The fifth Artes Mundi Prize nominees

The shortlist for the fifth Artes Mundi Prize has just been announced. From the flamboyant to the intimate, action and performance are the common threads that link the artists shortlisted for this year’s £40,000 Artes Mundi Prize. The selectors chose from over 750 nominations, including 576 individual artists from more than 90 countries, identifying artists whose work explores and comments on lived experience.

The seven artists picked for this year’s Artes Mundi, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of its Arts and Culture Program, and publicly funded by the Arts Council of Wales and Cardiff Council are:

• Miriam Bäckström (Sweden)

• Tania Bruguera (Cuba)

• Phil Collins (England)

• Sheela Gowda (India)

• Teresa Margolles (Mexico)

• Darius Mikšys (Lithuania)

• Apolonija Šušteršič (Slovenia)

From Phil Collins offering reality TV contestants a platform to critique their manipulation by the media, to the meticulous understatement through which Teresa Margolles addresses drug violence in Mexico, they all use a wide range of materials, actions, and strategies to engage with social issues and comment on society.

Some of the artists look at specific cultural or historical contexts while others engage with broader themes of human experience. The range of nationalities, themes and artistic media demonstrates the scope of the Artes Mundi Prize, which will be underlined in a major exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists at Wales’s new National Museum of Art later this year.

Ben Borthwick, Artes Mundi’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director who joined the team from Tate Modern in 2010 said: “We are delighted with the exceptional quality of this shortlist which was drawn from a very strong field of nominations. The exhibition will give audiences the opportunity to engage with the most exciting international contemporary art.”

An international judging panel will award the £40,000 prize midway through the exhibition in November 2012. All other shortlisted artists will receive a new award of £4,000 each. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the principal sponsor of the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize this year.