Turner Prize replaced with £10,000 bursaries for top 10 artists this year
The prize would usually follow an exhibition in December with four shortlisted artists but was scrapped this year due to coronavirus.
The organisers of this year’s cancelled Turner Prize have announced 10 leading artists who will receive £10,000 bursaries.
The prize, one of Britain’s most prestigious art accolades, is normally handed to one winner with a £25,000 grant after an exhibition showcasing the work of four shortlisted artists.
Tate Britain, which runs the prize, decided to cancel this year’s edition in May and asked its jury to select a larger roster of artists who would have the money divided between them.
The jury had already done most of the work narrowing down the potential candidates for the 2020 award, according to the gallery’s director Alex Farquharson.
They winners include a photographer portraying the experiences of black Britons, a Welsh sculptor who makes sparse wood-based structures and a mixed-media artist who used his mother as the centre of an installation.
Mr Farquharson said: ‘Following a lively and rigorous virtual debate, the jury has settled on a list of ten fantastic artists who reflect the exceptional talent found in contemporary British art.
‘From ceramics to film, performance to photography, they represent the many exciting and interdisciplinary ways that artists work today. These bursaries represent a vote of confidence in that work and offer some much-deserved support in challenging times.
‘We’re extremely grateful to John Booth, Catherine Petitgas and The Ampersand Foundation who generously stepped forward at such short notice to make these bursaries possible.’
The artists who received prizes were:
- Arika, a political arts organisation based in Edinburgh
- Oxford-based artist Shawanda Corbett
- Glasgow-based artist and singer Jamie Crewe
- Welsh sculptor Sean Edwards
- London-based artist Sidsel Meineche Hansen
- Ima Abasi-Okon, who lives and works in London and Amsterdam
- London-based artist Imran Perretta
- Alberta Whittle, who lives and works between Barbados, Scotland and South Africa
- Israeli artist Oreet Ashery
- Liz-Johnson Artur, a Ghanaian-Russian photogrphaer
It is the first time the prize has been cancelled since 1990, when it could not be held due to a lack of sponsorship.
The organisers will return the prize to its normal format next year.
Past winners include Antony Gormley (1994), Damien Hirst (1995), Steve McQueen (1999) and Grayson Perry (2003).
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