All four of the Turner Prize 2015 nominees have studied, taught or carried out research at University of the Arts London (UAL).

The shortlist announced today reiterated UAL’s unrivaled reputation in the art world. Two alumni, three staff members as part of an art collective and one former staff member were all named in the shortlist.

The four nominees are artists Nicole Wermers, Janice Kerbel, Bonnie Camplin and the collective Assemble; one of whom will join the 12 UAL alumni who have already won the Prize when the winner is announced on 7 December.

Alex Schady, Fine Art Programme Leader at Central Saint Martins, UAL said: “We are thrilled that all of the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize have such a strong association with UAL. It’s exciting to have people connected with Central Saint Martins and UAL become so influential in the global art world. This not only represents our impact in this field, but very much reflects the ambition that we have for our students and that they have for themselves.”

Assemble Group Photo 2014 © Assemble

Assemble – a London-based art, architecture and design collective – counts among its members Maria Lisogorskaya, Mat Leung and Louis Schulz who all teach on the BA (Hons) and MA Architecture: Spaces and Objects courses within the Spatial Practices Programme at Central Saint Martins, UAL.

Founded in 2010, Assemble seeks to address concepts of place making by examining the disconnect between the public and the process by which places are made and championing a collaborative, inclusive and cross-disciplinary practice.

Nicole Wermers Infrastruktur 2015, Installation view © Herald St, London

Nicole Wermers, who studied MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, UAL, is nominated for her exhibition Infrastruckur, Herald Street, London.

Wermers creates sculptures, collages and installations which explore the appropriation of art and design within consumer culture.

Her installation Infrastruktur adopted the glossy aesthetics and materials of modernist design and high fashion, alluding to themes of lifestyle, class, consumption and control.

Bonnie Camplin, The Military Industrial Complex, South London Gallery, 13 – 15 June 2015
Photography by Ollie Hammick © the Artist Cabinet London and South London Gallery

Bonnie Camplin, who graduated in Advanced Photography from Central Saint Martins, UAL, has been nominated for The Military Industrial Complex, South London Gallery.

Camplin’s practice, which she broadly describes as ‘the Invented Life,’ is characterised by the critique of existing power-structures, and spans the disciplines of drawing, film, performance, music and writing.

Janice Kerbel
DOUG 2014
Performed on 1 May 2015 in the Jeffrey Room, The Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow.
Commissioned by The Common Guild, Glasgow
Photographer Alan Dimmick © greengrassi, London and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver

Janice Kerbel has been nominated for her operatic work DOUG, commissioned by The Common Guild at Mitchell Library, Glasgow

Kerbel previously worked on the editorial team of Afterall – a research and publishing organisation based at Central Saint Martins, UAL.

She borrows from conventional modes of narrative in order to create elaborate imagined forms. Her precisely crafted works often take the form of audio recordings, performance and printed matter. DOUG is a performative work which takes the form of nine songs for six voices.

The Turner Prize, often seen as deliberately controversial and the acid test for the ‘next big thing’, aims to spark public dialogue around the current British art scene.

First established in 1984 (and won by Camberwell College of Arts alumni Malcom Morely), the iconic award has graced the hands of a long list of UAL alumni including the likes of Richard Deacon, Howard Hodgkin, Gilbert and George, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Long, Antony Gormley, Steve McQueen and the current Chancellor Grayson Perry, to name but a few.

Meticulously short-listed to just four, each nominee represents a British artist under the age of 50 who has exhibited outstanding work in any discipline over the course of the previous twelve months.

The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists.