Shortlist for the UK’s largest arts prize
Artes Mundi 5
6 Oct 2012 – 13 Jan 2013
National Museum of Art, Amgueddfa Cymru
National Museum Wales, CF10 3NP
Artes Mundi
+44 (0)29 20555300
info [at] artesmundi.org
The shortlist for the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize was announced today by Ben Borthwick, Artes Mundi’s Artistic Director, following an extensive research process by two selectors—Anders Kreuger, Curator at M HKA in Antwerp, Belgium and Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Curator of Contemporary Art at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York and curatorial agent for dOCUMENTA (13). The selectors chose from over 750 nominations, including 576 individual artists from more than 90 countries, identifying artists whose work explores and comments on lived experience. The seven artists shortlisted for this year’s Artes Mundi Prize are:
Miriam Bäckström (born 1967, Sweden)
Tania Bruguera (born 1968, Cuba)
Phil Collins (born 1970, Great Britain)
Sheela Gowda (born 1957, India)
Teresa Margolles (born 1963, Mexico)
Darius Mikšys (born 1969, Lithuania)
Apolonija Šušteršič (born 1965, Slovenia)
Some of the artists look at specific cultural or historical contexts while others engage with broader themes of human experience. The range of thematic concerns, artistic media and nationalities demonstrates the scope of the Artes Mundi Prize, which will be underlined in a major exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists at Wales’s new National Museum of Art from 6 October 2012. The 14-week exhibition will be installed in 800 square metres of new contemporary art galleries, reinforcing Artes Mundi’s longstanding partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
An international judging panel will award the 40,000 GBP prize to one of the artists in late November 2012. All other shortlisted artists will receive a new award of 4,000 GBP each. A new partnership with Mostyn, a contemporary gallery in North Wales, will also see one of the shortlisted artists present a solo show there in the 2013.
Ben Borthwick, who joined Artes Mundi from Tate Modern in 2010, said:
“We are delighted with the exceptional quality of this shortlist which was drawn from a very strong field of nominations. We look forward to welcoming the artists to Wales and creating an exhibition in October that will give audiences the opportunity to engage with the most exciting international contemporary art.”
Anders Kreuger, one of the selectors, added:
“Shortlisting for Artes Mundi has been an honour—and a responsibility to be taken seriously. Almost 600 artists were nominated this year, and it was a huge challenge to whittle these highly accomplished individuals down to just seven. We have chosen seven very different but equally talented artists, of different generations and from all across the globe, to exhibit at National Museum of Art this autumn.”
Artes Mundi is an international arts organisation based in Wales. Established in 2002, Artes Mundi is committed to supporting groundbreaking contemporary visual artists from around the world whose work engages with social reality and lived experience.
In 2010 the Artes Mundi 4 Prize was awarded to Yael Bartana who went on to represent Poland at the 2011 Venice Biennale. The first Artes Mundi Prize was awarded in 2004 to Xu Bing, a Chinese born artist living between New York and Beijing. In 2006 the Artes Mundi 2 Prize was awarded to the Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila and in 2008 the Indian artist NS Harsha received the prize at Artes Mundi 3.
Artes Mundi is publicly funded by the Arts Council of Wales and by Cardiff City Council. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the principal sponsor of the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize.
