Artes Mundi (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''arts of the world'') is an international arts organisation based in Cardiff. Established in 2002, it is committed to supporting international contemporary visual artists whose work engages with social reality and lived experience. The Artes Mundi exhibition and prize takes place biennially, running a sustained programme of outreach and learning projects alongside the public exhibition and prize giving.

Background

Founded in 2002, Artes Mundi was established as an initiative by Welsh artist and cultural entrepreneur William Wilkins with the support of the Welsh Assembly Government, the City of Cardiff, Arts Council Wales and BBC Cymru. Its founding premise was to bring exceptional international art to Wales centred on the Artes Mundi Prize with the associated exhibition taking place in Cardiff every two years. The name of the organisation, Latin for “arts of the world”, was conceived as a reflection of the focus on artists whose work engages with social realities, part of its core mission. Since 2003 the Artes Mundi art prize has been held every two years at the

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd) is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Welsh Go ...

. Since 2014/15, the prize and exhibition has expanded into other venues The prize is the biggest art prize in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

with £40,000 for each year's winner. Though the exhibition takes place in Cardiff, the focus is on international artists.

Funding and Partners

Artes Mundi is a non-profit registered charity publicly funded as a portfolio organisation of Arts Council Wales and also receives support from

Cardiff City Council Cardiff City Council was the local government district authority that administered the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the pre-1974 county borough council. It was succeeded in 1996 by Car ...

. The majority of other funds are raised via the Welsh government, trusts, foundations, cultural agencies, sponsorship, donations and individuals. The Bagri Foundation will be the Presenting Partner for Artes Mundi 10 (2023) and Artes Mundi 11 (2025). This collaboration will be the Foundation’s first major partnership within the UK outside of London.

Personnel

Its founding Artistic Director and CEO was

Tessa Jackson Jane Thérèse "Tessa" Jackson OBE (born 5 November 1955) is a British contemporary art curator, writer and administrator.Xu Bing Xu Bing (; born 1955) is a Chinese artist who served as vice-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He is known for his printmaking skills and installation art, as well as his creative artistic use of language, words, and text and how t ...

(China) *2006 (Artes Mundi 2),

Eija-Liisa Ahtila Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki. Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytellin ...

(Finland) *2008 (Artes Mundi 3), N. S. Harsha (India) *2010 (Artes Mundi 4),

Yael Bartana Yael Bartana ( he, יעל ברתנא; born 1970) is an Israeli artist, filmmaker and photographer, whose past works have encompassed multiple mediums, including photography, film, video, sound, and installation. Many of her pieces feature polit ...

(Israel) *2012 (Artes Mundi 5),

Teresa Margolles Teresa Margolles (born 1963) is a Mexican conceptual artist, photographer, videographer, and performance artist. As an artist she researches the social causes and consequences of death.Prince Claus Fund (June 2012''Report from the 2012 Prince Clau ...

(Mexico). *2015 (Artes Mundi 6),

Theaster Gates Theaster Gates (born August 28, 1973) is an American social practice installation artist and a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works. Gates' wor ...

(USA), who declared he would share his £40,000 prize with the other nominees. *2017 (Artes Mundi 7),

John Akomfrah John Akomfrah (born 4 May 1957) is a British artist, writer, film director, screenwriter, theorist and curator of Ghanaian descent, whose "commitment to a radicalism both of politics and of cinematic form finds expression in all his films". A ...

(UK) *2019 (Artes Mundi 8),

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Apichatpong Weerasethakul ( th, อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล; ; ) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, ...

(Thailand) *2021 (Artes Mundi 9), All six shortlisted artists were awarded the Artes Mundi 9 prize,

Firelei Báez Firelei Báez (born 1981) is a Dominican artist based in New York City known for intricate works on paper and canvas, as well as large scale sculpture. Her art explores the Western canon through the elements of non-Western reading. Báez's wo ...

(Dominican Republic),

Dineo Seshee Bopape Dineo Seshee Bopape is a South African multimedia artist. Using experimental video montages, sound, found objects, photographs and dense sculptural installations, her artwork "engages with powerful socio-political notions of memory, narration a ...

(South Africa), Meiro Koizumi (Japan),

Beatriz Santiago Muñoz Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (born 1972) is an artist based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her work combines aspects of ethnography and theater to create film and video projects that have touched on subjects including anarchist communities, the relati ...

(Puerto Rico), Prabhakar Pachpute (India),

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

(USA), each receiving £10,000.

References

External links

Artes Mundi
{{coord , 51, 28, 52, N, 3, 10, 44, W, type:landmark_region:GB-CRF, display=title Art biennials Contemporary art awards Awards established in 2004 Recurring events established in 2004 2004 establishments in Wales Arts in Wales Tourist attractions in Wales British art awards International art awards

Background

Funding and Partners

Personnel

See also

References

External links