Renowned sculptor Petrit Halilaj has been awarded the 2027 Nasher Prize, making history as the youngest recipient of the prestigious honor since it was founded in 2015 by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.

The Nasher Prize, which has been awarded biennially since 2023, includes a $100,000 cash prize and a solo exhibition and public programming at the Nasher. Specific details for Halilaj’s show will be announced closer to its debut in 2027.

In a remarkable gesture, Halilaj has pledged to donate the full $100,000 to the Hajde! Foundation, a nonprofit based in Kosovo that he co-founded with his sister in 2014 to support emerging Kosovar artists.

Halilaj has rapidly risen to international acclaim, with work featured in major exhibitions including the 2024 Sydney Biennale, the 2019 Lyon Biennale, the 2010 Berlin Biennale, and the 2017 Venice Biennale, where he received a special mention from the Golden Lion jury. He also represented Kosovo at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Most recently, he completed a rooftop commission at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and is currently the subject of a solo show at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof. In 2023, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City presented the most comprehensive survey of his work. He has also held solo exhibitions at Tate St. Ives, Museo Reina Sofia, Hammer Museum, and New Museum.

Halilaj was selected by an esteemed eight-member jury, including previous Nasher Prize winner Nairy Baghramian, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Lynne Cooke, Briony Fer, Hou Hanru, Yuko Hasegawa, Pablo León de la Barra, and Sir Nicholas Serota.

Carlos Basualdo, the newly appointed director of the Nasher, praised Halilaj’s work for blending “pain with joy, tenderness, and connection,” and for creating “spaces of encounter that transcend artistic, cultural, and geographic boundaries.”

Halilaj’s win reinforces his position as one of the most innovative and emotionally resonant sculptors of his generation.