A shortlist of works by artists from around the world was announced yesterday by The Lumen Prize Exhibition, the first global prize for digital fine art.
The works – from Pakistan, Iran, Sweden, Canada, Taiwan, Belgium, US and UK – were created with a wide range of cutting-edge tools, including tablets, smartphones, digital photography software and moving-image technology.
Half of the 20 works selected are photo manipulations and five are time-based works. “One has to look no further than Andreas Gursky’s photo manipulations – which sell for millions – to see that this genre of digital fine art is now coming of age,” says Lumen CEO Carla Rapoport. Three of the works were digital paintings done on tablets and two were done using iPhone apps.
Digitally-created art – long on the periphery of fine art – is a new frontier and enables artistic production to be in the hands of everyone. It opens up new spaces for art to be displayed as well as new ways for it to be experienced and shared.
“The Royal Academy’s recent David Hockney exhibition was mobbed, showing how people love art created on screen as much as on canvas,” says Lumen CEO, Carla Rapoport.
The Lumen Prize was launched this year to promote digital fine art globally. “The opportunities it creates to cross boundaries, both conceptual and literal, are enormous. We are only just beginning to explore the space for work beyond the usual art hegemonies,” comments Jonathan Kearney, Course Director for MA Visual Arts at the University of the Arts London.
The Lumen Prize received nearly 500 entries from over 30 countries. The shortlisted works of art will become part of a travelling exhibition to venues worldwide.
The contest has been organised by a group of professionals with experience from British Museum, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York University, the National Portrait Gallery, Financial Times. Its advisors include Lord Stevenson, former Chancellor of the University of the Arts and Ivor Davies, President of the Royal Cambrian Academy.
http://lumenprize.com/lumen-shortlist
