Scotland's first Turner Prize exhibition opens at Tramway

The spotlight shines on the city that in the past has produced six Turner Prize winners, including Martin Boyce and Douglas Gordon, and one-third of nominees for the contemporary art award since it launched in 1984.

Until January 17, Tramway hosts an exhibition featuring work by the four nominated artists, including Assemble, a London-based arts collective that created Baltic Street adventure playground in Dalmarnock in the East End ahead of last year’s Commonwealth Games.

It won a nomination for the ongoing collaboration with local residents in the Granby Four Streets in Liverpool, a project involved in refurbishing housing, public space and providing new work and enterprise opportunities.

Other nominees are Canadian-born Janice Kerbel for her performance DOUG, commissioned by the Common Guild at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow; Bonnie Camplin for The Military Industrial Complex, a study room exploring what “consensus reality” is; and Nicole Wermers’ installation Infrastruktur, looking at high fashion and modernist design.

“We ran an open process for expressions of interest and Glasgow was by far the best choice, an obvious and natural choice given how important the city’s art scene has been to the development of British art,” said Judith Nesbitt, director of national and international programmes at Tate.

“It’s an international centre for art-making - artists love the city, they come here to study, they live here and work here.

“And Tramway itself is an iconic space and has such a fantastic record of producing amazing exhibitions and ambitious shows with artists.”

She added: “I have no doubt more Turner Prize winners of the future will come from Glasgow.

“The jury don’t select the artists based on any geographical factors, but Glasgow has been a feature in Turner Prize history and no doubt that will continue because the art scene here is thriving – the School of Art, Transmission, all the commercial galleries, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, there is so much.”

Arguably Europe’s most prestigious, and often controversial, visual art award, the Turner Prize gives intriguing new art a platform.

The winner receives £25,000 and the other shortlisted artists each receive £5000.

“A lot of our work tries to address the disconnect between people and communities and the way cities are built around them,” said Fay Edgerley of London-based Assemble.

“Dalmarnock has been affected by huge waves of infrastructure projects but there has been a number of years of bleak living conditions where there are no shops and the playgrounds have been demolished.

“That’s one thing is you are an adult and another if you are a kid and your whole childhood is surrounded by huge processes of disempowered change.

“The playground in Baltic Street was created as a counter to that: to try and create a space which can be used by the kids and they have control over it, they can learn and experiment and take risks.”

For the Tramway exhibition, Assemble has set up a showroom to launch the social enterprise in Liverpool.

“Working with the shortlisted artists and seeing the Turner Prize 2015 exhibition take shape has been fantastic and it is brilliant that we’re now at the moment where everyone can see and share this work,” said Sarah Munro, director of Tramway.

“”It’s here to explore, challenge, inspire and provoke. It is here to start conversations, to be passionate about. Most of all, it is here to be experienced.

Turner Prize 2015, Tramway, Albert Drive, Glasgow, until January 17.