M&G; Shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize

We are very pleased to announce that Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev (M&G) have been shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize:

Artists from Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Russia and Taiwan on shortlist for UK’s biggest contemporary art prize.

The eight artists from around the world who have been shortlisted for Artes Mundi 4 were announced today.

Viktor Misiano, one of the two selectors for the next Artes Mundi Prize, revealed the names on the Shortlist, as follows: Yael Bartana (Israel), Fernando Bryce (Peru), Ergin Çavusoglu (Bulgaria), Chen Chiehjen (Taiwan), Olga Chernysheva (Russia), Gulnara Kasmalieva & Muratbek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan) and Adrian Paci (Albania).

The intensive selection process involved Artes Mundi in receiving over 480 international nominations from more than 80 countries. The Shortlist was chosen by two specially appointed selectors: independent curator and art critic Viktor Misiano, formerly Curator at The Pushkin State Museum and Director of the Contemporary Art Center (CAC) in Moscow, and Levent Çalikoglu, Chief Curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.

The diversity of nationalities and artistic media on the list reveals the scope of the Artes Mundi Prize, which seeks out outstanding artists from around the world who stimulate our thinking on the human condition and humanity.

Artes Mundi was established in 2003 and works in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. One of the largest art prizes in the world, it is a biennial contemporary visual arts initiative that gives greater visibility to artists and recognises them on a truly international platform.

Past shortlisted artists and recipients of the Artes Mundi prize have included
Artes Mundi 1: Janine Antoni, Tim Davies, Jacqueline Fraser, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Lee Bul, Michal Rovner, Berni Searle, Fiona Tan, Kara Walker, and Xu Bing; Artes Mundi 2: Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Thomas Demand, Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg, Leandro Erlich, Subodh Gupta, Sue Williams, and Wu Chi-Tsung; and Artes Mundi 3: Lida Abdul, Vasco Araújo, Mircea Cantor, Dalziel and Scullion, N. S. Harsha, Abdoulaye Konaté, Susan Norrie, Rosângela Rennó.

We, of course, are rooting for M&G to receive the award, but it already makes us quite proud indeed that they've been short-listed. The fourth Artes Mundi exhibition will take place at the National Museum Cardiff from March 11 to June 6, 2010.