UK

Welsh popstar Charlotte Church to announce winner of MAC art prize

Charlotte Church at the End Austerity Now rally in London last year. Picture by Daniel Leal-Olivas, Press Association 
Charlotte Church at the End Austerity Now rally in London last year. Picture by Daniel Leal-Olivas, Press Association  Charlotte Church at the End Austerity Now rally in London last year. Picture by Daniel Leal-Olivas, Press Association 

POPSTAR Charlotte Church will announce the winner of a major art prize in Belfast later this month.



The Welsh singer, now also known as an anti-austerity campaigner and commentator, will award the £20,000 to the winner of the 2016 MAC International Ulster Bank Prize on October 27.



The prize is the largest for contemporary art in Ireland.



The first MAC award was given in 2014 to artist Mairead McClean for her work ‘No More’, which incorporated images and sounds from the 1970s re-heard and re-viewed through computer generated tele-visuals transmission signals.



The overall winner of the 2016 award will be chosen by an international judging panel from a shortlist of 18 artists. All those shortlisted will showcase their work in an exhibition which will run across all three MAC galleries from October 27 until February 19. 



Ms Church said: "It is great to see an award such as MAC International recognizing and honoring professional artists from around the globe and giving them a public platform to showcase their work. Belfast has emerged in recent years as a city which is changing for the better and I can’t wait to be there at the end of the month."



Anne McReynolds, Chief Executive of the MAC, said it was "delighted" Ms Church had agreed to announce the award. 



"Charlotte is an amazing artist in her own right and an important campaigner on many issues close to our hearts," she said. "We are thrilled that she’ll hand over this year’s MAC International Ulster Bank prize, which has now been positioned as one of the leading arts prizes in Europe."




The shortlisted artists for 2016 are:



·                     Jasmina Cibic– Ljubljana, Slovenia



·                     Ismar Cirkinagic– Copenhagen, Denmark



·                     Teresa Cos – London, UK



·                     Angel de la Rubia– Brussels, Belgium



·                     Wojtek Doroszuk– Rouen, France



·                     Mariah Garnett – Los Angeles, USA



·                     Joy Gerrard – London, UK



·                     Núria Güell– Barcelona, Spain



·                     Halloubi Hamza – Amsterdam, Netherlands



·                     Darren Harvey-Regan – London, UK



·                     Frederic Huska– Belfast, UK



·                     Rósa Sigrún Jónsdóttir– Reykjavik, Iceland



·                     Ana Mendes – London, UK



·                     Tom Molloy – Notre Dame de Bondeville, France



·                     Henrique Neves Lisbon, Portugal



·                     Beto Shwafaty– Sao Paulo, Brazil



·                     Emma Talbot – London, UK



·                     Nikolas Ventourakis– London, UK