CARDIFF, WALES.- Artes Mundi today announced the international names of its Selectors and panel of Judges for the second Artes Mundi Prize, to be awarded in March 2006.

The two selectors are: Deepak Ananth, a Paris-based, Indian Art Historian and Curator of modern and contemporary art and the Brazilian curator, critic and writer Ivo Mesquita - a leading figure in the Latin American visual art world.

Over the past few months the two Selectors have visited a wide range of countries, including the Middle East and Asia looking at works of artists who have achieved recognition in their own country and are emerging internationally.

The members of the second Artes Mundi Prize judging panel are: Paolo Colombo, Curator of MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy; Jenni Spencer-Davies, Curator, Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, Wales; Thelma Golden, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs and Chief Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and Gerardo Mosquera, Curator for the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; who has been appointed as Chair.

Tessa Jackson, Artistic Director of the Artes Mundi Prize said: “ Artes Mundi is delighted to be working with some of the world’s most significant curators and activators in the contemporary visual arts. Their contribution to this initiative, which celebrates how artists today comment on their society and on humanity, raises its ability to communicate across geographic and linguistic boundaries. In turn their involvement broadens the international profile of the visual arts in Wales.”

The Artes Mundi Prize exhibition opens exclusively at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, 11th February – 7th May 2006. The prize of £40,000 will be awarded announced at an award ceremony, Friday, 31st March 2006. The Chinese artist Xu Bing was the recipient of the first Artes Mundi Prize in 2004.