Assemble, the architecture-ish collective known for their direct action urban interventions, has just won the prestigious Turner Prize. Working "across the fields of art, architecture and design," they are the first non-artists, in the strictest sense, to win the prize, and the first whose work so directly contends with the urban environment.

Specifically, Assemble was praised for their work in Toxteth, Liverpool, that involved using design to improve the living conditions and the houses of a derelict area called Granby Four Streets. (via Archinect)

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Judges praised what they called “a ground-up approach to regeneration, city planning and development in opposition to corporate gentrification”. The winning citation added: “They [Assemble] draw on long traditions of artistic and collective initiatives that experiment in art, design and architecture. In doing so they offer alternative models to how societies can work. The long-term collaboration between Granby Four Streets and Assemble shows the importance of artistic practice being able to drive and shape urgent issues.”

It’s fair to say nothing like it has previously been considered for the Turner prize: Assemble’s project is a far cry from other winners such as Damien Hirst’s bisected cow and calf in formaldehyde, or Martin Creed’s light going on and off. This work is about art making a tangible difference to a wider society. ... The collective have never claimed to be artists. But by crowning them winners, that is what the Turner prize judges see them as.

One Assemble member, Anthony Engi-Meacock, said: “It’s just not a conversation we have. I mean what is an artist? There is no answer to it.”1

  • 1. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/07/urban-assemble-win-turner-prize-toxteth