The MAC Belfast is pleased to announce the 13 artists shortlisted for the MAC International 2018: Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan / Ali Cherri / Larissa Fassler / Nikolaus Gansterer / Invernomuto (Simone Bertuzzi & Simone Trabucchi) / Ronan McCrea / Aisling O’Beirn / Vesna Pavlović / Renata Poljak / Larissa Sansour / Özge Topçu.

Chosen from more than 800 submissions the shortlist includes artists from Ireland, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Canada, USA, Palestine, Austria, France and Turkey, working across a range of mediums including photography, film, installation, sculpture and drawing.

MAC International is the largest arts prize in Ireland and one of the few major art prizes in the UK, offering artists from around the world an opportunity to exhibit at the MAC in Belfast.

Now in its third edition, MAC International presents a snapshot of the most exciting and ambitions art practices from across the world.

The MAC International 2018 Prize of 20,000 GBP will be awarded at the exhibition preview on 8 November to the artist judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the exhibition.

Previous winners of the MAC International prize are Mairéad McClean (2014) and Jasmina Cibic (2016).

The judges for MAC International 2018 are Hugh Mulholland, Senior Curator at the MAC Belfast; Anne Barlow, Director at Tate St Ives; and Başak Şenova, Curator, CrossSections (Vienna, Helsinki and Stockholm).

Hugh Mulholland, Senior Curator at the MAC, on making the announcement “We are incredibly excited to reveal the shortlist for the MAC International Prize. It is an exceptionally strong cohort of artists, all of whom are making diverse and challenging work. The artists represented this year individually and collectively contribute to a critical understanding and discourse around an expanded view of contemporary art and the question of art’s context in the world today, and I am confident their work will find a receptive audience in Belfast.”

Anne Barlow said “I am thrilled to be part of the jury for this significant prize for contemporary art. Since its inception in 2014, MAC International has made a vital contribution to the visual arts in Belfast and beyond, offering opportunities for artists from around the world to present both existing and new work to the public. It has been wonderful to see the breadth and quality of applications for this 2018 edition, and I very much look forward to seeing the work of the shortlisted artists at the MAC in November.”

Başak Şenova said: “MAC International is an important measure of the current state of contemporary art production around the world. The quality of work submitted this year was outstanding and the process of selecting the artists to take part in the exhibition, alongside my fellow jurors Hugh Mulholland and Anne Barlow, has been a wonderful experience. It has been inspiring to see the quality and criticality demonstrated in the eleven selected projects and I am very excited to see the resulting exhibition in November.”

The winner of MAC International will be announced at the exhibition launch on November 8, 2018.

Supported by Arts Council NI, Belfast City Council and Tourism NI