Beck's Futures was a British art prize founded by

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

and sponsored by Beck's

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

given to contemporary

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

ists. Prior to the establishment of the prize in 2000, Beck's had sponsored several exhibitions of contemporary art in Britain by providing free beer. Together with

Artangel Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...

, they had also commissioned a number of works by artists, including

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British ...

's ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' and ''Water Tower'' and pieces by

Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's ...

and

Tony Oursler Tony Oursler (born 1957) is an American multimedia and installation artist married to Jacqueline Humphries. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, in 1979. His art covers a range of med ...

. Although it does not receive as much publicity as the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

, the prize fund is larger - in 2003, it was £65,000 to the Turner Prize's £20,000. Of this, £20,000 went to the winner, who also took a share of the £40,000 divided between all the shortlisted artists. The remaining £5,000 was allocated to the Student Prize for Film and Video, with £2,000 of that going to the winner. For the first three years of the prize a call for nominations was made to curators and critics around the UK. This proved controversial as unlike the Turner Prize artists knew they had been nominated even if they did not make the final shortlist. The open call was replaced with an anonymous nominations panel.

Winners

*2000 - Roderick Buchanan *2001 - Tim Stoner *2002 - Toby Paterson *2003 - Rosalind Nashashibi *2004 - Saskia Olde Wolbers *2005 - Christina Mackie *2006 -

Matt Stokes Matt Stokes (born 1973 in Penzance) is an artist and film-maker. Stokes had a residency at Grizedale Arts in 2002 during which he researched the history of rave culture in the Lake District. In 2006, he won the Beck's Futures art prize for his ...

The 2003 prize, presented by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

, was awarded on 29 April at the

. As well as Nashashibi, the shortlisted artists were Bernd Behr, Nick Crowe, Alan Currall,

Inventory Inventory (British English) or stock (American English) is a quantity of the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying ...

, David Sherry, Lucy Skaer, Francis Upritchard and Carey Young. The panel of judges was chaired by the artist

Michael Landy Michael Landy (born 1963) is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation '' Break Down'' (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the ''Art Bin'' project (2010) at the ...

, and also included the curators Russell Ferguson, Maria Lind and Hans Ulrich Obrist. The 2004 prize was awarded on 27 April to Saskia Olde Wolbers. The other shortlisted artists were Haluk Akakçe, Tonico Lemos Auad, Simon Bedwell, Ergin Çavusoglu, Andrew Cross,

Susan Philipsz Susan Mary Philipsz Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 1965) is a Scottish artist who won the 2010 Turner Prize. Originally a sculpture, sculptor, she is best known for her Sound art, sound installations. She records herself singing a cappe ...

, Imogen Stidworthy, Hayley Tompkins and Nicoline Van Harskamp. The 2005 prize, presented by Richard Hamilton, was awarded on 26 April to Christina Mackie. The other shortlisted artists were Lali Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Ryan Gander, Daria Martin, and Donald Urquhart. The 2006 prize was awarded to

by a panel made-up of Jake and Dinos Chapman, Martin Creed,

Cornelia Parker Cornelia Ann Parker (born 14 July 1956) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art. Life and career Parker was born in 1956 in Cheshire, England. She studied at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design ...

, Yinka Shonibare and Gillian Wearing. There was also a public vote, the outcome of which was added as an extra vote in the judging panels final count. Shortlisted for the prize were Blood ‘n’ Feathers (Jo Robertson & Lucy Stein), Pablo Bronstein, Stefan Brüggemann, Richard Hughes, Flávia Müller Medeiros, Seb Patane, Olivia Plender, Simon Popper, Jamie Shovlin, Daniel Sinsel,

, Sue Tompkins, Bedwyr Williams. This was to be the Beck's sponsored prize's last year.

External links

A review of the 2003 prize show by Adrian Searle in ''The Guardian''
{{Authority control British visual arts awards Awards established in 2000

Winners

See also

External links