Out of five social change groups that have competed this year for the Turner Prize, the UK’s most important visual arts award, the jury selected a group of 11 Belfast-based artists who worked on topics such as abortion, rights strange, mental health, gentrification and access to social protection, and the Irish question. The £ 25,000 (€ 29,300) award will be donated to the Array collective in 2021, highlighting artistic practice performed “in the complex, divided and sectarian context of modern society,” the chairman of the jury said. , Alex Farquharson, diary quote The keeper…
“They deal with very important issues, but carry a sense of humor, pleasure, joy, hope and hospitality – often through the absurd, camp and theater – to an extremely tense situation, ”added the director of Tate Britain, emphasizing the“ liberating and post-sectarian ”spirit of collective thinking, but also the ease and“ carnival feeling ”with which they tackle the problems of destruction. such as LGBT and women’s rights.
The installation with which Array Collective won the award, Ball Drutayba, copies one a pub illegal Irish, while evoking the ceremonial structures characteristic of Celtic culture and signs of protest culture such as flags and banners used during demonstrations, in this case protecting the reproductive rights of non-heterosexual populations and condemning conversion treatments. A group hit hard by the struggle for independence in Northern Ireland describes it as “a place where we can come together beyond sectarian barriers.” It is assumed that politics can and should be done on the street, but “more fun and less belligerent,” as critic David Sillito notes on the BBC.
“In a community where protest marches and street art are too often attributed to sectarian meanings, the Arrays want to create new events and new symbols, as well as disrupt local mythology in order to respond to different identities that cross the usual dividing lines,” the BBC says. journalist.
Considering the awarding of the prize “surreal,” which has never been in Northern Ireland until now, the group has already announced that it intends to use the money to secure a lease for its studio in Belfast.
London-based bands Black Obsidian Sound System (BOSS) and Cooking Sections – the first non-white people – also competed for the prize. strange, trans and intersex are committed to a new definition of culture audio system from African diasporas; the second focused on food demonstrating unsustainable production and consumption dynamics – the Cardiff-based Gentle / Radical project, which uses art as a tool for social change, and the Hastings-based Project Art Works group. Each of the finalist projects received £ 10,000.
The decision to restrict list this year has been controversial for artists who work together and collectively, but Alex Farquharson recalls that in other disciplines such as theater, film or performance, this is common practice.
Last year, due to the pandemic crisis, the Turner Prize was suspended for the first time since its inception in 1984, but in return for its € 10,000 scholarships, ten artists were awarded. In 2019, the jury, by an unprecedented decision and of its own free will, decided to present the prize to the four finalists.