Tate has announced that David Chipperfield's Turner Contemporary will be a new venue for Turner Prize 2019. Turner Prize is one of the best known prizes for the visual arts in the world, the Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. 

Every other year, the prize leaves Tate Britain and is presented at a venue outside London. In 2019, it will be presented at Margate's Turner Contemporary - "since opening in 2011, the building has had a catalytic effect on social and cultural regeneration in Kent, and has established an international reputation", stated in a press release. 

Turner Contemporary is a new gallery in Margate on the north coast of Kent, designed by British architect David Chipperfield. Its name was inspired by the town’s association with the English painter JMW Turner, who exclaimed, '… the skies over Thanet [the north-eastern tip of Kent] are the loveliest in all Europe'. The gallery is located on a prominent seafront, previously a car park, where a guesthouse frequented by Turner once stood.

Completed in 2011, the two-storey building was designed to maximise both the dramatic setting between sea and land and the extraordinary light conditions unique to this area that inspired Turner well over a century ago. It is composed of six identical crystalline volumes with monopitched roofs providing north light to the gallery spaces and revealing daily and seasonal light changes. 

Turner Contemporary offers spectacular views to the sea, connecting visitors to the broader landscape whilst encouraging a sense of participation in the community. The gallery is visible from the railway station across the sandy beach and forms a focal point on the horizon. As the seafront is occasionally flooded, the building has been raised on a plinth and its immediate surroundings provided with a hard landscape.

The building was built from a concrete frame and acid-etched glass skin. The envelope has to withstand the corrosive nature of the sea, high humidity levels, strong winds and the occasional wave overtopping the building. The façades feature glass with reinforced windows. Internally, the material palette is reduced to hard-wearing screed floors and dry lining to facilitate the hanging of changing exhibitions.

"We are thrilled to host the Turner Prize here at Turner Contemporary in 2019. This is a truly transformative opportunity for Margate to be part of something which invites conversations on an international scale, connecting our audiences to outstanding contemporary art and inspiring future generations of creative talent," said Victoria Pomery OBE, Director of Turner Contemporary.

"It seems even more fitting to host the prize here in Margate on the site where JMW Turner was so inspired. We look forward to working with our existing and new stakeholders and colleagues at Tate on this exciting initiative," Pomery OBE added.

The Turner Prize has previously been shown in Liverpool in 2007, Gateshead in 2011, Derry in 2013 and Glasgow in 2015. Turner Prize 2017 will be at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull as part of the 2017 UK City of Culture celebrations from 26 September 2017 to 7 January 2018.

"Turner Contemporary is an exceptional venue with ambitious exhibition and public engagement programmes. It has helped revitalize south east Kent, and the area is also now home to an exciting artist-led scene. The gallery’s associations with Turner have particular resonance, as Turner was an innovator in his day, and we are delighted that the prize will be presented in Kent. We are looking forward to working with colleagues in Margate," said Alex Farquharson, Director, Tate Britain and Chair of the Turner Prize jury.

Established in 1984, the Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in 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.

All images © Simon Menges, Richard Bryant, Paul Riddle

> via Tate / David Chipperfield Architects