Laure Prouvost wins the Turner Prize 2013

The Turner Prize 2013 has been awarded to Laure Prouvost, it was announced at Ebrington in Derry~Londonderry, UK City of Culture 2013, in partnership with Tate, this evening.

The jury thought her work was outstanding for its complex and courageous combination of images and objects in a deeply atmospheric environment. Building on personal memory, it weaves together fact, fiction, art history and modern technology.

Using film in a completely contemporary way, she takes viewers to an inner world, while making reference to the streaming of images in a post-internet age. The jury found the installation unexpectedly moving, developing far beyond its original association with the Schwitters exhibition.

The £25,000 prize was presented by the celebrated young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, who received Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award nominations for her role in the 2007 film Atonement.

This year’s prize is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 to each of the shortlisted artists. The event was broadcast live on Channel 4 as part of a special half-hour programme.

Held outside England for the first time, Turner Prize 2013 exhibition is organised by Derry~Londonderry, the first UK City of Culture, in partnership with Tate. The exhibition is staged at Ebrington, in a newly converted building on the site of a former military barracks, and runs until 5 January 2014.
Turner Prize 2013 Exhibition

23 October 2013 – 5 January 2014Ebrington, Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland
10.00–17.30 (Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday)
10.00–20.00 (Thursday)
12.00–17.30 (Sunday)
Admission free.

Exceptional Opening Hours
10.00–20.00 (Wednesday 23 October – Saturday 26 October)


Notes to Editor
Laure Prouvost

Laure Prouvost was born in Croix-Lille, France in 1978. She studied at Goldsmiths College and Central St Martins, London. Her recent solo presentations include the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, Whitechapel Gallery, London, and Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia (2013); Schwitters in Britain, Tate Britain, London (2013), Why Does Gregor Never Ring? Shut Your Lips, Somewhere Under That Bridge List the Hole Truth (The Wanderer Sequence 5), MOTINTERNATIONAL, London (2012); and Frieze Projects, Frieze Art Fair, London (2011). Her numerous group exhibitions include Soundworks, ICA, London (2012); Time Again, Sculpture Centre, New York (2011); and Flaca, Portikus, Frankfurt (2011). In 2013, she received the Max Mara Prize for Women and in 2009 the EAST International Award in Norwich, UK.

Laure Prouvost is known for films and installations characterised by richly layered narrative, language, translation, and surreal interruptions. Her seductive and disorienting stories wittily toy with the audience’s ability to become fully absorbed by a single narrative. Her unconventional approach to text, montage, cinematic tropes, and imagery create a distinct visual language that is engaged in an ongoing dialogue between artistic mediums and the history of art and literature.

Laure Prouvost was invited by Grizedale Arts and Tate Britain to respond to artist Kurt Schwitters’ time in the Lake District. At Grizedale Arts in Lawson Park, she created a new video and elements for the installation, Wantee (2013). As a set, she built a muddy cabin populated with works by her fictional grandfather, a conceptual artist and a great friend of Schwitters. This invented family member appeared previously in Prouvost’s performance More from my lost grandfather (2011) and in her film The Artist (2010). The title and suggestive pots in Wantee pay homage to Schwitters’ girlfriend, nicknamed Wantee because she frequently asked, ‘want tea?’ The video reveals contradictory elements in Schwitters’ practice: Merz, for which he is renowned, and the traditional landscapes and portraits that he produced throughout his life. A dizzying tour of her grandparents’ cabin illuminates the unglamorous fate of her grandfather’s work and evokes questions of generational divides and artistic legacy. Many of the artworks and furniture that feature in the video are represented in a tearoom-like installation, included in Schwitters in Britain at Tate Britain, which compels exploration.

Farfromwords (2013) is an installation that layers video, sculpture, language and image. The piece was made on a six-month residency in Italy, which is a component of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women’s commissioning process leading to exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia. This two-part work is inspired by the aesthetics and sensuous pleasures of Italy. Within a large cylindrical structure her film Swallow is surrounded by tranquil imagery of Mediterranean foliage, beautiful women, and soft washes of azure blue. Outside of this sanctuary, Prouvost references the iconography of the travelling exhibition with the wit and insightfulness that permeates her work.

Laure Prouvost is 35 and lives and works in London.

About The Turner Prize

The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The Prize, established in 1984, is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the last year. It is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art and is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

This year the exhibition will be on show in at Ebrington in Derry~Londonderry as part of the UK City of Culture 2013 (23 October 2013 -5 January 2014). The winner is announced at an awards ceremony on Monday 2 December 2013.

With the support of Event Partner Diamond Corrugated, Media Partner The Guardian, Principal Partner BT.

Partners: Diageo, Pol Roger, Translink, Coca Cola, The Loughs Agency, Arts & Business Northern Ireland

Funded by The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Arts Council England, Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Derry City Council, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Ilex.

About Diamond Corrugated Event Partner

Diamond Corrugated employs 65 people and operates from two sites within the North West and is Ireland’s largest and most respected independent sheet conversion plant.

The company creates packaging to meet its customers’ needs and are dedicated to product innovation, quality manufacturing processes and customer satisfaction. Packaging has been in the Diamond family for four generations. With over 75 years steeped in the packaging tradition it remains a privately owned company. This tradition brings with it a wealth of experience and passion which is fundamental to its success. With an expert team, state-of-the-art equipment and an unrivalled knowledge of customer markets, it manufactures the very best in packaging solutions with a clear commitment to customer service, quality and value for money.

Diamond Corrugated operates from a 125,000 sq.ft. manufacturing and warehousing facility in the North West of Ireland. It offers a unique and complete packaging service from initial enquiry right through to order fulfilment. A team of experienced and highly skilled professionals combines with advanced systems and equipment to ensure total customer satisfaction. Diamond Corrugated manufacture eye-catching shelf ready packaging as well as the more traditional and conventional corrugated boxes. Its success is based on a strong foundation of exceptional people and rigorous production and quality standards. It’s long-term relationship with many of the leading manufacturers in Ireland illustrates its commitment to a unique partnership approach to business.

For more information go to www.diamondcorr.com or email info@diamondcorr.com

About the UK City of Culture

Derry~Londonderry 2013 is delivering a cultural feast of music, dance, theatre, art and much more on the banks of the River Foyle. The city has welcomed thousands of visitors for landmark events Sons and Daughters, The Return of Colmcille, Music City! Radio One’s Big Weekend, FleadhCheoilnahEireann and the Walled City Tattoo.

The UK City of Culture initiative was announced by the UK Government in 2009, building on Liverpool’s success as European Capital of Culture in 2008, inviting cities to compete for the first UK City of Culture title in 2013. Derry~Londonderry is the winner of the title for 2013. The other shortlisted cities were Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield.

Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013 is funded by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure of the Northern Ireland Executive, with core funding from Derry City Council, and capital infrastructure delivered by Ilex, Urban Regeneration Company. The cultural programme is also funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of England, the British Council and others.

With the support of Principal Partner, BT

Media partners: BBC, UTV, Derry Journal, Londonderry Sentinel, The Nerve Centre

Partners: Diageo, NIE, JTI, Tesco, Great Wall Motors, Coca-Cola, Foyleside, Firstsource Solutions, Eventserv, Derry Credit Union Limited, Seagate, Translink, Crown Paints, Etihad Airways, Parkes Hire, Culture Northern Ireland.

Web address: www.cityofculture2013.com