The Tramway in Glasgow will host the 2015 Turner Prize. The Tate’s director Nicholas Serota, announced each venue had “put forward compelling cases for hosting the Turner Prize in 2015”, but that Tramway in Glasgow’s south side would host the event in December 2015. He said: “Over the last 20 years, Glasgow and Scotland has gained national and international recognition as a centre of excellence in, and for, the visual arts. “
For many years artists who are from Scotland or who have trained at the Glasgow School of Art, one of the world’s leading art schools, have been nominated for, or won, the award. Glasgow has previously boasted five Turner Prize winners – including Martin Boyce, Richard Wright and Douglas Gordon, Susan Philipsz and Simon Starling. All with all except Philipsz attending the city’s art school. One of the nominees last year, Luke Fowler, is also based in Glasgow.
The Turner Prize is the top accolade for visual in Britain and is awarded each year to an artist under the age of 50 who resides in the UK. Winners of the prize, which has been presented in London in alternate years, receive a cheque for £25,000.
Glasgow will be the first city in Scotland to host the prize. The bid partnership involved Creative Scotland, Event Scotland and the city council. The three other venues up for consideration were Nottingham Contemporary, New Art Gallery in Walsall and Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.
The Tramway is an international art-space which commissions, produces and presents contemporary arts projects. Its vision is to inspire and add to our understanding of today’s world by connecting audiences and artists. It is a multi-arts venue in a former tram depot which was transformed for Glasgow as European capital of culture in 1990. The city has since undergone a dramatic artistic transformation. This year, the 2013 prize will be presented off of the British mainland, for the first time in Derry-Londonderry, the first UK City of Culture.