Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani are the winners of this year's Turner Prize. For the first time, the renowned award for Modern Art goes to all four nominated artists. They asked the jury in a letter to share the prize as a statement of "commonality, diversity and solidarity" in a time of political crisis ".
The nominees had given the jury a lot to think about with their request, Tate Britain jury chairman and director Alex Farquharson said at the ceremony. But it was "very much in the spirit of the work of these artists to challenge conventions, to resist polarized worldviews and to represent other voices" (more about the individual artists can be found here).
The Turner Prize is the most important British award for modern art. It is named after the English painter William Turner (1775-1851) and has been awarded since 1984. Only artists coming from or living and working in the UK are nominated. The award will be organized by the London Tate Gallery. It took place this year for the first time in the coastal town of Margate.
The prize money for the winner of the Turner Prize is 25,000 pounds (about 29,000 euros). The other nominees each receive 5,000 pounds. This year, the prize money will now be given in total to the four winners who split it among themselves.
The award has fueled, among others, the careers of Damien Hirst and Chris Ofili, who have become known in the art industry as "Young British Artists". Last year, the award went to British artist Charlotte Prodger. The 45-year-old was awarded for her short films "Bridgit" and "Stoneymollan Trail", some of which were shot with the iPhone. Among the winners are so far only two Germans: the photographer Wolfgang Tillmans (2000) and the painter Tomma Abts (2006).