The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible. The prize is awarded at Tate Britain every other year, with various venues outside of London being used in alternate years. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the UK's most publicised art award. The award represents all media.
Francis Upritchard is a New Zealand contemporary artist based in London. In 2009, she represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale.
Tomoko Takahashi is a Japanese artist. She was born in Tokyo in 1966 and has based in London since the early 1990s. She studied at Tama Art University, Goldsmiths College and the Slade School of Fine Art.
Frieze Art Fair is an annual contemporary art fair first held in 2003 in London's Regent's Park. Developed by the founders of the contemporary art magazine Frieze, the fair has since expanded to include editions in four cities, in addition to acquiring several other art fairs. Following the original Frieze Art Fair, the fair added Frieze Masters (2012), also in London, dedicated to art made before the year 2000; Frieze New York (2012); Frieze Los Angeles (2019); and Frieze Seoul (2022). In 2023, Frieze acquired The Armory Show in New York, and EXPO Chicago.
Maureen Paley is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Bethnal Green, London, where she lives. It was founded in 1984, called Interim Art during the 1990s, and renamed Maureen Paley in 2004. She exhibited Young British Artists at an early stage. Artists represented include Turner Prize winners Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Gillian Wearing and Wolfgang Tillmans. One thing in common with many of the artists represented is their interest in addressing social issues.
The Max Mara Art Prize for Women is a biennial arts prize awarded to a young female artist working in the United Kingdom. It is organized by the Max Mara fashion company and the Whitechapel Gallery in London. The prize includes a six-month residency in Italy, during which the artist creates an art project to be exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery and at the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy.
The year 2008 in art involves various significant events.
Goshka Macuga is an artist based in London. She was one of the four nominees for the 2008 Turner Prize.
The Armory Show is an international art fair in New York City, known as New York's Art Fair. Established in 1994 as the Gramercy International Art Fair by dealers Colin De Land, Pat Hearn, Lisa Spellman, Matthew Marks and Paul Morris, the annual fair is now held every fall for four days and attracts crowds of 65,000. The art fair reports sales of $85 million as of 2008. Many smaller fairs and special events are held the same week in New York, effectively called "Armory Show Week" or "New York Arts Week". In July 2023, it was announced the Armory Show has been acquired by the London-headquartered art fair, Frieze.
The 2008 Turner Prize was awarded on 1 December 2008 to Mark Leckey. The £25,000 Turner Prize is awarded by the Tate to one of four nominees and is based on their work in the previous year. The other three 2008 nominees were Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga and Cathy Wilkes; for the first time since 1998, there were three female nominees. The chairman of the jury was Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain. The artwork shown by the nominees at the invitational exhibition was generally unpopular with critics.
Samson Kambalu is a Malawi-born artist, academic and author who trained as a fine artist and ethnomusicologist at the University of Malawi's Chancellor College. He is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Dent-de-Leone is a small independent publisher located in London, distinctive for its collaboration directly with artists and designers to produce its books. It was founded by Martino Gamper, Kajsa Ståhl, Maki Suzuki and Gemma Holt in 2004 with the publication of a book by Gamper. The publisher produces an irregular number of books per year, as well as limited editions and multiples. Dent-De-Leone has participated in numerous art book fairs including the Whitechapel Art Book Fair, Publish And Be Damned and Offprint. All of its publications are designed by Åbäke.
All Visual Arts is a contemporary arts organisation founded in 2007 by gallerist and writer Joe La Placa, and Mike Platt.
Laure Prouvost is a French artist living and working in Antwerp, Belgium. She won the 2013 Turner Prize. In 2019, she represented France at the Venice Biennale with the multi-media work "The Deep Blue Sea Surrounding You".
Eva Presenhuber is an Austria-born, Zürich-based art dealer, owner of Galerie Eva Presenhuber, based in Zürich, Switzerland and a second space in New York City.
Johann König is a German art dealer, and the founder of König Galerie. Since 2019 he has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. König's attorney obtained an injunction from the Hamburg Regional Court because of false factual allegations and inadmissible reporting of suspicions. With the judgment of the court, essential parts of the reporting are prohibited.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is a contemporary artist based in Beirut. His work looks into the political effects of listening, using various kinds of audio to explore its effects on human rights and law. Because of his work with sound, Abu Hamdan has testified as an expert witness in asylum hearings in the United Kingdom.
Helen Cammock is a British artist. She was shortlisted for the 2019 Turner Prize and was awarded the prize along with the other three nominees. For the first time ever, they asked the jury to award the prize to all four artists and their request was granted. She works in a variety of media including moving image, photography, poetry, spoken word, song, printmaking and installation.
Tai Shani is a British artist. Shani uses performance, film, photography, sculptural installations and experimental texts to explore forgotten histories and stories. She is currently a Tutor in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art. Shani was born in London.
The Gallery Climate Coalition was established in 2020 to address the carbon footprint of the international art market. While non-profit organizations including the Tate have addressed climate change and art's impact thereon, this is thought to be the first action taken by the commercial art world.
