurich Art Prize (2016); the Arnold-Bode Prize, Kassel (2014); the Hector Prize, Kunsthalle Mannheim (2012); and the Ernst Schering Foundation Award (2007).
Her works are held in institutional collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tate Modern, London; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Tamayo Museum, Mexico City; Jumex Museum, Mexico City; and the Art Institute of Chicago. Upcoming solo exhibitions of Nairy Baghramian include Secession, Vienna AT, 2021; and Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France, April 2022. Baghramian will be the subject of a long-planned solo exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center, unaffiliated with the Nasher Prize, in fall 2022.
About Nasher Prize
The Nasher Prize is awarded annually to an artist whose body of work has had an extraordinary impact on our understanding of sculpture. Each year’s Nasher Prize laureate is selected by an international jury of esteemed museum directors, curators, scholars, and artists. A full season of diverse programming inspired by the laureate – discussions and lectures, family and student programs, community partnerships, and more – engage thousands of art-lovers in Dallas and far beyond, both in-person and virtually. Then, the celebration culminates with the Nasher Prize Award Gala, held at the Nasher Sculpture Center each April.
Support the Nasher Prize
Proceeds from the Nasher Prize not only benefit Nasher Prize programming but also help sustain the year-round work undertaken by the Nasher Sculpture Center itself, including thought-provoking exhibitions, impactful education and community initiatives, and more.
Underwriting packages for the Nasher Prize 2022 Award Gala are now available. For more information on how to get involved, please contact the Nasher’s Development Team at 214.242.5151 or at [email protected].