With four new awards, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart honours artists, patrons and institutions for their lasting contribution to contemporary art, whilst also sending a clear signal in support of young artists. The inaugural Hamburger Bahnhof Studio Award goes to Abdulhamid Kircher, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju and Jonas Roßmeißl. The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Mona Hatoum, the Global Arts Patronage Award to Kiran Nadar and the Changemaker Award to the Delfina Foundation. The four awards were presented for the first time at the ‘A Night in Berlin’ charity gala at the Hamburger Bahnhof on Saturday, 14 March 2026. The awards will now be presented annually.
Image above: Hamburger Bahnhof – The National Gallery of Contemporary Art presents four new awards at the ‘A Night in Berlin’ charity gala: Sam Bardaouil, Jonas Roßmeißl, Gabriele Knapstein, Füsun Eczacıbaşı, Aaron Cezar, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Glenn D. Lowry, Kiran Nadar, Ayoung Kim, Mona Hatoum, Abdulhamid Kircher, Katharina Grosse, Frances Morris, Till Fellrath © Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Ivan Erofeev
Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart:
“With the four awards, Hamburger Bahnhof as the National Gallery of Contemporary Art honors artists, personalities, and institutions worldwide whose commitment makes art possible, while also providing new impulses for cultural engagement in Berlin and Germany. By recognizing young artists, the museum explicitly affirms its commitment to the future of Berlin as a city of art.”
Katharina Grosse, artist and jury member of the Hamburger Bahnhof Studio Award:
“The Studio Award reminds us that the future of art begins in the studio. Artists need space, time, and trust in order to take risks — and these awards make exactly that possible.”
Cate Blanchett, actress and co-host:
“Tonight we celebrate, among other things, a place that allows creative cacophony, where different voices, visions, and energies meet. Places like Hamburger Bahnhof are essential for experiencing these frictions, this deeply human desire. These electrifying environments invite people to open themselves collectively and surrender to the visions of others.” Cate Blanchett has been closely connected to Hamburger Bahnhof for many years and portrayed 13 different characters in Julian Rosefeldt’s film installation Manifesto, which had its European premiere at the museum in 2016.
The Hamburger Bahnhof Studio Award 2026 goes to Abdulhamid Kircher, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, and Jonas Roßmeißl. The awards were presented by artists Katharina Grosse and Ayoung Kim, together with deputy director Gabriele Knapstein.
Abdulhamid Kircher was born in Berlin in 1996 and lives and works between Berlin and New York. His artistic practice primarily focuses on photography, often combined with archival material and installation elements. His work explores memory, family, and identity, moving between documentary photography and narrative image-making. Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju was born in 1996 in Takoma Park, Maryland, and lives and works in Berlin. Her transdisciplinary practice combines painting, installation, performance, and text, linking memory, corporeality, and belonging with cultural and political identity. She is also active as a writer; her first collection of texts, Earnestly, was published by Archive Books in 2022. Jonas Roßmeißl was born in Erlangen in 1995 and lives and works in Wuppertal. His artistic practice includes sculpture, installation, and drawing. His works connect craft, architectural, and social questions, examining how public spaces, materials, and forms are shaped by social and political conditions.
The Hamburger Bahnhof Studio Award is endowed with €15,000 each and supports three artists under the age of 35 who live and work in Germany. The 2026 laureates were selected by a jury consisting of artists Mark Bradford, Ayoung Kim, and Katharina Grosse, together with Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, and Gabriele Knapstein, deputy director and head of collections. Candidates were nominated by the museum’s curatorial team and international experts, including Sebastian Baden (Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt), Ulrike Groos (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart), Boaz Levin (C/O Berlin), Azu Nwagbogu (African Artists’ Foundation), and Kathleen Reinhardt (Georg Kolbe Museum).
The Hamburger Bahnhof Lifetime Achievement Award 2026 is awarded to Mona Hatoum. The prize was presented by Frances Morris, Director Emerita of Tate Modern.
