COURTESY BALTIC CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Jose Dávila, Eric N. Mack, Toni Schmale, and Shen Xin have won this year’s Baltic Artists’ Awards, which are given out by the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England. Each of the four winners will be part of a 13-week exhibition at the museum, and will receive a £25,000 (about $30,700) cash prize that will go toward making a new work. Each will also receive a £5,000 ($6,100) artist fee.
The unusual format of the Baltic’s Artists’ Awards allows artists to select the winners. Dávila was picked by Pedro Cabrita Reis; Mack by Lorna Simpson; Schmale by Monica Bonvicini; Shen by Mike Nelson.
When the exhibition goes on view at the Baltic, visitors will be able to vote on their favorite of the four artists. The winner of that vote will be commissioned to do a project that will in some way engage with the Gateshead community.