The Vilcek Foundation

06/03/2026

Meet Luciano Marraffini, our 2024 Vilcek Prizewinner in Biomedical Science and ! 🔬🌟

After immigrating to the United States during Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, Luciano built a career that helped transform microbiology. His pioneering work on CRISPR-Cas systems, the bacterial defense mechanisms that recognize and destroy invading viruses, laid the foundation for gene-editing technologies that are revolutionizing genomics and biotechnology.

Today, as a faculty member at The Rockefeller University, Luciano continues to advance microbiological research while mentoring the next generation of scientists and fostering a diverse, global scientific community.

06/01/2026

We recently had the pleasure of touring “The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York with Monika Bincsik, the exhibition’s curator and recipient of the 2024 Ma**ca Vilcek Prize in Art History.

Spanning more than 12,000 years, the exhibition explores Japan’s extensive and rich history of ceramic art through approximately 350 remarkable works, presenting a fresh perspective from some of Japan’s earliest clay vessels to contemporary ceramic masterpieces.

Don’t miss the opportunity to join a free curator and artist talk this Sunday, June 7, along with the exhibition’s second rotation of works now on view.

Learn more: https://vilcek.co/438Ripb

05/27/2026

Join curator Ðonna Honarpisheh as she walks us through “Manoucher Yektai: The Stranger and the Tree” at Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, the first solo museum exhibition in the United States dedicated to the Iranian-born artist and founding member of the New York School.

Born in Tehran and later settling in New York, Yektai developed a singular painterly language that bridged the worlds of Iranian and American modernism. His richly textured paintings move between abstraction, landscape, still life, and portraiture, drawing on Persian poetry, calligraphic mark-making, and the materiality of paint itself.

Donna Honarpisheh, PhD, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art and Research at ICA Miami and recipient of the 2025 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Curatorial Work, shares her insights on Yektai’s singular career and the lasting resonance of his work today.

Experience “Manoucher Yektai: The Stranger and the Tree” in person at ICA Miami through November 22.

05/26/2026

Renowned Nepalese artist Tsherin Sherpa explores migration, identity, and cultural transformation through bold contemporary reinterpretations of Himalayan Buddhist traditional art in “Divine Disruption: The Art of Tsherin Sherpa.”

Opening May 30 at the Honolulu Museum of Art, this major solo exhibition brings together more than 20 paintings, sculptures, and a carpet, including new works on public view for the first time.

The Vilcek Foundation is proud to support the exhibition with a $20,000 grant. The exhibition is co-organized by Honolulu Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum.

Experience “Divine Disruption: The Art of Tsherin Sherpa” at HoMA from May 30, 2026 to January 31, 2027.

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(2) Tsherin Sherpa, “Emotion Leads to Action and Action Creates Result,” 2023. Acrylic and ink on canvas. Courtesy of Almine Rech.
(3) Tsherin Sherpa, “An Illusory Appearance of Loss and Gain,” 2023, Cast bronze. Courtesy of Almine Rech.
(4) Tsherin Sherpa, “The Portrait of Spirits,” 2025. White gold leaf, acrylic, and ink on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist.

05/22/2026

As a child, Marianne Bronner fled Hungary with her family in search of safety and opportunity in the United States. Years later, she would become one of the world’s leading developmental biologists, transforming how scientists understand neural crest cells and their role in development, disease, and regeneration.

A recipient of the 2025 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, Marianne’s groundbreaking research at Caltech continues to shape the future of regenerative medicine while inspiring the next generation of scientists. Her story is a powerful testament to resilience, curiosity, and the extraordinary contributions immigrants make to science and discovery.

Learn more about Marianne: vilcek.co/49gwXSq

05/20/2026

16 years ago, we boarded Oceanic Flight 815! ✈️🏝️

Opening just three days before the series finale of Lost, our 2010 exhibition celebrated 20 immigrant and first-generation contributors whose work helped shape the iconic television series.

Featuring memorable props from the show alongside behind-the-scenes portraits of the cast and crew by Peter Hurley, the exhibition highlighted the diverse talent behind LOST, including executive producer Carlton Cuse, writer Melinda Hsu Taylor, actor Jorge Garcia (“Hurley”), and cinematographer John Bartley.

05/18/2026

Anicka Yi reimagines prehistoric evolution in “Message from the Mud,” her first large-scale outdoor project, on view at Storm King Art Center.

Emerging from a shallow pool at the center of an excavated site, acrylic columns filled with organic matter rise like ruins from a soil-born world, where past, present, and future environmental timescales overlap.

Yi is a Korean-American conceptual artist known for her focus on olfaction and for creating immersive works that blend art, science, and sensory experience through organic and unconventional materials.

The Vilcek Foundation is proud to support this project through a $20,000 grant. We partner with organizations that take original and creative approaches to their work while celebrating immigrant contributions to the arts, sciences, culture, and society.

“Anicka Yi: Message from the Mud"
May 17–November 9, 2026
Storm King Art Center, NY
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Portrait of Anicka Yi. Courtesy UCCA Center for Contemporary Art
Anicka Yi, “Message from the Mud,” 2026. Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery. Installation view at Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY. Photos by Jeffrey Jenkins.

05/15/2026

Hashim M. Al-Hashimi, who won our 2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences! 🎊

Al-Hashimi (b. Lebanon) is the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University. His groundbreaking work on the dynamic structures of RNA and DNA molecules has reshaped the field of structural biology and deepened our understanding of cellular activity.

We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved honor and his continued contributions to biomedical science and discovery.

Learn more:

His studies have reshaped the field of structural biology, revealing dynamic ensembles of biomolecules as a fundamental behavior required to understand and quantitatively predict cellular activity.

05/14/2026

We are excited to see Tatiana Desardouin, our 2022 Vilcek Prizewinner for Creative Promise in Dance, take the stage with her latest work in A L I G N, a split bill presented by Arts On Site.

Featuring Passion Fruit Dance Company, “RESONANCE” imagines music as a living presence, one that speaks through movement, resonance, and shared breath.

“RESONANCE” is written and performed by Tatiana and K’niin Abbrey, choreographed by Tatiana, with live music by TPM.

🗓️ May 29 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
📍Arts On Site NYC

Get your tickets: https://vilcek.co/4dJ9M5B

05/11/2026

six years ago, the Vilcek Foundation published its very first coloring book: The Marsden Hartley Coloring Book 🎨

Created for art lovers of all ages, the free downloadable book invites users to explore the bold forms, landscapes, still lifes, and abstract compositions of renowned American Modernist painter Marsden Hartley through creativity and color. Inspired by Hartley’s travels across Europe and North America, and the natural beauty of his home state of Maine, the coloring book offers a thoughtful and imaginative way to engage with his work.

In 2022, we released a printed edition with Merrell Publishers. Featuring an introduction by our President Rick Kinsel, the book includes new reproductions of 30 artworks alongside illustrations and layouts by graphic artist Paula Kinsel.