American artist Lorna Simpson, who pioneered a new approach to conceptual photography, has been named the winner of the 2027 Wolfgang Hahn Prize. The Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, which sponsors the annual prize, will put 100,000 euros, about $105,000, toward the acquisition of a work by Simpson for its collection. A solo exhibition of her work will be staged by the institution next year, accompanied by a publication.

The prize is awarded annually by the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst at Museum Ludwig, and is primarily intended to honour contemporary artists who have built an internationally recognised body of work but are not yet as well known in Germany as they deserve to be. The prize money, funded by members' contributions, goes toward buying a work or group of works for the museum's collection, and the winner is honoured with an exhibition and a publication.

Simpson is best known for photo-text works and collages that examine identity, memory and representation, and she has been a central figure in American conceptual photography since the 1980s. The prize jury comprises the Museum Ludwig director, a guest juror and the executive board of the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst. Her current London exhibition, Previous & Ongoing at Hauser & Wirth, runs until 23 December 2026, following her first major survey devoted to painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025.

The prize is named for Wolfgang Hahn (1924–1987), a Cologne collector and painting restorer. Previous winners include Lee Ufan, who received the 2026 prize, Anna Boghiguian and Betye Saar. Simpson's win continues the prize's recent run of honouring artists whose influence far exceeds their profile in Germany.