National Museum Cardiff: Artes Mundi 7

​The winner of Artes Mundi 7 will be announced on 25th January 2017, at an awards ceremony at National Museum Cardiff. The winning artist will receive a prize of £40,000, the UK’s largest monetary prize awarded to an artist. In 2015 the winner, Theaster Gates, chose to split the prize fund equally between the whole shortlist.

Artist Mundi 7 is the UK’s leading international contemporary art prize and an important arbiter of cultural exchange between the UK and the international community.   Bringing together a major biennial exhibition of the world’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Artes Mundi 7 promises to be the foremost opportunity to see ground-breaking, international contemporary art in the UK. The shortlist of seven artists has been selected from over 700 nominations submitted from 90 countries.


Karen MacKinnon, Artes Mundi’s Director and Curator, said “Artes Mundi 7 brings together the work of seven outstanding international artists. Through their work they examine important global issues such as migration, technology, feminism, capitalism and global politics. These artists question what it means to be human in our world and in our time.

Whether their works explore the current situation in Angola, the use of technology in warfare, fictional future cities, the politics of food production or migration from Syria to Beirut; there is humour, surrealism and provocation. But what connects this diverse exhibition is relevance and urgency, as they comment on and question the spirit of our age.”

In 2016, the biennial exhibition at National Museum Cardiff and Chapter will be the centrepiece of an extended programme beyond that will include a number of locations across the city. In partnership with other organisations, Artes Mundi will present a world-class programme of performance, music, site-specific installations, film, lectures and seminars based around the exhibition and prize, from October to February.

The shortlisted artists for Artes Mundi 7

JOHN AKOMFRAH (UK)
NEÏL BELOUFA (FRANCE/ALGERIA)
AMY FRANCESCHINI / FUTUREFARMERS (USA/BELGIUM)
LAMIA JOREIGE (LEBANON)
NÁSTIO MOSQUITO (ANGOLA)
HITO STEYERL (GERMANY)
BEDWYR WILLIAMS (UK/WALES)

Exhibition runs: 21st October 2016 - 26th February
www.museumwales.ac.uk

John Akomfrah, Mnemosyne, (Still) 2010, courtesy the artist and Smoking Dogs Films, London