Aki Sasamoto Awarded 2023 Calder Prize for Choreographic Installations

Aki Sasamoto has been named the 2023 Calder Prize recipient by the Calder Foundation. The New York-based artist, born in 1980 in Yokohama, Japan, creates choreographic installations that explore everyday absurdities. Her recent work Sink or Float, featuring random objects floating on an industrial sink, was presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. The biannual award honors artists who extend Alexander Calder's legacy and includes a $50,000 cash prize. Winners also receive a three-month residency at Atelier Calder and placement of key works in a public collection. Alexander S. C. Rowe, co-founder of the Calder Foundation, praised Sasamoto's use of everyday objects, movement, set design, and food in performances that evoke human experience absurdity. He noted her improvisation with environmental elements like equations and sounds creates unpredictable, magically coherent results. The prize recognizes artists whose work maintains Calder's innovative spirit through contemporary practice.