Theaster Gates, Artes Mundi Recipient, to Share Prize Money

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Christopher D. Shea

ILLINOIS---The Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates accepted the 40,000-pound Artes Mundi prize on Thursday night in Cardiff, Wales, offering up an expletive as he announced that he would share the winnings with the nine other nominees. He won the Mundi prize, worth about $60,000, for an installation piece titled “A Complicated Relationship between Heaven and Earth, or When We Believe,” which is now on view at the National Museum in Cardiff. The piece, which aims to compare Christianity with other world traditions, includes artifacts used in several non-Western religious traditions and video of the artist’s spiritual music group, the Black Monks of Mississippi. [link]