Turner Prize shortlist announced

Tate Britain has announced the four artists shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize. Michael Dean, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten and Josephine Pryde will compete for the £25,000 top prize, awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or show from the past year.

Michael Dean has been shortlisted for his solo exhibitions Sic Glyphs at South London Gallery and Qualities of Violence at de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam. Michael works mainly in sculpture using familiar materials from the urban environment such as rebar from a building site or corrugated metal from a shop shutter.

Anthea Hamilton has been selected for her solo show Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity! at SculptureCenter, New York. Anthea works in sculpture, installation, performance and video art, producing surreal, stylised pieces that reference popular culture using an unexpected combination of images, materials and scales.

Helen Marten’s Lunar Nibs project at the Venice Biennale and her solo exhibition Eucalyptus Let Us In at Green Naftali, New York gained her a nomination. Helen uses found objects and crafted elements in her sculptures and tableaux.

Josephine Pryde gained a nomination for her solo show lapses in Thinking By the person i Am at CCA Wattis, San Francisco. Josephine explores the relationship between art and photography in her installations, which combine photographs and sculptural pieces, placing importance not just on the images but the staging as well.

An exhibition of the shortlisted artists’ work will be at the Tate Britain from 27 September 2016 – 8 January 2017, with the winner announced in December at an awards ceremony broadcast live on the BBC.

The members of the Turner Prize 2016 jury are Michelle Cotton, Director at Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Curator Tamsin Dillon; Beatrix Ruf, Director at the Stedelijk Museum; and Simon Wallis, Director of The Hepworth Wakefield. The jury is chaired by Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain.

Architecture, art and design collective Assemble won the Turner Prize last year, and founder Joe Halligan will be speaking at Here 2016.