The Shortlist Of Five British Museums & Artists Collaboration Compete For £60,000. This year Five British museums have been paired with five prestigious artists will be battling it out to win a prize of £60,000 in the Contemporary Art Society Annual Awards, which takes place on the 14th November.
This Award is the largest donation made specifically to a museum to enable them to work closely with their selected artist to directly commission a new work for a public collection. The third annual Contemporary Art Society’s Award for museums commission to collect is in its third year in 2011. The aim of Award is to support museums to commission new work through a donation of £60,000 by the Sfumato Foundation to the winning museum, that, once completed will remain within the museum as a permanent collection. The structure of the Award is designed to create the museum as a dynamic place of production – an environment where some of the most interesting contemporary artists of our time are able to show new work within public collections, for audiences now and in the future to enjoy. This Award is the largest donation made specifically to a museum to enable them to work closely with their selected artist in the UK.
The winner will be announced on 14 November. Previous winners include the Hepworth Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery for their proposal with Luke Fowler and Museums Sheffield, the Graves Art Gallery with Katerina Seda.
The CAS Award For Museum Shortlist, 2011:
National Museum Wales (Cardiff) with Artes Mundi Proposal with artist Andrea Büttner
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery Proposal with artist Christina Mackie
Shipley Art Gallery Proposal with artist Matthew Darbyshire
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool Proposal with artist Wael Shawky
University of Warwick Art Collection Proposal with artist Katie Paterson
This is another initiative that meets the Contemporary Art Society’s mission to develop public collections of contemporary art across the UK. The charity has gifted over 8,000 works over a period of 100 years, supporting artists when they were young and little known and ensured that some of the most important works are represented in collections across the UK.
Shortlist commission proposals
National Museum Wales (Cardiff) is proposing to work in partnership with Artes Mundi to commission artist Andrea Büttner. Büttner’s practise is grounded in print making, with a significant body of wood-cuts at its core, but extends across a wide range of media including photography, film, sound, installation and sculpture. Craft holds an important place in her practise, whether through the use of materials and processes such as unfired clay, textiles, pressed flowers and bookbinding or in the depiction of craft objects. This relationship to traditional often unfashionable materials and processes make the encyclopaedic collections at the National Museum Wales particularly fascinating for Büttner. Over the past 10 years National Museum Wales has worked with Artes Mundi to significantly develop their collection of international contemporary art – this commission would generate an exciting new dimension to the partnership and be an opportunity for skill sharing between the two organisations.
Büttner was born in Stuttgart in 1972. In 2010 she was awarded a PhD at the Royal College of Art London. In the same year Büttner was awarded the Max Mara Prize for Women. This led to a residency in Italy followed by her solo exhibition The Poverty of Riches at Whitechapel in April 2011. Büttner is represented by Hollybush Gardens, London.
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery is proposing to commission artist Christina Mackie. Christina Mackie’s sculptural installations combine diverse natural, manmade and crafted materials to create a complex web of associations. Over the years she has developed a sophisticated materials-based language to give physical form to her personal thought processes. Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery has an eclectic mix of collections and experiences which they feel will provide a rich context for Mackie’s work. Housed within a 17th century ducal mansion on a hill above a network of caves and the remains of a medieval castle, it is part art museum, part heritage site and pleasure grounds. Mackie’s practice touches on painting, watercolour, drawing, ceramics, textiles, photography, film – the curators at Nottingham see opportunities to make connections between Mackie’s work and so many aspects of their collections.
Christina Mackie (b. 1956) lives and works in London. In 2005 she won Becks Futures, and in 2010 was the winner of the Paul Hamlyn Prize for Artists. She has exhibited at Tate, Henry Moore Institute, Modern Art Oxford, Baltic and De La Warr Pavilion. She is currently working towards a solo exhibition at the Chisenhale. Mackie is represented by Herald Street, London
Shipley Art Gallery is proposing to commission artist Matthew Darybshire. Matthew Darbyshire’s work brings to our attention the design of everyday environments. Their essence is presented through installations constructed from the familiar design language of contemporary culture, from Arne Jacobson’s Egg Chair to a pair of Ugg Boots. The result initially is one of deja vu, swiftly interjected by a cacophony created by the saturation of excess and pervasive design. The Shipley Art Gallery’s craft and design collection began in 1977 and today it is one of the most significant collections in the UK. Conversations between Darbyshire and the Shipley have highlighted his enthusiasm for engaging with both a public building and an established collection featuring design objects.
Matthew Darbyshire (b.1977) lives and works in London. He studied at Slade School of Art and Royal Academy. He has since exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. In 2012 he will be the Stanley Picker Fellow. He is currently working towards a solo exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow in 2012. Darbyshire is represented by Herald Street, London
Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool is proposing to commission Egyptian artist Wael Shawky. Wael Shawky is concerned with the complex relationship between politics and religion, fundamentalism and capitalism, religious ritual and the role of the media. He examines transitional events in the medieval ancient and modern history of the Arab world. Cabaret Crusades, is a recent body of work that explores the crusades of 1096-1099 from the perspective of Arab historians. This work is emblematic of Shawky’s interest in working with museums and their collections and it is this that has ignited the proposal. The diversity of the Walker’s holdings of predominantly European fine and decorative arts, spanning the middle ages to the present day, will form the starting point for Shawky’s proposed commission. The commission will be a partnership between Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival (LAAF), Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) and the Liverpool Biennial.
Wael Shawky (born in 1971), lives and works in Alexan