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Arts

In first, Turner Prize shared between four finalists

December 3, 2019

All four shortlisted artists have been awarded the prestigious prize after they asked the jury to treat them as a collective. The artists sought to make a statement in the name of "solidarity in art as in society."

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Tai Shani, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo
Image: picture-alliance/empics/PA Wire/G. Fuller

The UK's prestigious Turner Prize for art was awarded to all four shortlisted artists on Tuesday. 

The four finalists — Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani — jointly won the 2019 Turner Prize after they asked the jury to consider them as a collective, prize organizers said Tuesday during the ceremony at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, southeast England. 

The artists said that in a divided world, they wanted the prize "to make a collective statement in the name of commonality, multiplicity and solidarity in art as in society." 

Read more: Charlotte Prodger wins Turner Prize for smartphone video

Jury president Alex Farquharson of the Tate Britain gallery in London said the panel of judges agreed unanimously to the request. 

The four artists had not met before they were shortlisted for the prize earlier this year, but had "formed a real creative and ethical bond," said Farquharson. 

"It's not four winners. It's one winner, and it's the four of them as a collective," he continued. 

A general view of the new Turner Contemporary Gallery
The ceremony was held at the Turner Contemporary Gallery, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, in Margate, Kent.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fuller

The work of all four artists deals with the political. Beirut-based Hamdan interviewed former inmates of a notorious Syrian prison for a sound installation; Cammock's work explores the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland; Murillo is influenced by the history of his native Colombia; and Shani originated a feminist science fiction world for her nominated work. 

Read more: Turner Prize logic baffles not just the British establishment

The winner of the Turner Prize usually receives £25,000 (€29,300, $32,000) and the runners-up £5000 (€5,800, $6,400) each. This year, the winners can divide the £40,000 prize as they wish. 

The Turner Prize was founded in the UK in 1984 and is named for the 19th-century landscape painter J.M.W. Turner. 

Previous winners include Damien Hirst and "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen. The award has faced criticism for honoring impenetrable conceptual art works and often sparks discussions surrounding modern art's value. 

The Turner Prize had "broken the mold" before, Farquharson said, with recent winners and nominees including architects and human rights researchers. Innovating had "kept the Turner Prize dynamic and surprising and not ossified." 

"I don't think it would have had that long history had it not evolved, had it not surprised us," he said.


David Chipperfield's Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, England

mmc/aw (AP, dpa)