ALMATY — Art Basel unveiled its first class of Gold Awardees at a landmark ceremony on Dec. 4 at the New World Center in Miami Beach, the United States, marking a new chapter in the fair’s efforts to recognize excellence and innovation across the contemporary art ecosystem. Among the honorees was acclaimed Uzbek filmmaker and artist Saodat Ismailova, highlighting Central Asia’s growing presence on the global cultural stage.
Saodat Ismailova. Photo credit: Art Basel
Among the winners, Ismailova, who represents Uzbekistan and the broader Central Asian art community, received recognition in the Emerging category. Her work, grounded in regional history, memory, and mythology, has played a defining role in bringing Central Asian contemporary perspectives to major international platforms.
Ismailova’s films explore the layered cultural identity of Central Asia, often centering women’s narratives and oral traditions. Her practice investigates forms of knowledge that have persisted despite the pressures of modernization, creating, as critics describe, “consciousness-expanding works that hover between visible and invisible worlds.”
A graduate of the Tashkent State Art Institute and Le Fresnoy in France, Ismailova divides her practice between Paris and Tashkent. In 2021, she founded Davra, a research collective supporting the development of the Central Asian art scene. Her work has been featured at the Venice Biennale, documenta fifteen, a major international contemporary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany, and exhibitions across Europe and Asia. In 2022, she received The Eye Art & Film Prize in Amsterdam.
Art Basel introduced the Gold Awards as part of a new initiative to support practitioners driving the evolution of contemporary culture.
Eleven awardees across multiple categories were selected through a peer-driven voting process, honoring emerging and established voices, patrons, institutions, designers, and cultural allies.
Each artist received a hand-blown glass sculpture designed by Swiss architect Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron. The award’s annual gifts total nearly $300,000, providing flexible support to artistic practice.
Art Basel leadership, including CEO Noah Horowitz and Chief Artistic Officer Vincenzo de Bellis, emphasized that the awards program aims to foster new forms of engagement among artists, institutions, and audiences worldwide.
