Tate Museum IK Prize Shortlist Announced

Tate’s IK Prize is awarded annually to an individual or organization for “an innovative idea that uses the power of digital technology to connect broad audiences with art,” according to the museum’s website. Today, the four finalists for the prize were announced.

The shortlisted proposals are: Digital Re-Sculpt by Artzoom, which will digitally scan sculptures from the Tate collection and create 3-D reproductions; My Tate Mate by Five10Twelve, an app that matches any mobile snapshot to an artwork from the collection (find the artwork that most resembles your selfie!); Tate Sensorium by Flying Object, which proposes to complement works of art with other sensory experiences while monitoring the neurological responses of visitors; and Tate Here by Wieden + Kennedy, which will “place museum-style benches in public locations that relate to artworks from Tate’s collection, such as Margate for Turner,” with each highly rigged bench triggering (according to press materials) “an immersive audio experience that uses binaural sound, via a mobile app, composed of archival material, sounds, music and storytelling, to bring-to-life the stories artworks have to tell that are intimately tied to places and events around the UK.”

The winning idea, which will be announced on February 17, will be awarded a £10,000 prize and a £60,000 development budget.

The shortlisted candidates were selected by artist Mat Collishaw; Justin Cooke, founder and chief executive of Tunepics; music video director and artist Chris Milk; Tate managing director Kerstin Mogull; and John Porter of the Porter Foundation, the supporter of the prize.

The finalists’ proposals  are being showcased at Tate this month, and a jury of professionals from the digital sphere, alongside an artist and a Tate representative, will make the final selection.

Last year’s winner was After Dark by The Workers, which for five nights in August allowed people chosen at random to control robots equipped with cameras and set loose to roam the museum as thousands of people watched online.

For more on digital art, check out columnist Paddy Johnson’s Top 10 Digital Artworks of 2014, and Predictions for the Digital Art World in 2015.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics