THE fifth Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition will run from May 26 to September 10 and for the first time the annual international showcase will be held at York Art Gallery in a switch from York St Mary's.
Billed as a platform for innovation and originality, the cutting-edge exhibition invites audiences to "engage with captivating projects from some of today’s leading artists".
Adam Basanta's installation Curtain (white)
"From individual narratives to global concerns, the artworks comment on contemporary culture and explore themes such as globalisation, perceptions of space and alienation in the digital age," says Aesthetica managing director Cherie Federico, editor of the York publication Aesthetica Magazine.
Selected from a long list of 100, the shortlist includes 16 artists who hail from diverse locations such as Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United States and Great Britain. Utilising a range of media, they work within the categories of photographic and digital art; painting, drawing and mixed media; three-dimensional design and sculpture and video, installation and performance.
Alinka Echeverría's Anthem from Becoming South Sudan – Chapter One
Adam Basanta has been selected for his installation Curtain (white), in which he uses ready-made commercial technologies and communication devices, arranging these objects in ways that disrupt their economic functions, testing their potential as instruments of personal or mass communication.
In Curtain (white), Basanta considers the ubiquitous white ear-bud headphone, an everyday device that creates an interior environment in which you can retreat from the external world. Within this personalised bubble, the headphones function as a visual “Do Not Disturb” sign; the work plays on this notion by producing a three-metre-long “curtain” that sections the gallery space, both visually and sonically.
Stephen Johnston's Lime In Jar
In the photographic category, Judith Jones presents Rendezvous and The Road To Nowhere from her Twilight series. In this collection, Jones examines the dialect between the outside and inside, commenting on the contrasts of private and public spaces. "The 'blue hour' of twilight takes us through the transition between day and night, maintaining an uncanny sense of unease," she says. "Documenting this fragile time frame presents a magical, filmic space that at once intrigues and fascinates, yet also evokes a lingering sense of fear."
The poetic and surrealist Adam Niklewicz sees the act of “making art” as carving out a niche, a free zone for expression that doubles as a buffer, a source of protection from the pressures of corporate society in which many people feel trapped. In a climate where the public is encouraged to believe that reality can be sanitised and made predictable, his practice pokes holes into that illusion.
Webb-Ellis's Parlor Walls
His prize entry, Rigorous encases found objects – boxing gloves – within glass jars, duly offering a multitude of interpretations, such as global themes of restriction and displacement, as well as a satirical subversion of recognisable objects.
Shadowplay by the memorably named breadedEscalope is an interactive light installation that is the result of the artists’ experimentations with "a certain type of void". By interacting with the state of darkness or “nothingness”, they discovered that the qualities of shadow are "an actual material that can be manipulated and utilised, shifting into an emotionally affective clock". Viewers become the most essential component; when they touch the wall in the ring’s centre, the clock dims all the lights. Two spots appear that illuminate the index finger and cast two shadows that resemble the hands of a clock.
Dylan Martinez's Untitled
In the painting, drawing and mixed media category, the shortlist includes Stephen Johnston’s painting Limes In Jar, an example of his ventures in reinterpreting still life, whether presenting food slowly decaying in glass jars, burnt bottles, deconstructed cakes in jars or a bowl full of roadkill. These vivid images deal with the subject of mortality and reveal how Johnston sees all still life as a comment on death.
The other shortlisted entries are: Alinka Echeverría's Becoming South Sudan – Chapter One; Dylan Martinez's Untitled; Emmanuelle Moureaux's 100 colors; Jasmina Cibic's Tear Down And Rebuild; Julio Bittencourt's Tokyo Subway and Capsule Hotel; Lesley Hilling's A Patch Of Blue and El Barrio; Maryam Tafakory's Absent Wound; Sara Morawetz's How The Stars Stand; Stanza's The Nemesis Machine; Toby Dye's The Corridor and Webb-Ellis's Parlor Walls.
Judith Jones's Rendezvous
“The 2017 shortlist features 16 captivating projects that are relevant and innovative, responding to current issues and themes in our world today," says Cherie. "Many of the artists are attending the exhibition private view and exhibition talks programme at the Future Now Symposium, giving visitors a unique opportunity to investigate their works further and explore current trends and developments in the art world and wider visual culture.”
A judging panel will select the winners of the main prize and the student prize, announced at the exhibition private view on the evening of May 25. The panel of influential art figures – curators, directors and artists whose expertise spans all media – comprises Whitney Hintz, independent advisor and curator of the Hiscox Collection; Alistair Payne, head of the School of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art; Olivier Richon, photography lecturer at the Royal College of Art; Reyahn King, chief executive of York Museums Trust; Jonathan Watkins, director of Ikon Gallery; Susanna Brown, the V&A's curator of photographs, V&A; artist Rachel Ara, the 2016 Aesthetica Art Prize winner; Eleanor Clayton, curator of The Hepworth, Wakefield, and Cherie Federico, co-founder and managing director of Aesthetica.
Julio Bittencourt's Plethora - Tokyo Subway
Among the series of 12.30pm talks at York Art Gallery, a group of shortlisted artists will deliver the Future Now talk on May 26, while British/Canadian artists Andrew and Caitlin Webb-Ellis will discuss their work in film, video and performance on August 10.
For more information on the exhibition and talks programme, visit aestheticamagazine.com/art-prize/exhibition-2017; for opening times and admission details, visit yorkartgallery.org.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here