The work of the eight international contemporary artists shortlisted for the fourth Artes Mundi Prize will be on display at National Museum Cardiff from 11 March to 6 June 2010. The winner of the £40,000 Prize will be announced on 19 May 2010.
The artists selected for Artes Mundi 4 are Yael Bartana (Israel), Fernando Bryce (Peru), Ergin Çavuşoğlu (Bulgaria), Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan), Olga Chernysheva (Russia), Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan) and Adrian Paci (Albania).
The Prize brings together outstanding artists from around the world who stimulate thinking about the human condition and humanity. Its aim is to give a platform to contemporary artists who are established in their own countries but have previously received little critical recognition in the UK. Many are known on the international art scene, some through exhibiting at biennales and other significant art events.
This year, the artists explore issues of national identity, globalisation, consumerism, propaganda and migration. Using the media of painting, photography, film, video, sound, installation and drawing, they present the impact of economic and political changes on their immediate rural or urban environments and on wider communities – local, regional and global. From Kyrgyz traders on the Great Silk Road to Taiwanese factory workers, the lives of ordinary people around the globe are made real and unfamiliar cultures are brought closer.
Tessa Jackson, founding Artistic Director of Artes Mundi and recently appointed CEO of Iniva said: “The purpose of Artes Mundi is to recognise deserving talent and to introduce a wider range of artists to Britain. It is a mark of the Prize’s impact that, as a result of exposure through Artes Mundi many artists have established or enhanced their reputation in the UK, in particular: Subodh Gupta, Xu Bing, Michal Rovner and NS Harsha. The latter is now represented by Victoria Miro Gallery, after winning the 3rd Artes Mundi Prize in 2008.”
The Artes Mundi shortlist of eight was selected from over 480 international nominations from more than 80 countries, in conjunction with their own research, by independent curator and art critic Viktor Misiano, formerly Curator at The Pushkin State Museum and Director of the Contemporary Art Centre in Moscow, and Levent Çalikoğlu, Chief Curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.
The judges will consider the artists’ work of the last five to eight years rather than their installations for the Artes Mundi exhibition at National Museum Cardiff.
Mike Tooby, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’ Director of Learning, Programmes and Development explains how the Museum’s partnership with Artes Mundi has developed since its inception: “The collaboration between Amgueddfa Cymru and Artes Mundi is more than a venue and exhibition. Artes Mundi has played a key role in developing the Museum’s reputation in its work supporting and presenting Welsh and international contemporary artists. The major new space at National Museum Cardiff, opening in summer 2011 will give us an even greater opportunity to communicate our role within the contemporary art scene in Wales and beyond.”
The international selection and judging processes are supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of their well-established U.S arts support programme which is currently being extended to Europe. Joining them as sponsors of Artes Mundi 4 are Admiral, Legal & General, the Western Mail, Saville Audio Visual and St David’s Dewi Sant, the recently opened new shopping centre in Cardiff that has also invested significantly into public art in the city. In recognition of their creative partnerships with the corporate sector, Artes Mundi 4 has been funded through the Arts & Business Investment Programme.
