The artist Alex Hartley has won the Arts Foundation’s Art in the Elements award. Chosen from a four-strong shortlist that also included Amy Sharrocks, Paul Chaney and London Fieldworks, Hartley receives a £10,000 prize. The runners-up each get £1000.
The author Jeanette Winterson presented Hartley with the prize at an awards ceremony in London.
The award, one of six categories in the Arts Foundation’s annual awards for the arts, recognises the work of artists who ‘occupy the landscape, making objects, installations or even interventions in the elements rather than recording or reflecting it in their practice.’
Artist and judge Chris Drury said: “Alex Hartley’s work is defiantly innovative and creative. It is ambitious, multi dimensional and takes on a lot of current issues around landscape, politics and the environment. As such it was the best choice amongst some strong contenders.”
Hartley’s 2012 project Nowhereisland saw him create a new nation state with a citizenship of over 23,000 people from a small archipelagic island. The island was towed, by boat, from the Arctic Ocean to the south west coast of England.
For the 2014 Folkestone Triennial, Hartley presented Vigil, an encampment outside the 13th floor window of the seaside town’s Grand Burstin Hotel. Over nine weeks, Hartley and a team of volunteers watched over the town, recording what they saw in an hourly log.
The Art in the Elements award is supported by a legacy left by sculptor and former dancer Yoma Sasburg. The five other 2015 awards are for Spoken Word, Materials Innovation, Video & Digital for Performance, Choral Conducting and Arts Producers.
Previous fine art recipients include Lynette Yiadom-Boake, Hannah Starkey, Simon Fujiwara and David Harrison and Matthew Tickle.
More on a-n.co.uk:
Folkestone triennial: an art treasure hunt of exquisite quality – Dany Louise reports from Folkestone on the 2014 triennial, which included Alex Hartley’s Vigil
Journey’s end for Nowhereisland – Michaela Nettell talks to Alex Hartley about his epic Nowhereisland project for the Cultural Olympiad
