{"id":244297,"date":"2025-11-05T00:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T00:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/244297\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T00:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T00:10:13","slug":"international-art-prize-artes-mundi-slated-by-newspaper-in-horror-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/244297\/","title":{"rendered":"International art prize Artes Mundi slated by newspaper in ‘horror’ review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Installation view at Chapter, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Polly Thomas<\/p>\n

A national newspaper has printed a no-holds barred take down of the latest incarnation of Artes Mundi \u2013 the international art prize which is staged in Wales.<\/p>\n

In a damning appraisal<\/a> The Guardian\u2019s Jonathan Jones described Artes Mundi 11 as \u2018smug, stagey, up-itself nonsense for art world wazzocks\u2019.<\/p>\n

Awarding the prize one star out of five, he added: \u201cSix international artists vie for the prize \u2013 and none of them seem interested in engaging visitors. I had more fun on Llandudno pier\u2019s ghost train.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u00a340,000 Artes Mundi Prize, the UK\u2019s largest contemporary art award, sees new and major works exhibited across Wales as part of the eleventh edition of the UK\u2019s leading contemporary art prize, Artes Mundi.<\/p>\n

Artes Mundi 11<\/a>, presented in partnership with the Bagri Foundation, runs from 24 October 2025 to 1 March 2026, featuring exhibitions at five venues nationwide. , will be announced at a ceremony at the National Museum Cardiff on 15 January 2026.<\/p>\n

Much of The Guardian journalist\u2019s issue with Artes Mundi comes from its dispersal around galleries across Wales.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cWales is a divided nation, physically. The mountainous interior that makes it so beautiful creates more distance than you might expect between south and north. I spent the first 18 years of my life in north Wales but never saw the capital Cardiff until I lived in London. My dad used to rage at the Cardiff \u201ccrachach\u201d down there monopolising culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtes Mundi, an international art prize whose shortlist this year boasts \u201csix of the world\u2019s most important international contemporary artists\u201d, appears to have given in to this localism by devolving itself throughout the land. At the National Museum Cardiff, the artists have mini-displays stuffed into one long room, but to see the rest of their work you have to visit their larger shows in four other galleries dotted across Wales. Who is going to do that? And the National Museum show is not exactly appetising. I instantly fell out of love with all the artists, who did not seem to care whether they engaged visitors emotionally, intellectually or aesthetically. Their assumed audience is experts, collectors, cognoscenti \u2013 because these, after all, are the people giving the prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then goes on to critically appraise each artist, with none appearing to escape his ire.<\/p>\n

The review is then brought to a serrated close with the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cWorse, it\u2019s all stagey and false. But then the whole of Artes Mundi 11 is like this, at least as much as I could stomach seeing. <\/p>\n

\u201cSix of the world\u2019s most important international contemporary artists\u201d? You could almost think the curators have tried to conceal the frailty of what\u2019s on offer by dispersing it all over Wales, daring you to question them, when you haven\u2019t even seen the show in Aberystwyth yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf only the ghost train on Llandudno pier still existed. Now that really was fuel for the imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Guardian\u2019s damning review of Artes Mundi 11<\/p>\n

We approached Artes Mundi for a response to the criticism of The Guardian\u2019s scathing review and were provided with the following \u2013 attributed to Artes Mundi Director, Nigel Prince:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important platform of cultural exchange between the UK and global artistic communities, Artes Mundi brings a significant exhibition of contemporary art from international artists to Wales every two years. <\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the success of the tenth edition which attracted a record number of visitors, for a second time Artes Mundi is presented nationally at venue partners in Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Llandudno providing audiences across the country with the opportunity to engage with artists from different corners of the world, often engaging with local communities here to produce new work that speaks to issues we all face. <\/p>\n

\u201cPast editions have seen Artes Mundi work with artists at crucial stages of their careers with many now established figures on the world stage, including John Akomfrah who represented Britain at the most recent Venice Biennale, the most significant international art exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six Artes Mundi 11 artists
\"\"Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Installation view at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Polly Thomas<\/p>\n

\"\"Jumana Emil Abboud, Installation view at Mostyn, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Rob Battersby
\n\"\"Antonio Paucar, Installation view at Mostyn, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Rob Battersby
\n\"\"Anawana Haloba, Installation view at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Rolant Davis
\n\"\"Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Installation view at Chapter, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Polly Thomas
\n\"\"Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, Installation view at National Museum Cardiff, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Robin Maggs<\/p>\n

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\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Installation view at Chapter, Artes Mundi 11, 2025-26. Image: Polly Thomas A national newspaper has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-244297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}