Artes Mundi 3

15 March – 8 June 2008

National Museum Cardiff

Overview

The Artes Mundi 3 exhibition in 2008 explored who we are and the societies we live in. Nine artists were shortlisted, from over 400 nominations from 65 countries.

Jurors

David Alston
Arts Director, Arts Council of Wales
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David Alston
Tuula Arkio
Independent curator, former General Director of the National Art Galleries, Helsinki
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Tuula Arkio
Jack Persekian
Curator, writer and Director of the Sharjah Biennale, 2007
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Jack Persekian
Xu Bing
Artist, New York
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Xu Bing

Selectors

Isabel Carlos
Independent curator and writer
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Isabel Carlos
Bisi Silva
Director, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos and independent curator
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Bisi Silva

Artists

Lida AbdulDerek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize Winner
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Vasco Araújo
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Mircea CantorDerek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize Winner
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Dalziel + Scullion
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N.S. HarshaArtes Mundi Prize Winner
N.S. Harsha was announced as the winner of the Artes Mundi 3 Prize in 2008.Harsha’s practice includes painting, large scale installations and community projects. Often working within the context of the narrative traditions of Indian miniature painting, Harsha’s work reveals a political commentary where figures in his delicate, sly and playful world are almost invariably focused on an event, animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out something that is odd, incongruous or comically strange. For the viewer the wit resides as much in the scale of the depictions as it does in the finely summarised and telling detail of the vignette.
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Abdoulaye Konaté
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Susan Norrie
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Rosângela Rennó
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Installation images

Fabric collage artwork depicting three walking human silhouettes filled with colorful patterned strips of cloth against a white, vertically quilted background.

Two-channel video installation projected into a corner, showing a woman in a white slip lying in bed and holding an open book.

Ceramic bird figurines, including a prominent green and white parrot, displayed in a museum glass case above French inscription text.

Porcelain figurines displayed inside illuminated glass vitrines on black pedestals in a dimly lit museum gallery with green walls and herringbone wood floors.

A wooden bench facing a large video screen in a dark gallery room, showing children carrying bricks to an adult man building a brick wall outdoors.

A wooden bench sits in a dark exhibition gallery facing a large screen projecting figures pulling ropes attached to building ruins in a landscape.

An art gallery with herringbone parquet floors displaying various video and sculptural installations, featuring a large illuminated screen showing a wolf and a horse's head, pedestals with small objects, and a doorway leading into a darkened exhibit room.

A vintage film projector on a white pedestal projects a black-and-white image of a shadowy flag onto a rectangular wall screen.

A gallery room with herringbone wood floors and two wooden benches facing a video projection of a tall waterfall against a rocky cliff.

A large panoramic photograph of a dark, rocky seascape under stormy skies mounted across a corner wall in an art gallery.

Art gallery installation with six large mosaic-style paintings arranged in a curve along white walls, and an illustrated floor mat with scattered beige and gray cushions in the foreground.

Art gallery installation featuring a large illustrated floor mat with scattered throw pillows, surrounded by white walls displaying large narrative paintings and an entrance leading into a darkened video room.

Large textile artworks displayed in a gallery with parquet flooring and peach-colored walls. On the left, a large hanging features layered fabric strips creating a blue gradient, while the right wall displays a wide, off-white stitched cloth piece.

A close-up view of a monochromatic, light-yellow textured textile artwork features vertical rows of finger-like fabric protrusions against a grid-patterned background, densely clustered on the right side and spaced sparsely across the left.

Two rectangular video screens displaying black-and-white coastal scenes side by side in a dark gallery room.

A dimly lit art gallery with a row of ten glowing CRT television monitors on a long black pedestal and a video projection on the adjacent dark wall.

A gallery exhibition displaying a grid of black-and-white photographs across two grey walls, featuring people in cars and on motorcycles, above a herringbone wood floor.

Art gallery display featuring a small, clear textured sculpture on a cardboard pedestal in the foreground, with three framed black-and-white photographs hanging vertically under a spotlight on the wall behind it.

Art gallery installation featuring a glowing wooden light table covered in photographic slides on a parquet floor, with photos and video art on the surrounding walls.

Contemporary art gallery with a wooden light sculpture on a parquet floor, flanked by doorways revealing a blue installation and a projected video of a wolf.

Prize

N.S. Harsha was announced as the winner of the Artes Mundi 3 Prize in 2008.

Harsha’s practice includes painting, large scale installations and community projects. Often working within the context of the narrative traditions of Indian miniature painting, Harsha’s work reveals a political commentary where figures in his delicate, sly and playful world are almost invariably focused on an event, animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out something that is odd, incongruous or comically strange. For the viewer the wit resides as much in the scale of the depictions as it does in the finely summarised and telling detail of the vignette.

Prize

N.S. Harsha was announced as the winner of the Artes Mundi 3 Prize in 2008.