Artes Mundi, the UK’s biggest art prize for contemporary art, has announced the shortlist for its ninth edition at an event at London’s The Showroom. The six nominees for the £40,000 prize are the Dominican artist Firelei Báez, the South African artist Dineo Seshee Bopape, the Japanese artist Meiro Koizumi, the Puerto Rican artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, the Indian artist Prabhakar Pachpute and the US artist Carrie Mae Weems.
In a statement, the Artes Mundi’s new director Nigel Prince says that the shortlisted artists “speak to and engage with some of the most urgent issues of our time”.
The prize is awarded to an artist who “consistently makes thought-provoking work of exceptional quality”, and nominations can come from all over the world but “must have already achieved recognition for the quality of their work in their own country,” according to the Artes Mundi website.
An exhibition of the selected artists will open at the National Museum Cardiff in October 2020, with the winner announced in January 2021. The ninth edition’s jury includes the executive director of Hong Kong’s Para Site art centre, Cosmin Costinas; the director of The Showroom, Elvira Dyangani Ose; and the chief curator of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Rachel Kent.
The winner of Artes Mundi 8 was the Thai film-maker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Previous winners include Theaster Gates, Teresa Margolles and John Akomfrah.