Turner Prize winner announced after collectives dominate shortlist

In a first, this year’s shortlist was made up entirely of groups with no individual artist being nominated.

Array Collective have won the Turner Prize (PA) (PA Media)

Array Collective, a group of Belfast-based artists whose work is a response to issues affecting Northern Ireland have been named the winners of the Turner Prize 2021.

The group, comprised of 11 artists, have made history, becoming the first Northern Irish winners of the prize.

They have been working together “more actively” since 2016 and “create collaborative actions in response to socio-political issues” affecting the region.

Their success was announced at a ceremony in Coventry Cathedral where they were presented with the £25,000 prize money.

Details and installation shots of The Druithaib’s Ball, by Array Collective. The Turner Prize 2021 Exhibition. The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. Coventry. Photograph by David Levene 24/9/21. Array are a collective of artists and activists rooted in Belfast. They create collaborative actions in response to social issues – for example, around language, gender and reproductive rights – affecting themselves, their communities and allies. Array reclaim and question traditional identities associated with Northern Ireland in playful ways that merge performance, protest, ancient mythology, photography, installation and video. The Druithaib’s Ball, a new work for Turner Prize 2021, has been realised twice over. In Belfast it was a wake for the centenary of Ireland’s partition in the Black Box (grassroots venue), and was attended by semi-mythological druids along with a community of artists and activists wearing hand-made costumes. At the Herbert, the event has been transformed into an immersive installation. An imagined síbín (a ‘pub without permission’) hosts a film created from the Belfast event, and a TV showing Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive. A large canopy styled from banners provides a floating roof. The síbín is approached through a circle of flag poles, that references ancient Irish ceremonial sites and contemporary structures, and is illuminated by a dusk-to-dawn light.Array invite us into a place of contradictions where trauma, dark humour, frustration and release coexist. It is a place to gather outside the sectarian divides that have dominated the collective memory of the North of Ireland for the last hundred years. Array have also intervened in the Herbert’s collections, inserting an etching of The Druithaib’s Ball, into Gallery 2.http://www.arraystudiosbelfast.com/array-collective.html

Holding a baby on the stage, Array Collective member Laura O’Connor said: “It’s surreal. We have not been making work over the last year with lockdown, it has motivated and pushed us. I think we surprised ourselves with what we came out with in the end and we are so proud of it.

The group added that they were going to celebrate with “a few pints” after winning the prestigious prize.

The five-strong shortlist this year was made up of entirely of artist collectives for the first time in the history of the award, with no single person chosen.

The four other nominees – Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.), Cooking Sections, Gentle/Radical and Project Art Works – were all awarded £10,000.

The jury awarded the top prize to Array Collective for “their hopeful and dynamic artwork which addresses urgent social and political issues affecting Northern Ireland with humour, seriousness and beauty”.

The group impressed the jury with their ability to “translate their activism and values into the gallery environment, creating a welcoming, immersive and surprising exhibition”, a statement said.

The sibin, a “pub without permission”, is an immersive installation with a large canopy styled from banners which provides a floating roof and a circle of flag poles that reference ancient Irish ceremonial sites.

The winning artwork was designed as a place to gather outside the sectarian which has dominated the collective memory of Northern Ireland for the last 100 years.

Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chairman of the Turner Prize jury, told the PA news agency: “Of course, it was a hard one, the decision.

“But what the jurists were drawn to, I think, was both a combination of the seriousness of the issues they’re dealing with, in a very divided world, but the joy, the hope, the fun, the surprise…. with which they do their political work as artworks.

“I think the feeling was that the exhibition had really successfully translated the spirit of what they do, how they go about it, this amazing sibin you know, illegal pub, Northern Irish style in the middle of a gallery with these amazing videos of performances that were quite mesmerising…

“While underneath it all a really serious message, imagining a life, beyond sectarianism, beyond patriarchy, that’s campaigning for reproductive rights, for LGBT+ rights, but again with a spirit of the absurd and a light touch that’s nevertheless profound and engaging, and they felt that was absolutely present in the exhibition space in a very surprising way.”

Last year 10 artists were awarded £10,000 bursaries in lieu of the Turner Prize after it was called off because of the pandemic.

The Turner Prize, named after the radical British painter JMW Turner is one of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts celebrating British artistic talent.

Established in 1984, the prize is awarded to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work.

High-profile winners through the years include include Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Damien Hirst and Steve McQueen.

Next year the Turner Prize returns to the Tate Liverpool for the first time in 15 years.