Born in Beirut in 1952, Mona Hatoum has lived in London since 1975 and works between London and Berlin. She was a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in 2003/04 and has maintained a studio in Berlin ever since. Hatoum has presented her work in numerous major exhibitions worldwide, including several in Berlin. She has received many international awards, among them the Käthe Kollwitz Prize of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2010), the Joan Miró Prize (2011), and the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association (2019). Her work is represented in more than fifty major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern; Centre Pompidou; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the British Museum; Kunstmuseum Basel; and M+ Museum in Hong Kong. In Germany, her work is also part of the collection of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.
The Hamburger Bahnhof Lifetime Achievement Award honors artists whose work has significantly shaped contemporary culture worldwide and who maintain a longstanding connection to Berlin and Germany.
The Hamburger Bahnhof Global Arts Patronage Award 2026 goes to Kiran Nadar. The award was presented by Glenn D. Lowry, Director Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art.
Kiran Nadar, born in India in 1951, is an art patron and collector whose commitment has had a lasting impact on the development of modern and contemporary art. She lives and works in New Delhi. With the founding of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in 2010, she established one of the most important institutions for modern and contemporary art in South Asia. In the coming years, a large-scale new KNMA museum building in Delhi will open, setting new standards for art education, research, and international collaboration as the first privately initiated museum of this scale in India. Beyond this, Nadar supports museums, exhibitions, and educational programs worldwide and promotes international exchange between artists and institutions. She has received numerous honors for her exceptional commitment to art and culture, including the Padma Shri from the Government of India (2024) and the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2023).
The Hamburger Bahnhof Global Arts Patronage Award recognizes individuals whose philanthropic engagement sustainably strengthens international artistic communities.
The Delfina Foundation in London receives the Hamburger Bahnhof Changemaker Award 2026. The award was presented by Füsun Eczacıbaşı, founding chair of the SAHA Foundation and member of Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e.V.
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart honors the Delfina Foundation in London for its pioneering commitment to supporting contemporary art and international cultural collaboration. Since its founding in 2007, the foundation has become one of the most important global platforms for artist residencies, supporting artists, curators, and cultural practitioners through programs that foster exchange, research, and long-term networks. More than 600 artists and curators from over 40 countries have participated in its residencies. Through long-term partnerships with international museums, biennials, and cultural institutions — including the Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennale, Tate Modern, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago — the Delfina Foundation has built a global network that strengthens new voices and sustainably shapes international exchange in contemporary art. With its particular focus on care, hospitality, and collective practice, the foundation creates spaces in which artistic ideas can emerge, grow, and resonate worldwide.
The Hamburger Bahnhof Changemaker Award is presented to institutions that expand the reach, relevance, and social impact of contemporary art in transformative ways.
The charity gala A Night in Berlin took place on the evening of March 14, 2026, at Hamburger Bahnhof, featuring performances by members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with Ellen Allien, a piano solo by Alice Sara Ott, and Tipi am Kanzleramt within a spatial installation by the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, alongside an intervention by Monica Bonvicini in the museum’s historic hall. The event served as a thank-you to the many supporters of the anniversary program 30 Years of Hamburger Bahnhof, chaired by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, together with Monique Burger and Christine Wuerfel-Stauss, members of the Leadership Council of Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e.V. The evening stood as a collective statement highlighting Berlin’s importance as a cultural capital alongside key figures of the city’s cultural scene.
Co-hosts included film and theatre figures Edward Berger, Cate Blanchett, Matt Dillon, Nina Hoss, Thomas Ostermeier, and Wim Wenders; artists Monica Bonvicini, Mark Bradford, Elmgreen & Dragset, Anne Imhof, and Wolfgang Tillmans; techno pioneer Ellen Allien; and leading figures from fashion, design, and publishing such as Jörg Koch (032C), Christa Boesch and Cosima Gadient (Ottolinger), Carla Sozzani, and Kerstin Weng, together with Berlin institutions including the Berlinale (represented by Tricia Tuttle), the Berlin Philharmonic (represented by Andrea Zietzschmann), and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (represented by Elisabeth Sobotka).
