Prabhakar Pachpute, one of six joint winners of Cardiff’s Artes Mundi 9 prize, has been announced as the winner of the Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize, enabling NMW to buy one of the Indian artist’s works.
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales will become the first museum in the UK to collect work by Artes Mundi 9 artist Prabhakar Pachpute. The Indian contemporary artist, who shared the £60,000 Artes Mundi 9 prize money with five fellow nominees, followed up his success by winning the Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize. The award enables NMW to purchase a work for its permanent collection of contemporary art.
Prabhakar Pachpute’s works Rattling Knot (2020) and The Close Observer (2020) were chosen for the award by a jury that included Artes Mundi, Nick Thornton of National Museum Cardiff, and Dr. Zoé Whitley of Chisenhale Gallery in London. Previous winners of the purchase prize include Bedwyr Williams, Anna Boghiguian, Tanya Bruguera and Ragnar Kjartansson.
Founded in 2002 and first held in 2003, the biennial Artes Mundi exhibition prize is the UK’s largest of its kind for contemporary art, and is currently on display at National Museum Cardiff from until Sunday 21st September 2021. This year’s £60,000 prize award, the largest in Artes Mundi’s history, was split between the six nominees, who received £10,000 each. The six-name shortlist, which was drawn from more than 700 nominations from 90 countries, was announced pre-pandemic in September 2019.
On winning the Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize, Prabhakar Pachpute said: “I am deeply honoured and feel humbled to know about the decision of the Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize. The gesture of appreciation is very important for an artist to keep on working. This acknowledgement for my practice comes with more responsibility and it truly means a lot to me. I hope I will grow wiser with it.”
Nigel Prince, Director of Artes Mundi, said: “The longstanding partnership between Artes Mundi and Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, so generously supported by the Derek Williams Trust, is one of which we are rightly proud. We are delighted the work continues in acquiring major pieces from the contemporary artists with whom we work, creating a significant legacy for the people of Wales. Congratulations to Prabhakar as the recipient for Artes Mundi 9.”
Artes Mundi 9 is currently on display at National Museum Cardiff until Sunday, 5th September. Visitors to National Museum Cardiff are currently asked to pre-book their free tickets online due to reduced capacity. An online exhibition is available on Artes Mundi’s website.
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The visual arts make up an essential part of the cultural landscape in Wales, from painting to sculpture to photography to video and much more in between.Prabhakar Pachpute
