New City Art Prize

Exhibitions

5 December 2014 - 11 January 2015

Shortlisted artists: Beatrice Gibson, Siobhán Hapaska, Jimmy Merris and Roger Palmer 

An exhibition of work by the four artists shortlisted for the inaugural MK Community Foundation £10,000 New City Art Prize for the Visual Arts. The prize aims to raise the arts profile within Milton Keynes by highlighting some of the best examples of new art from across the UK. The winner will be announced on the morning of 5 December 2014.

The shortlist was selected by a Jury comprising Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain, Candida Gertler of Outset, artist Roger Hiorns, former Turner Prize nominee and MK Gallery exhibitor in 2006, Adrian Searle, Chief Art Critic of the Guardian Newspaper, Anthony Spira, Director of MK Gallery and Julia Upton, Chief Executive MK Community Foundation.

London based Beatrice Gibson (b.1978) is an experimental and process-led filmmaker, who was nominated for the Jarman Award (2013) and shortlisted for the MaxMara Prize for Women Artists 2013-15. Her work often explores the relationship between music-making and film, particularly experimental notation.

Siobhán Hapaska (b.1963) is a sculptor known for making multi-layered work combining disparate images, forms and narrative styles, ranging from the figurative to the abstract, using such diverse materials as olive trees, (fake) animal fur and industrial metals.

Jimmy Merris (b.1983) works primarily with video, but also performance, assemblage and print. Some videos, shot in low resolution, often involving a collaged pop soundtrack  are short, tragi-comic vignettes of everyday life.

Since the 1970s, Roger Palmer (b.1946), has worked primarily in the medium of large black and white photographs, often hung without frames. Throughout his practice, he has maintained a steady output of thoughtful, austere, poetic and pared down work with a strong political backbone and sense of history.

Anthony Spira, Director of MK Gallery said: “We are delighted to be launching this important new art prize with a shortlist of this calibre. In some respects, the exhibition will reflect the diversity of art practice in the UK today and will also hopefully provide inspiration for artists in MK.”

Julia Upton, Chief Executive of MK Community Foundation said, “Art and culture has always been an important element that contributes to the success of Milton Keynes’ development, and today we are recognised as one of the world’s most innovative new cities. Creating the Community Foundation’s UK Art Prize will bring a new focus on arts excellence that will contribute to MK’s reputation of fostering arts and culture which is important for the overall quality of life.”