Artist wins £15,000 award with ruined building proposal

Artist Andrew Black has won this year’s £15,000 prize for the Margaret Tait Award.

He took the top award for moving image artists in Scotland with his proposed new work, The Besom.

Named after a 19th-century inn, once a site of social gathering, it will explore the traces of different social and industrial pasts which haunt the now-ruined building’s surroundings.

He plans to use local history research practices and experimental production processes to explore strange synchronicities and uncanny presences in a depopulated upland landscape.

Artist: An image from Mr Black’s work Submerged Village. PA Ready

Winning the award means the finished work from the Leeds-born artist, who has lived in Glasgow since 2009, will be screened at Glasgow Film Festival next year.

It will also go on show in London and around Scotland.

Mr Black said: “I feel completely stunned to receive the Margaret Tait award this year – it’s a massive deal for anyone who makes moving image in Scotland. It’s all the more humbling considering the quantity of excellent video work being made here – all of the shortlisted artists have practices that I know and love, and I can’t really express how privileged I feel to have been included alongside them.

“I tried to propose a project that can work imaginatively with the limitations of our present situation and create the circumstances for exchange and improvisation.

“It’s a project I’ve wanted to make for a long time, and it seemed to offer an opportunity to explore some of the anxieties and complexities of the current moment, so I’m excited to see where it will lead once we get started.”

He is currently working with Atlas Arts on the Plural Futures community film commission on Skye.

Inspired by pioneering Orcadian filmmaker and poet, Margaret Tait, the award is presented to a Scottish or Scotland-based artist who has established a significant body of work in recent years, is recognised by peers for their contribution to the artists’ moving image sector and can demonstrate the impact the award will have on their development.

Scenic: A still from Mr Black’s work Eternity Knocker. PA Ready

Established in 2010, the award is a LUX Scotland commission in partnership with Glasgow Film, supported by Screen Scotland.

Kitty Anderson, LUX Scotland director, congratulated Mr Black on his win.

She said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Andrew over the coming year to realise his proposal, and to premiere the new work as part of Glasgow Film Festival 2022.

“This year’s shortlist: Andrew Black, Christian Noelle Charles, Winnie Herbstein, Mathew Wayne Parkin and Tako Taal, was truly outstanding, and it was a real privilege to be able to spend time with each of the artist’s work.

“My thanks go to all five shortlisted artists for their excellent proposals, and to all the artists that submitted their work for consideration.”