Field | Art Projects

Refocus is a prestigious new biennial Photography Prize which awards the recipient with a cash prize and the opportunity to make a new work for a prominent location where it is on view for two years.  The Prize is a result of a partnership between mima, (Middlesborough International Museum of Art), Ellandi, the owners of Castlegate Shopping Centre, the riverside location of this 38 metre wide site, and Stockton Borough Council.  Field Art Projects have advised on the setting up of this new award, which was launched in 2013 with a commission by artist Gayle Chong Kwan, and was recently awarded to Sarah Pickering.

The REFOCUS commission, and the ongoing Prize, aims to re-position photography as a medium which is able to work on multiple levels – as transitory, but also long-term, as something that is a democratic tool, but also an artform.

Artists are nominated by representatives from the world of contemporary art and photography and selected by a panel of judges which have in the past included Aaron Schuman, independent curator and editor of online photography magazine Seesaw; Charlotte Mullins, writer and broadcaster; Anna Dannemann, curator The Photographer’s Gallery; Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph; Professor John Kippin, Lecturer in Photography Sunderland University and Greg Hobson, Senior Curator of Photography, National Media Museum Bradford & London.

Refocus Website