Shortlist for the Max Mara Art Prize For Women

The Whitechapel Gallery in collaboration with Max Mara have announced the five shortlisted artists for their fifth Art Prize For Women. The aim of the prize is to promote and nurture female artists and is currently the only visual art prize for women in the United Kingdom. The shortlisted artists are Beatrice Gibson, Melanie Gilligan, Judith Goddard, Philomene Pirecki and Corin Sworn, and the winner is set to be announced in early 2014. The Max Mara Art Prize for Women is the first time the fashion house has established an arts prize in the UK and reflects the company’s strong association with art and women. The Maramotti family, owners of the Max Mara Fashion Group, are pre-eminent contemporary art collectors.

The artists were selected for the Prize by a judging panel chaired by Iwona Blazwick OBE, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery. The panel included Pilar Corrias, Director of Pilar Corrias Gallery, London; Candida Gertler, Founder and Director, Outset Contemporary Art Fund; Runa Islam, artist and Lisa Le Feuvre, Writer, Curator and Head of Sculpture Studies, Henry Moore Institute. This year’s shortlisted individuals work across various media including installation, painting, writing, performance, film and music. Those included are listed below.

Beatrice Gibson
Gibson is an artist and filmmaker based in London. Her work explores the relationship between music-making and film, particularly experimental music notation.

Melanie Gilligan
Gilligan is based in London and New York. In her video work and performances she creates dramatic narratives which explore the cultural, political and economic shifts that shape our lives.

Judith Goddard
Goddard lives and works in London. She is a pioneering video and moving image artist whose practice spans three decades.

Philomene Pirecki
London-based Pirecki works across painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, projected image and language. Her work addresses memory, time, perception, and their representations.

Corin Sworn
Glasgow-based Sworn creates films and installations exploring the way objects can circulate stories and histories. Her works are often created through a complex mesh of fragmented references and purported memories.

Credits
1. Corin Sworn, Temporal Arrangements, 2010, courtesy of the artist.