(Paris) French artist Sophie Calle and Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee are among the winners of the 35e Praemium Imperiale, considered the Nobel Prize of the arts and which honours international artists each year in five disciplines: painting, sculpture, theatre-cinema, music and architecture.
Colombian sculptor Doris Salcedo, Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires and Japanese architect Shigeru Ban are also among the winners, according to the list announced simultaneously on Tuesday in Paris and Tokyo by the organizers.
The Praemium Imperiale was established in 1988 by the Japan Art Association and awards each winner 15 million yen (about $142,000).
The award ceremony will take place on November 19 in Tokyo.
Sophie Calle, conceptual artist, photographer, videographer, has been the subject of numerous exhibitions since 1970 throughout the world. She has developed a metaphysical and conceptual work that uses all media and relies mainly on autofiction, being very interested in the gaze, language, disappearance and death.
She will soon present an exhibition in Minneapolis in the United States and next November another in Tokyo in relation to the French painter Toulouse Lautrec.
Director Ang Lee is the first Taiwanese artist to receive the Praemium Imperiale. He is notably responsible for Best man (1993), Reason and feelings (1995), Tiger and dragon (2000) or again Brokeback Mountain (2005).
The first Colombian artist to receive the Praemium Imperiale, sculptor Doris Salcedo creates site-specific installations and interventions, through works that explore themes of violence, loss, memory and pain, using familiar materials such as wooden furniture, clothing or flower petals that she transforms metaphorically.
Winner in the music category, Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires was propelled onto the international scene with her first recitals at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1986 and at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1989. She will perform on November 8 at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Shigeru Ban, who lives between Tokyo, New York and Paris, has revolutionized architecture through his use of new materials and his original designs with works all over the world, such as the Centre Pompidou-Metz (2010), the Oita Prefectural Museum of Art (2015) and La Seine Musicale (2017).