Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize

Serpentine and The FLAG Art Foundation have announced Japanese poet Gozo Yoshimasu as the winner of the inaugural Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize.

The jury gathered in London on April 23rd to reach their decision and award Gozo Yoshimasu. It included Michelle Kuo, Venus Lau, and Hans Ulrich Obrist from Serpentine, Jonathan Rider from The FLAG Art Foundation, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Over ten years, five recipients will each receive £200,000. In particular, this support aims to offer exceptional backing at a defining moment in their careers. As a result, in total, the prize reaches £1 million, making it the largest contemporary art prize for an individual artist in the UK.

Bridging London and New York

Gozo Yoshimasu will present a solo exhibition at Serpentine North in autumn 2027. Subsequently, a reimagined version will open at The FLAG Art Foundation in New York in spring 2028. Together, this collaboration establishes a lasting creative exchange between the two institutions. Moreover, it reflects their shared conviction in the transformative value of partnership within contemporary art.
Over the years, this Japanese poet has built a unique practice. Specifically, it weaves together poetry, performance, audio recordings, photography, and his own format known as gozoCinè. Consequently, both institutions will co-develop a dedicated catalogue and a live programme to accompany the exhibition.

In this way, the prize aims to give artists the time, freedom, and resources needed to experiment and explore new directions. In doing so, it supports them in developing work in ways that feel most significant to them.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the inaugural Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize. When I heard the news, a line from one of my poems immediately came to mind: ‘Although I am a shadow of a passenger on this planet my soul is always absorbed in play.’ I look forward to sharing this exhibition in both London and New York.”

Gozo Yoshimasu

Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine, share that this prize reflects their dedication to connecting artists with global audiences. Furthermore, it nurtures transatlantic dialogue, offering the conditions necessary to create ambitious new work across both London and New York.

Gozo Yoshimasu

Gozo Yoshimasu is an all-around artist who has extended his poetry into other artistic forms. Through photography, calligraphy, and film, he connects real landscapes to an imaginative world of his own. In particular, his work draws on the ancient tradition of Japanese calligraphy, which recurs throughout his output.
Indeed, Yoshimasu is one of the most significant living Japanese poets. He has authored around fifty books, fundamentally reshaping literary practice. His poems engage with a broad range of geographic and conceptual spaces. In addition, his literature foregrounds the multiplicity of language and tests the limits of translation. Ultimately, his practice as a Japanese poet reaches far beyond the written word into sound, image, and space.

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