Otobong Nkanga to Receive Sikkens Prize 2026, Exhibition at Singer Laren
The Facts
Otobong Nkanga (born 1974, Kano, Nigeria) will receive the Sikkens Prize 2026 on October 26, 2026, at a ceremony in Laren, Netherlands. The Sikkens Prize is awarded annually by the Sikkens Foundation to an artist or collective pioneering in the field of color. The jury recognized Nkanga for revealing the origins of color in earth, community, and life. For the first time, the foundation will accompany the prize with a solo exhibition: 'Humus Blues' opens at Singer Laren on October 27, 2026, and runs through February 28, 2027, featuring sculptures, textiles, drawings, paintings, photographs, and poetry. Monumental works by Nkanga will also be on view in the ReflAction exhibition at the AkzoNobel Art Foundation's Art Space in Amsterdam.
The Signal
The Sikkens Prize is one of the few European art awards explicitly centered on color, and Nkanga's recognition signals increased institutional attention to artists who embed materiality and ecological thought into their practice. Her work, shown internationally from Paris to Venice, examines how pigments and minerals carry histories of extraction and transformation. For collectors, this prize and the accompanying museum exhibition at Singer Laren add institutional validation to Nkanga's market standing, while the concurrent presentation in Amsterdam reinforces her growing presence in Dutch institutions.
- Artists: Otobong Nkanga
- Museums: Singer Laren, AkzoNobel Art Foundation
- Locations: Laren, Amsterdam
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