British-based Turkish artist in the frame to pick up global prize

A TURKISH artist now based in Britain and a film-maker who fled war-torn Kosovo are among those shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize, one of the world's biggest art awards.

The contenders for the 40,000 visual arts prize are: Yael Bartana (Israel), Fernando Bryce (Peru), Ergin Cavusoglu (Bulgaria), Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan), Olga Chernysheva (Russia), Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan) and Adrian Paci (Albania).

Although Cavusoglu was raised in Bulgaria, he now lives in London.

More than 480 international nominations were received from some 80 countries.

Tessa Jackson, founding artistic director of Artes Mundi, said: "The purpose of this prize is not only to recognise deserving talent, but also to introduce a wider range of artists to the British art scene."

The biennial prize was set up in 2003 in partnership with the National Museum, Cardiff.

The first Artes Mundi (Arts of the World) award was won in 2004 by Xu Bing, originally from China, whose artwork was made from dust collected near Ground Zero in New York.

The artists will each show a body of work in an exhibition at the Cardiff museum from 11 March to 6 June, 2010.

The shortlist was chosen by curator and art critic Viktor Misiano, formerly curator at The Pushkin State Museum and director of the Contemporary Art Centre in Moscow, and Levent Calikoglu, chief curator at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.

A separate, independent panel of five judges will award the fourth prize to one of the artists in May 2010. Their decision will be based upon work of the last five to eight years.