2017 Turner Prize nominees champions diversity
Shortly after changing the rules of the competition to remove the upper age limit of 50, the Turner Prize has announced its 2017 shortlist, revealing all nominees to be aged over 40. With three female, two over 50, and two born outside of the UK, the list appears diverse and non-discriminatory.
This year's contenders are Hurvin Anderson, 52, from Birmingham, based in London; Andrea Buttner, 45, a multimedia German artist; Rosalind Nashashibi, 43, from London, primarily working in film; and Lubaina Himid, 62, Zanzibar-born, based in Preston, professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire, whose work celebrates black creativity.
In what was once the domain of young British artists during the 1990s, the youngest nominee this year looks to be Londoner Rosalind Nashashibi, aged 43. Nevertheless, as Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chairman of the jury said, “The Turner Prize has always championed emerging artists,” and this year’s contenders are no exception. The Turner Prize exhibition will open at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, September 26, with the winner announced on December 5. For further details, see here.
Top L-R | Hurvin Anderson, Country Club Series: Chicken Wire (2008), Lubaina Himid, Naming the Money (2004)
Bottom L-R | Andrea Büttner, Piano (2013), Rosalind Nashashibi, Electrical Gaza (2015)
Follow-on concept for Auctionata via Berlin’s Historia Auction House
In an attempt to save face, Auctionata, the first online auction house for art via livestream, has entered into an agreement with the established Historia Auction House. Historia have grown overtime, primarily through the acquisition of several flailing art auction houses.
Founded in 2012, Auctionata Paddle8 AG suffered financial strain, filing a request to open insolvency proceedings on January 16, which lead to the closing of its doors in April this year. Subsidaries Paddle 8 and Value My Stuff continue to operate independently, having been sold to US and UK investors. “Designed to be a completely hassle free operation, requiring no effort from the customer,” Auctionata hope to re-consign the goods of current customers who have not sold, and to try once more to auction them.
Image via Twitter @JKLFA
Winners of the 17th Swiss Grand Award for Art announced
Laureates of the Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim 2017 have been announced as author and curator Philip Ursprun, artist Daniela Keiser, and architect Peter Märkli. Each will receive CHF 40,000 (£28,000), to be presented at the awards ceremony in Basel, June 12.
In honour of the Swiss surrealist artist and photographer Meret Oppenheim, the prize has, for the past 17 years, rewarded Swiss figures from the art world. Last years, winners included curator Adelina von Fürstenberg, artist Christian Philipp Müller, and architect and author Martin Steinmann.
Daniela Keiser, Cyanogarten (2015)
Artistic director of Tate Liverpool joins Moscow’s V-A-C Foundation
Francesco Manacorda, former artistic director of Tate Liverpool, has joined the V-A-C Foundation in its expansion in Moscow and Venice. Established by Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, the foundation aims to develop and promote Russian contemporary art through its international platform, whilst supporting home grown talents and young emerging artists. A member of the Tate’s International Council, Mikhelson is also the CEO of Russian gas company Novatek.
Manacorda, who co-curated the 2016 Liverpool Biennial, has worked on many acclaimed exhibitions: “Radical Nature—Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009” (2009) at the Barbican in London, as well as many solo shows at Tate Liverpool, including that of Nasreen Mohamedi, Piet Mondrian, Maria Lassnig, Francis Bacon, and Ella Kruglyaskaya.
V-A-C is currently building a major new contemporary art museum in Moscow, located on the site of the 1907 GES-2 power station, scheduled to open in 2019. Details via Russia Beyond the Headlines
