The annual Workweek Prize (2013-2019) awarded £1,000 to a critical, risk-taking project taking part in Art Licks Weekend.

The festival was organised by Art Licks, a not-for-profit platform that supports artists, curators and project spaces throughout the UK. It has been on pause since COVID-19.

Optimistic Foundation / HSCB (Hoe Street Central Bank)
Optimistic Foundation / HSCB (Hoe Street Central Bank), winners of the Workweek Prize in 2018

About the Workweek Prize

Artquest initiated the prize in 2013 when Art Licks Weekend began. The name comes from the opposite of the ‘weekend’ – rewarding and recognising the artists’ working week that supports their work and income. The prize awarded £1,000 shared amongst the organiser and exhibiting artists.

The Workweek Prize celebrated and encouraged artist-led and independent curatorial projects and their support of the local and international art scene.

Art Licks Weekend originally supported and promoted artist-led and small-scale exhibitions and projects in east and south-east London. It later expanded to support artists and projects around the UK.

The award

The winner of the Workweek Prize is the shortlisted candidate who presents, in the judges’ opinion, an exhibition or project that:

  • Displays a high level of critical awareness of current artistic practices
  • Engages with a broad range of publics, outside of the traditional art world
  • Produces work that is risk-taking, innovative and timely, and displays the strong collaborative approach that helps artist-led activity succeed

The winners

Winners and shortlisted projects for the Workweek Prize were:

2019

Winner: Kelly Lloyd for Exceptional Promise (including performance lecture 4-5 Proposal Papers) and Dirty House (director Nick Tudor)

Shortlist:

  1. LUVA (Lock Up Visual Art) for panel discussion and exhibition [Inter]dependence and the artist run space
  2. 61 Glenwood Road for group exhibition Existing in an un-real world with artists Fintan Ryan, Fiona Chambers, James Graham, Janina Frye, Joshua Sex, Katrin Hanusch, Kirsty White, Laura Fitzgerald, Lola Bunting, Nicky Teegan, Robert Costello, Sanja Todorović, and Tom Mason.

Guest judge: Edward Gillman, Director of Auto Italia South East.

2018

Winner: Optimistic Foundation (Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn) for HSCB (Hoe Street Central Bank)

12ø Collective / jus chatting
12ø Collective / jus chatting, shortlisted for the 2018 Workweek Prize

Shortlist:

  1. 12ø Collective (Lou Macnamara and Eva Duerden) for jus chatting
  2. fivehundredthousand gallery for The World Tour
  3. MilesKm for La Guarida, launching Tregua

Guest judge: Helen Nisbet, independent curator and Artistic Director of Art Night

2017

Winner:  Turf Projects showing Saelia Aparicio Torinos in Peaks & Troughs

Shortlist:

  1. Chalton Gallery showing Nora Silva in Your Friendly Local
  2. The Old Police Station showing Sarah White and James Watts in The Showroom
  3. POST Artists at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park showing Marco Cali, Natalie Sanders, Helena Wee, Jessica Mautner, Mary Yacoob, Camilla Brueton and other POST members in Two Places at Once
  4. Pale Blue Dot Collective at St John on Bethnal Green Church showing Helen Barff, Louise Beer, David Morgan-Davies, Gen Doy, Ryan Gander Helen Goodwin, Katie Goodwin, Ellie Harrison, Hayley Harrison, Catriona Leahy, Sujin Lim, Ian Maslen, Simon Read, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Ben Rivers and Chris Wainwright in Rising

Guest judge: Rosie Stanbury, Head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection

2016

Winner: Laura Malacart and Finishing Touch (a collaborative project between Louisa Bailey and Joyce Cronin, now known as  The Bower) for The Little Book of Answers, and a recital of Monica Ross‘s Act of Memory (Brixton)

Laura Malacart, The Little Book of Answers
Laura Malacart, The Little Book of Answers – winner of the Workweek Prize 2016

Shortlist:

  1. Castor Projects, Dream On, Claire Baily
  2. DIRT, It’s not the digging, it’s the dirt, various artists
  3. Solid Gone, Solid Gone In The Back Room, various artists
  4. The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Hesitant desire shall flourish in a soil not too strong, Ilona Sagar
  5. Transition Gallery, Isolation Chamber Vacation, various artists

guest judge: Jane Hayes Greenwood, artist and director of Block 336

2015

Winner: David Blandy and A—Z for the installation 16-Bit at Four Quarters.

Shortlist

  1. DKUK, Hairy Dancer, Jack Strange
  2. Seen Fifteen Gallery, Intervention: Cottages of Quigley’s Point, Jill Quigley
  3. VERBureau, The Gift, If There Is Any, various artists
  4. A-side B-side Gallery, The Poor Door, various artists
  5. Alteria Art, ART BARTER – Mini Barter, various artists

2014

Winner: D.I.G. Collective, for the project HOLE STORY, exhibiting William Bock, Alberto Duman, Sophie Mason and Mark Morgan

Hole Story
Hole Story, winner of the 2014 Workweek Prize

Shortlist:

  1. Space Station 65 bursary studio, Common Objects, Nina De Angelis
  2. Enclave, Tomb, Shrine, Survey-Marker, Spare Part, curated by Lucy A. Sames with various artists
  3. French Riviera, Lisa Brice solo exhibition
  4. Lewisham ArtHouse, Who Thinks the Future?, Peer Sessions
  5. Studio/Parlor Internet Cafe project, various artists

2013

Winner: 38b, showing artist Tom Railton

Shortlist:

  1. Vulpes Vulpes, Midden, various artists
  2. Five Years, This is not public, various artists
  3. xero, kline & coma, Silver Fiat Vox, Tai Shani
  4. ]performance space[, In Conversation, various artists

Guest judges: Daniel Sturgis, artist and BA Painting Course Leader, Camberwell College of Art and Doug Fishbone, artist