Tate announced today that the Turner Prize will be presented at Tramway in
Glasgow in 2015.
This will be the first time the exhibition and award will be presented in
Scotland. The Turner Prize was first
shown outside London at Tate Liverpool in 2007. Since 2011
the Turner Prize has been shown at a gallery outside London in alternate
years.
Following an open submission process, Tramway was selected from a
shortlist of four venues that applied to host the prize in 2015. A panel
including Tomma Abts, artist and Tate Trustee; Laurence Sillars, Chief Curator,
BALTIC; Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate; Caroline Collier, Director, Tate
National; and Judith Nesbitt, Head of National/International Initiatives made
the selection.
Glasgow and Scotland's bid
to host the Turner Prize in 2015 was submitted by a partnership comprising
Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Creative Scotland and
EventScotland.
Nicholas Serota,
Director, Tate said: ‘All the shortlisted venues put forward compelling cases
for hosting the Turner Prize in 2015 and each would bring unique qualities to
it. The professionalism and vision of each bidding organisation was
inspirational - all built on strong partnerships between visual art
organisations, their local authorities, educational institutions and local
communities.
‘Over the last 20 years, Glasgow and Scotland
has gained national and international recognition as a centre of excellence in,
and for, the visual arts and for many years artists who are from Scotland or who
have trained at the Glasgow School of Art - one of the world's leading art
schools - have been nominated for, or won, the
award.’
Councillor Gordon Matheson,
the Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau,
said: ‘Glasgow is Scotland’s cultural powerhouse and we are
delighted that our work with partners at
Creative Scotland and Event Scotland has won us the right to host
the UK’s most prestigious arts prize in
2015. With so many former winners and nominees, the city enjoys international
recognition as a thriving centre for the production and hosting of contemporary
visual arts.
‘Tramway has been described
as an industrial cathedral that connects art with humanity and has a thriving
global reputation as a producer and promoter of the most innovative work by
Scottish and international artists. In bringing the Turner Prize to Tramway
and Glasgow, we will build on that growing reputation - and following from the
ambitious Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme, hosting the Turner
Prize will continue to build both audiences and interest in the very best in
contemporary visual art.’
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet
Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said: ‘I am thrilled that the world
renowned Turner Prize will be hosted in Scotland for the first time in 2015.
Hosting the UK’s most prestigious arts prize at Tramway in Glasgow is not only a
reflection of the strength and diversity of the work of Scotland's artists over
many years, but also stands testament to Scotland as the perfect stage for major
cultural events and builds on our national and international reputation for
cultural and creative excellence.’
In 2007 the Turner Prize
was shown for the first time outside London at Tate Liverpool as a precursor to the
2008 European Capital of Culture programme. In 2011 it attracted a record number
of visitors to the Baltic in Gateshead. This
year Turner Prize will be presented in Derry-Londonderry, the first holder of
the mantle of UK City of Culture. In 2014 it will return home to Tate Britain.
The Turner Prize
is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or
other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding the shortlist
announcement in spring each year. (The term British applies to all artists
working in the United
Kingdom and to British-born artists who may be
working abroad.) The Prize was established in 1984 by the Patrons of New Art and
is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary
British art.