Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize 2025 to Gilles Clément

The Akademie der Künste’s practice is to award the Berlin Art Prize on an annual basis in rotation among its six sections. In line with this, the prize, endowed with 15,000 euros, is being presented this year to a recipient from the field of architecture: the French garden and landscape architect Gilles Clément. The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 18 March 2025, at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz.

In the view of the jury, which includes Kees Christiaanse, Dorte Mandrup and Jörn Walter, Gilles Clément ranks as one of the most influential contemporary landscape thinkers and architects, though he likes to describe himself as a gardener. At an early stage of his career, he turned his back on the idea of wanting to dominate or control nature; instead, he sees it as his role to design gardens in partnership with natural processes. What characterises Clément is his unique approach – he works at the intersection of philosophy, ecology, art, horticulture and landscape architecture – his deep respect for the power of nature and the humility he feels in the face of it. As the jury put it, “In a world locked in a struggle with climate change, the loss of biodiversity and ecocide, Clément’s work is a beacon of hope and a call to action.”

Born in Argenton-sur-Creuse in 1943, Gilles Clément, has been designing parks, gardens and public and private spaces since 1972. He is the author of numerous texts. He teaches, runs workshops and gives seminars around the world. His best-known parks include Parc Henri Matisse in Lille; the former submarine base in Saint Nazaire; and the Quai Branly museum garden and the garden at La Défense, both in Paris.

In addition to the Grand Prize, the six Berlin Art Prizes, each worth 5,000 euros, will as well be awarded on 18 March. They will go to Jerusalem-born artist Assaf Gruber (Visual Arts); chief architect of the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, Anton Kolomieitsev (Architecture); Canadian composer Cassandra Miller (Music); Austrian author and artist Brigitta Falkner (Literature); Göksu Kunak, an artist, researcher and author born in Ankara (Performing Arts); and Italian film director Pietro Marcello (Film and Media Arts).

The Berlin Art Prize – Jubilee Endowment 1848/1948 was established by the Berlin Senate in 1948 to commemorate the March Revolution of 1848. It has been awarded by the Akademie der Künste on behalf of the State of Berlin since 1971. Honouring artists in this way is intended to underline the special significance of the arts in a liberal society.

 In recent years the Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize has been awarded to Simone Fattal (2024), Joachim Trier (2023), Richard Peduzzi (2022), Annett Gröschner (2021) and Younghi Pagh-Paan (2020).