As November brings exciting developments in the art world, the Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, South Korea, has announced Joan Jonas as the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Nam June Paik Prize. Recognized as a pioneering figure in video and performance art, Jonas will be awarded KRW 50 million (approximately $35,600) during a ceremony on November 28.
This honor also sets the stage for Jonas’s first-ever solo exhibition in Korea, scheduled for November 2025 at the Nam June Paik Art Center.
About Joan Jonas
Born in 1936, Jonas has been at the forefront of art innovation since the 1960s, blending video—a groundbreaking medium at the time—with performance, sculpture, and installation. Her works probe the relationship between the human body, its recorded image, and the natural environment, offering audiences immersive and thought-provoking experiences. Jonas represented the United States at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and has been celebrated with retrospectives at major institutions, including Tate Modern (2018) and MoMA, New York (2024).
Jonas not only played a key role in shaping early video and performance art but continues to explore urgent new terrain, most recently creating immersive installations that explore themes of ecology, landscape, and kinship between humans and non-human species at a time of climate breakdown.
Frances Morris, former director of Tate Modern and chair of the prize jury
About the Nam June Paik Prize
Established in 2009 and funded by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, the Nam June Paik Prize honors artists whose creativity, experimentation, and innovation advance contemporary art and foster global understanding. Named after the groundbreaking Fluxus artist Nam June Paik, the prize has previously been awarded to visionaries such as Doug Aitken, Haroon Mirza, and Trevor Paglen.
With this latest accolade, Joan Jonas reaffirms her place as a trailblazer in the contemporary art world, inspiring future generations to embrace experimental forms and urgent themes in their practice.
Art enthusiasts can look forward to Jonas’s highly anticipated exhibition in Korea next year. For more updates, visit the Nam June Paik Art Center.