A London collective of young artists, architects and designers has made the Turner Prize shortlist.
Assemble works across the art, architecture and design. The 18 members began working together in 2010, seeking to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made.
The collective champions a working practice that is “interdependent and collaborative”, according to its website, seeking to actively involve the public as both participant and collaborator in the on-going realisation of the work. It often works in poorer communities to transform derelict spaces and buildings.
Shortlisted for the £25,000 prize alongside Assemble, are three women artists also all working in London. These include Janice Kerbel, who created an operatic performance for six voices, and Bonnie Camplin, a performer whose past work has included experimental club nights in Soho. Find out more at the Tate Britain website.
Assemble, whose past projects include Folly for a Flyover, which turned a disused motorway undercroft in Hackney Wick into a summer venue, has been shortlisted for a project in Liverpool where residents have fought a 20-year battle to save terraced houses from demolition.
By day the Folly hosted a cafe, workshops, events and boat trips exploring the surrounding waterways. At night audiences congregated on the building’s steps to watch screenings, from blockbusting animation classics to early cinema accompanied by a live score.
The collective is also shortlisted for the Baltic Street Adventure Playground in east Glasgow created for children in an area where over half live under the poverty line.
The Turner Prize is a free exhibition at Tate Britain, which will run 1 October – 17 January. The winner will be announced on 7 December.
Photocredit: Matthew Black
