THE TURNER Prize is being sent to Coventry.
The prestigious art prize exhibition will open at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum on Spetember 29 and run until January 12 as part of the city’s UK City of Culture 2021 celebrations.
Marking the first time a Turner Prize jury has selected a shortlist consisting entirely of artist collectives, the exhibition will showcase work by the five nominees – Array Collective; Black Obsidian Sound System; Cooking Sections; Gentle/Radical; and Project Art Works.
All the nominees work closely with communities across the UK to inspire social change through art.
The collaborative practices selected for this year’s shortlist also reflect the solidarity and community demonstrated in response to the pandemic.
One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical British painter JMW Turner.
The Turner Prize winner is awarded £25,000 with £10,000 going to each of the others shortlisted.
Originating at Tate Britain in 1984, the Turner Prize has not been without controversy down the years. Previous winners include Gilbert and George, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen and Grayson Perry.
The prize regularly travels to other venues in the UK. It has previously been shown in Liverpool, Gateshead, Derry, Glasgow, Hull and Margate. In 2022 it will be held at Tate Liverpool.
Admission to the exhibition is free and tickets are available to book now at www.coventry2021.co.uk
This year’s nominees:
* Array Collective is a group of Belfast-based artists who create collaborative actions in response to issues affecting Northern Ireland. Their work encompasses performances, protests, exhibitions and events.
* Black Obsidian Sound System Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.) is a London-based collective which works across art, sound and radical activism – challenging the dominant norms of sound-system culture across the African diaspora through club nights, art installations, technical workshops and creative commissions.
* Cooking Sections is a London-based duo examining the systems that organise the world through food. Using installation, performance and video, they explore the overlapping boundaries between art, architecture, ecology and geopolitics.
* Gentle/Radical is a project based in Cardiff run by artists, community workers, performers, faith practitioners, writers and others, advocating for art as a tool for social change. They create real and virtual spaces for communities in Wales to engage with
culture.
* Project Art Works is a collective of neurodiverse* artists and makers based in Hastings. They explore art through collaborative practice with, for and by neurominorities and disseminate their work through exhibitions, events, films and digital platforms.
