Christina Mackie Wins Beck’s Futures 2005
ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
www.ica.org.uk
www.becksfutures.co.uk
Beck’s Bier and the ICA are delighted to announce that the winner of BECK’S FUTURES 2005 is CHRISTINA MACKIE whose engaging, contemplative, multi-layered sculptural installation has scooped her a total prize of £26,666.
Christina was presented with her award by the esteemed and highly influential artist RICHARD HAMILTON at a special gala event at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts on the evening of 26 April 2005. The five other short listed artists, Lali Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Ryan Gander, Daria Martin and Donald Urquhart will also receive their share of the £40,000 prize fund, which, in the sixth year of the awards for which six artists were short listed, lends an auspicious sensibility to the resultant sum of £6,666.
The work of all six artists is on display at the BECK’S FUTURES 2005 EXHIBITION, which continues at the ICA until 15 May before travelling to the CCA, Glasgow from 28 May until 10 July.
Mackie’s work is characterised by an interest in the connection of objects – specifically made and complete in themselves -and how their being and meaning can be transformed by relativity, by their placing. Her work might use any number of different materials, and is also driven by an interest in translating the abstract -emotion, thought, intangible sensibility- into a more concrete and visible form. Through layering different elements, she seeks to create a new dynamic, to suggest relationships between different objects that might evoke an ‘emotional landscape’.
Her winning contribution to BECK’S FUTURES 2005 is titled Version 2: Part 1, and combines two self-standing pieces: An organic sculptural form reminiscent of a flower bud, which supports a glass orb and sits in proximity to a wooden structure that appears to be both a shelter -a place of retreat- and a viewing platform for two projections. A subtle, edited soundtrack accompanies these series of images -one digital and one on slide- which show a stack of transparencies depicting images of flower petals in various stages of being stripped back. The projections articulate the importance of layering to Mackie’s work, and show how meaning can emerge where elements overlap. With the presence of the artist’s hands at work in one set of the images, the significance of construction and de-construction is also foregrounded as an aspect of the work that is both exploratory and manually intensive.
Christina was born in Oxford before moving to Canada where she spent her childhood in the 1960s and ’70′s. She has had a number of solo shows, including ‘The Interzone’, Henry Moore Foundation (2002), ‘Meanwhile’, CCA Kitakyushu, Japan (2000) and more recently at Magnani, in London. Group exhibitions include ‘Real World’, Modern Art Oxford (2004) and ‘Animations’, PS1 New York / Kunstwerke, Berlin (2002/3).
Wolfgang Tillmans, Panel Member, Beck’s Futures 2005:
“Christina Mackie’s work convinced us all ultimately, not least because it articulates a consistency and development within her practice, which is entirely relevant to the aims of this year’s Beck’s Futures. Her piece for the exhibition displays a reassuring resistance to a snap reading and reveals a subtle, poetic, complex and dignified core, which is enriched at each viewing.”
Jens Hoffmann, ICA Director of Exhibitions:
“The decision of this year’s panel confirms that a work whose nature is subtle, discreet, personal and quietly forceful can command prominence and deserved respect even within the ‘society of the spectacle’.”
Sharon Annette, Marketing Manager, Beck’s UK: “On behalf of Beck’s Bier I want to congratulate this year’s winner, Christina Mackie, and wish her all the best for the future. As a major supporter of international contemporary art for the last 20 years, we have been delighted by the development of Beck’s Futures and particularly impressed by the strength of this year’s short list and exhibition”.
BECK’S FUTURES prestigious annual art award and exhibition was established in 2000 to highlight the work of a new generation of UK based artists, aiming to give them encouragement, recognition and support at a critical point in their development.
The winner was decided by this year’s panel, consisting of respected artsits: Wolfgang Tillmans and Cerith Wyn Evans; and internationally prominent curators Jessica Morgan, Louise Neri and Beatrix Ruf.
Previous winners have been Saskia Olde Wolbers, 2004 (London), Rosalind Nashashibi, 2003 (Glasgow), Toby Paterson, 2002 (Glasgow), Tim Stoner, 2001, (London) and Roderick Buchanan, 2000 (Glasgow).
At the same ceremony, LYNNE RAMSAY and RANKIN jointly announced Julie Moggan, a post-graduate student at the National School of Film and Television, as the winner of Beck’s Futures Student Prize for Film and Video 2005 for which they selected an eight strong short list from hundreds of submissions from students at UK Film and Art schools. Moggan collected a cheque for £2,000 for her evocative documentary portrait Waiting for a Lift. The second prize of £1,000 was awarded to Brendan Grant for his film, London Fields are Blue.
To commemorate BECK’S FUTURES sixth anniversary, artists TIM NOBLE and SUE WEBSTER were asked to design a label for a set of limited edition Beck’s Bier bottles. Their design resurrects an art work destroyed in the much documented Saatchi warehouse fire of 2004 and is titled Miss Understood & Mr Meanor, R.I.P 1997 – 2004. In total, Beck’s Bier has commissioned 22 limited edition bottles since 1987to mark a variety of art events and from such artists as Damien Hirst, Tony Oursler, Roderick Buchanan, Jeff Koons, Sam Taylor-Wood, Jake & Dinos Chapman and Yoko Ono. Tracey Emin’s bottle was chosen to launch BECK’S FUTURES in 1999.
The entire series of Beck’s Limited Edition bottles have become highly collectable items and are housed in the Tate Gallery Archive.
They will also be available to view at www.becksfutures.co.uk
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
ICA Press Office:
Natasha Plowright – Tel: 020 7766 1404 / natashap@ica.org.uk
Emma Pettit- Tel: 020 7766 1406 / emmap@ica.org.uk
Media Partners for 2005: The Independent, Art Review, Marmalade magazine
The Beck’s Student Prize for Film and Video is kindly supported by Pioneer
