From Runway to Gallery: Hugo Boss Embraces Patronage at Art Basel

Hugo Boss has been the brand selected to be the main partner of the project and responsible for the sponsorship of the Outstanding Merit Award. From June 19 to 22, Art Basel celebrated the 2025 edition with the launch of its first institutional awards, the Art Basel Awards, which are presented as a new recognition to influential figures in the contemporary art ecosystem. The first winner will be revealed in December 2025.

In its inaugural edition, the awards have included three categories: outstanding merit, emerging practice and gallery innovation. For Hugo Boss, the award is part of its tradition of supporting culture from a contemporary perspective. “With this initiative, Art Basel aims to provide more and more opportunities for key figures in the art world, forge new avenues of exchange and collaboration between sectors,“ the organization said in the statement.

The Boss Award for Outstanding Merit seeks to recognize consolidated trajectories that have had a profound impact on contemporary art through research, creation or cultural mediation. The selection has been made by an international curatorial committee, independent from Art Basel and Hugo Boss, guaranteeing a critical, plural and global perspective.

Hugo Boss once again reinforces its commitment to culture after 25 years of patronage in contemporary art

The awards ceremony took place during Art Basel 2025, in a ceremony held within the framework of the fair in Basel, Switzerland. Each category was endowed with a medal and a financial reward, in addition to being accompanied by a series of editorial and audiovisual content on the official Art Basel and Hugo Boss platforms.

The creation of the Art Basel Awards represents a further step in the process of professionalization and visibility of the art sector. Nominations are not open to the public: the curatorial committee works autonomously based on its knowledge of the sector with the aim of recognizing voices that are redefining the present and future of the sector from diverse ethical, aesthetic and social approaches.

The German brand has been collaborating with cultural institutions and supporting initiatives in the field of contemporary art for more than 25 years. Hugo Boss’ participation in Art Basel responds to a positioning strategy that connects the universe of fashion with artistic creation.