Jury awarded Martin Boyce with prize due to his ‘consistency’, ‘sense of poetry’, and ‘pioneering contribution to the current interest in historic modernism’
The jury noted the strength of all the shortlist – Martin Boyce, Karla Black, Hilary Lloyd, and George Shaw – and, in particular, how well this was demonstrated in the artists’ presentations at BALTIC. But, as we all know, they ultimately awarded the prize to Martin Boyce, whose work uses his knowledge of historic design to create distinctive sculptural installations. Now the jury have revealed why:
Martin Boyce (b.1967) was nominated for his solo exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, which built upon his project for the 53rd Venice Biennale by holding the viewer within an atmospheric sculptural installation. The decisive moment during the deliberation was when the jury returned to Boyce’s exhibition in Zurich. Here, they ‘confirmed the consistency of his work while opening up a new sense of poetry’. Furthermore, they recognised his ‘stature in terms of his pioneering contribution to the current interest which contemporary artists have in historic modernism, while continuing to develop and find new directions within the same vocabulary’. The jury consisted of Katrina Brown, Director, The Common Guild, Glasgow; Vasif Kortun, SALT, Istanbul; Nadia Schneider, freelance curator; Godfrey Worsdale, Director, BALTIC and Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain and Chair of the Jury.
The Turner Prize 2011 is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months proceeding 4 April 2011. BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art was the first venue outside Tate to host The Turner Prize. It will be hosted at Tate Britain in 2012 and then in Derry-Londonderry Northern Ireland, as part of the City of Culture celebrations in 2013.
The Prize was established in 1984 by the Patrons of New Art and is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art. Previous winners are: 1984 Malcolm Morley; 1985 Howard Hodgkin; 1986 Gilbert & George; 1987 Richard Deacon; 1988 Tony Cragg; 1989 Richard Long; 1990 (Prize suspended); 1991 Anish Kapoor; 1992 Grenville Davey; 1993 Rachel Whiteread; 1994 Antony Gormley; 1995 Damien Hirst; 1996 Douglas Gordon; 1997 Gillian Wearing; 1998 Chris Ofili; 1999 Steve McQueen; 2000 Wolfgang Tillmans; 2001 Martin Creed; 2002 Keith Tyson; 2003 Grayson Perry; 2004 Jeremy Deller; 2005 Simon Starling; 2006 Tomma Abts; 2007 Mark Wallinger; 2008 Mark Leckey: 2009 Richard Wright: 2010 Susan Philipsz.
The exhibition of the four shortlisted artists remains at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art until Sunday 8 January 2011.
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