Congratulations to Laurie Anderson, who has been named the 2026 Kyoto Prize laureate in Arts and Philosophy. The Kyoto Prize is Japan’s highest private award for global achievement; her fellow 2026 laureates are chemist Tsutomu Miyasaka, in Advanced Technology, and marine microbiologist Farooq Azam, in Basic Sciences. The prizes will be awarded in a ceremony on November 10.

"Laurie Anderson has demonstrated her interdisciplinary creativity beyond the boundaries of music, visual art, and film through her innovative use of technology, combining ingenuity, and wit," says the citation. "She has established a uniquely experimental yet pop-infused form of multimedia performance by integrating her own narrative voice, body, and electronic media."

"I would like to express my gratitude to those who decided to give me the great honor of receiving the 2026 Kyoto Prize," Anderson says. "I’m very aware of the magnitude of this prize and of the long line of people before me who have received this great honor. So I accept in the spirit of deepest humility. Like many artists, I’ve spent my life making work that I hoped would be understood and, above all, useful to others. But to have this dream of being understood acknowledged is a very emotional experience for me. And it also gives me an enormous amount of joy. I am also grateful to the many teachers who have shown me ways to live, love and make art."