MAC International
2016

London-based, Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic has been announced as the winner of the 2016 MAC International Ulster Bank Prize of £20,000.

The winning installation, titled Tear Down and Rebuild is the final chapter of a larger, three-chapter body of work called Spielraum, which comprises film, performance and installation works. Spielraum addresses the key elements in the creation of patriotic spectacle and investigates their re-purposing when ideology and the state that sponsored them collapse. This third and final section of the project is specifically concerned with the death of such structures. The script of Tear Down and Rebuild is composed of various quotes culled from political speeches, debates and proclamations, that muse upon the iconoclasm of architecture, art and monuments. The film itself focuses around the conversation of four characters: a Nation Builder, a Pragmatist, a Conservationist and an Artist/Architect.

The artworks displayed in MAC International take many forms, including photography, film, installation, sculpture and painting. Indeed, many push the boundaries of particular media or disciplines; reconfiguring, merging or deconstructing them and, in doing so, broadening our understanding of what art can be. A number of common themes are present in this year’s exhibition. Concepts of nationhood, borders, territory and belonging and investigations into civic, social, political and psychological space pervade throughout.

MAC International is the largest art prize in Ireland and one of the few major art prizes in the UK. The MAC International jury for 2016 comprised of Marta Dziewańska, a curator and writer based in Warsaw; Katerina Gregos, an art historian, curator and writer based in Brussels; and Hugh Mulholland, our Senior Curator here at the MAC. For more information on the artists and artworks featured in MAC International, an audio guide is available from our box office.

This year's finalists are:

Ana Mendes
Nationality: Portuguese
Place of residence: Berlin (Germany) and London (UK)

Angel de la Rubia
Nationality: Spanish
Place of residence: Brussels (Belgium)

Beto Shwafaty
Nationality: Brazilian
Place of residence: Brazil

Darren Harvey-Regan
Nationality: British
Place of residence: London (UK)

Emma Talbot
Nationality: British
Place of residence: London (UK)

Frederic Huska
Nationality: French
Place of residence: Belfast (Northern Ireland)

Hamza Halloubi
Nationality: Moroccan
Place of residence: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and Tangier (Morocco)

Henrique Neves
Nationality: Portuguese
Place of residence: Lisbon (Portugal)

Ismar Cirkinagic
Nationality: Bosnian
Place of residence: Copenhagen (Denmark) and Prijedor (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Jasmina Cibic*
Nationality: Slovenian
Place of residence: London (UK)

Joy Gerrard
Nationality: Irish
Place of residence: London (UK)

Mariah Garnett
Nationality: American
Place of residence: Los Angeles (USA)

Nikolas Ventourakis
Nationality: Greek
Place of residence: Athens (Greece) and London (UK)

Núria Güell
Nationality: Spanish
Place of residence: Beirut (Lebanon)

Rósa Sigrún Jónsdóttir
Nationality: Icelandic
Place of residence: Reykjavik (Iceland)

Teresa Cos
Nationality: Italian
Place of residence: London (UK) and Brussels (Belgium)

Tom Molloy
Nationality: Irish
Place of residence: Rouen (France)

Wojtek Doroszuk
Nationality: Polish
Place of residence: Rouen (France)

*Winner of the MAC International Ulster Bank Prize 2016

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