 |
|
London-based
artist Christina Mackie is on the 2005 shortlist. Shown here
is her installation Interzone, 2002
|
The
Beck's Futures contemporary art prize at the ICA, the UK's largest,
richest art award not called Turner.
1.
Beck's
Futures was set up in 2000 as an idiosyncratic and independent alternative
to the 'institutional dogmatism' of the elitist Turner Prize.
It
focuses on artists who are at a crucial, early stage in their development.
Usually eight artists are chosen for the shortlist, but this year
there are six, ostensibly to give the nominees more gallery space.
| 2.
In total £65,000 is at stake, £40,000 of which will
be shared among all the shortlisted artists with an additional
£20,000 going to the overall winner. |
 3.
In parallel to the main prize there is a Film and Video Prize, open
to final year and post-graduate students, which this year is being
selected by filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher, Morvern
Callar) and photographer Rankin, co-founder and creative director
of Dazed & Confused magazine.
Established
in 1999, this prize is worth a total of £5,000 and gives the
artists involved the opportunity to have their work exhibited at
the ICA, and to win the top prize of £2,000.
|
4.
Last year, Doug Fishbone, a post-graduate student at Goldsmith's
College, won the Student Prize for Film and Video for The
Ugly American, his wry take on contemporary America.
Since
winning he has screened work in the Netherlands, Spain, USA,
and Germany, and has participated in numerous UK group shows,
notably at the Curzon Soho and Zoo Art Fair. His most recent
major non-video project was an installation of 30,000 bananas
in Trafalgar Square, in October 2004. More...
|
 |
|
David
Sherry's 2003 video submission featured the artist sewing
wood to the soles of his feet
|
5.
Among the works in Beck's Futures 2003 was Irish performance artist
David Sherry's video, Stitching, in which he apparently sews two
planks of wood to the soles of his feet. More...
In another performance Sherry carried a bucket of water around for
a week and spent another week avoiding eye contact with anyone.
He also attended a series of job interviews in the character of
a "serial psycho interviewee".
| 6.
In the same year Glasgow-based artist and nominee, Lucy Skaer,
conned the Earl of Glasgow into ceremonially laying a paving
slab she made - after levering a perfectly good one out of the
city's Buchanan Street with a crowbar. |
 |
|
Francis
Upritchard's 2003 sculpture, Save Yourself, went on to be
exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery
|
7.
Another 2003 notable was New Zealand artist Francis Upritchard's
one-eyed, fag packet-holding mummy sculpture, Save Yourself, which
moaned and vibrated when people went near it.
Upritchard
went on to exhibit as part of the New Blood show at the Saatchi
Gallery as well as becoming Camden Arts Centre's Artist in Residence
in 2004.
| 8.
For last year's show Tonica Lemos Auad made a series of sculptured
animals from carpet-fluff called Fleeting Luck, and Susan Philipsz
sang Radiohead's Airbag to shoppers in Tesco Metro, Bethnal
Green, over the PA system and called the performance Filter. |
9.
Previous celebrity award presenters on prize-giving night have included
Helena Christensen and Keith Allen, while Zadie Smith, Gary Hume,
film director John Maybury (Love is the Devil) and Marianne
Faithfull have spent time in the judges' chair.
|
10.
2005's selection panel includes artists Wolfgang Tillmans
and Cerith Wyn Evans, and the nominees were drawn from "artists
who refused to sit neatly in any one category, who displayed
a genuine, even eccentric independence and eclecticism".
Their
work, now on show at the ICA until 15 May, includes a performance
piece featuring Jabba The Hutt of Star Wars fame, a
film about maverick psychoanalyst RD Laing, and an installation
which includes a bespoke perfume. Carol
Murphy 17
March 05
|
See
also: Beck's
Futures 2005 finalists in pictures
See
also: Glasgow
artist Toby Paterson on winning the Beck's Futures prize
Useful links: ICA
and Beck's
Futures
(The
BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites).
Now
jump to our Galleries section
for more on London's visual arts scene
|
Listen live
Click
through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!