The Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) announced during a ceremony in London last night that the artists Lucy Beech and Edward Thomasson, Sonia Boyce, Rachel Reupke, Lucy Skaer, and Cara Tolmie are the winners of its Visual Arts Awards 2016.
One of the most important independent grant-making foundations in the UK, the PHF hands out a total of £400,000 each year in artist awards.
The individual grants are not age-restricted and come “no strings attached,” as the organization puts it. They are also particularly generous: Each winner receives £50,000 spread over three years, and there’s obligations or conditions as to how the money is used.
Sonia Boyce, Dance of Belém (2011), still of three-channel HD video installation. Coming Ashore Berardo Collection Museum/P28 Container Project, Lisbon, courtesy Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The Visual Arts jury was composed by Jane Hamlyn, chair of the foundation, the artist Ben Rivers (who received the award in 2010), the design critic Alice Rawsthorn, Nottingham Contemporary director Sam Thorne, and the Tate curator Clarrie Wallis.
“This award will transform the way we are able to build projects, enabling us the freedom to explore and develop new works independently,” Lucy Beech and Edward Thomasson, who received one of the five awards for their collaborative practice, said in statement.
“The support will allow us to construct a self-sufficient working method, in order to build a more fluid and sustainable way of producing into the future; developing choreographies that function as objects that can be restaged and reimagined for a number of sites,” they added.
Lucy Beech and Edward Thomasson, Open House (2012), still of 15 minute performance. Performed at South London Gallery, courtesy Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The PHF also grants the same awards to three music composers. This year’s winners are Daniel Kidane, Heather Leigh, and Ailís Ní Ríain.