The winner of the Artes Mundi 5 Prize audience award was today unveiled to coincide with the closing of the exhibition on Sunday 13 January 2013 with the public choosing Miriam Bäckström as their favourite from the shortlist of 7 artists. A panel of judges chaired by curator and broadcaster Tim Marlow chose Teresa Margolles as the winner of the £40,000 Artes Mundi Prize on 29 November 2012.
The Artes Mundi 5 exhibition achieved record attendance figures with a total of almost 46,000 visitors from Wales, the UK and abroad, 8% more than the previous best results. This year innovative programming often took visitors outside the traditional gallery space. A performance of Tania Bruguera’s Tatlin’s Whisper #5 brought police horses into the main hall of the National Museum Cardiff and film screenings and a collaboration between shortlisted artist Phil Collins and musicians Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl took place at Chapter Arts Centre.
The must-see Artes Mundi 5 exhibition provides a rare overview for UK audiences of the international art scene. Occurring every two years since 2004, Artes Mundi is committed to supporting contemporary visual artists from around the world whose work engages with social reality, lived experience and the human condition. Artes Mundi’s nominee artists are already well known in their home country or region with growing international careers.