©︎ The Japan Art Association / The Sankei Shimbun
The Japanese Imperial Family and the Japan Art Association have announced the winners of the 35th Praemium Imperiale, an accolade given annually in five categories. This year the awards – each coming with a prize of 95,000 euros – go to the French artist Sophie Calle (Painting), the Taiwanese cineaste Ang Lee (Theater/Film), the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires (Music), the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo (Sculpture), and the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.
Born in 1957, Ban trained as an architect in the United States before opening his own practice in Japan in 1985. He has since raised outstanding buildings around the world, including Centre Pompidou-Metz and La Seine Musicale of Boulogne-Billancourt, both in France, the Tamedia Office Building in Switzerland, and the Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand.
The Japan Art Association has also praised Ban for his contribution to the addressing of emergency and humanitarian-crisis situations, as well as for creating the non-profir Voluntary Architects Network (VAN) in 1995.
Shigeru Ban has received numerous recognitions in the course of his professional career, among them the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014 and the Princess of Asturias Award in 2022.
©︎ The Japan Art Association / The Sankei Shimbun
