When the Artes Mundi Prize launched in Wales 21 years ago, it was an outlier, and not just because of its uniquely large £40,000 award. Its unabashedly political remit for awarding international art that explores “social realities” and “the human condition” made it an anomaly in a UK that was still making sense of the Young British Artists’ hi-jinks.
“It was a very different context,” says Nigel Prince, the director of the biennial prize, which also has an accompanying exhibition of global artists on the verge of going stellar. In the past two decades, its winners have included Theaster Gates, Yael Bartana, John Akomfrah and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, all now leading voices in their field. While previous exhibitions were held in Cardiff, this year, to mark the 10th issuing of the award, the exhibition will be staged at five venues across four Welsh cities. Throughout its history, each show “has responded to the temperature of the day”, says Prince. “You can chart a progression towards more issues-based art.”
