RIBA Stirling Prize 2015 - shortlist

The Whitworth, University of Manchester

The buildings shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2015 are:

- Burntwood School (Allford Hall Monaghan Morris)
- Darbishire Place (Niall McLaughlin Architects)
- Maggie's Lanarkshire (Reiach and Hall Architects)
- Neo Bankside (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners)
- University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building (heneghan peng architects)
- The Whitworth, University of Manchester (MUMA)

See a selection of images below with links to descriptions of the buildings on the RIBA website. The buildings include a school, a redeveloped art gallery, a cancer care centre and 'affordable' housing as well as luxury apartment blocks next door to Tate Modern. Read commentary by Oliver Wainwright and Rowan Moore.
The winner of the prize will be announced on 15 October, 2015.
(See the shortlists (and winners) for 2014 and 2013.)
Click on images to enlarge.

Burntwood School (Allford Hall Monaghan Morris)

 Darbishire Place (Niall McLaughlin Architects)

 Maggie's Lanarkshire (Reiach and Hall Architects)

 Neo Bankside (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners)

 University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building (heneghan peng architects)

The Whitworth, University of Manchester (MUMA)

Joseph Cornell - Royal Academy

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy), 1942-52

Joseph Cornell: Wanderlust is at the Royal Academy until 27 September 2015.
I love Joseph Cornell's work even though it is rich in qualities that I generally dislike or resist (in art and in life): whimsy, sentimentality, nostalgia, fantasy, surrealism. However, there is a poetry in the best of his work which completely transcends those tropes. His boxed (sometimes 'caged') assemblages of found objects - balls, bottles, feathers, shells, maps, photographs - achieve a deeply affecting melancholy and mystery which make them much more interesting than the sum of their parts. Film stars and faces from Renaissance paintings trapped in arcane 'slot machines' gaze out sadly; maps, souvenirs and labels evoke the romance and 'memory' of foreign travel never taken. Assembled by a shy man, who lived at the gloriously named Utopia Parkway (New York), these objects constitute a remarkable and visionary body of work.
Read a feature article by Olivia Laing and reviews by Laura Cumming, Alastair Sooke, Martin Gayford, Rachel Cooke and Jonathan Jones.
Click on images to enlarge; NB images have been selected before visiting the exhibition so may not all be included in the show.

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Soap Bubble Set), 1936

Joseph Cornell, Tilly Losch, c1935

Joseph Cornell, L'Egypte de Mlle Cléo de Mérode, cours élémentaire d'histoire naturelle, 1940

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall), 1945-46

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Medici Princess), c1948

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Medici Prince), c1952

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (The Hotel Eden), c1945

Joseph Cornell, Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery, 1943

Joseph Cornell, Toward the "Blue Peninsular", 1951-52

Postcard from Anglesey: Anthony Garratt

Anthony Garratt, Black Point Toll, 2015 (The view to Puffin Island from Penmon)

A recent flying visit to Anglesey was enlivened by the discovery of Anthony Garratt’s installation of landscape paintings in the landscape itself. Four such works have been positioned around the coast facing north, south, east and west (see here for precise locations). The paintings were executed on site and mounted onto robust steel structures. They have been in place since March and will remain, exposed to the elements, until October. (The contributions of seagulls were, in places, hard to distinguish from the artist’s gestural splatters.) 
I got to see 3 of the works (south, east and west) and rather enjoyed the experience.
(Click on images to enlarge.)

View to the east: to Puffin Island from Penmon.

Anthony Garratt, Black Point Toll, 2015
(The view to Puffin Island from Penmon)

Anthony Garratt, Black Point Toll, 2015 (detail)
(The view to Puffin Island from Penmon)

 View to the south: across the Menai Straits to Snowdonia and Caernarfon Castle

Anthony Garratt, [A View to Caernarfon Castle], 2015

Anthony Garratt, [A View to Caernarfon Castle], 2015 (detail)

Anthony Garratt, view of the steel support structure for [A View to Caernarfon Castle], 2015

View to the west: from Rhoscolyn

Anthony Garratt, Rhoscolyn, 2015

I didn't get to see the fourth picture, the view to the north from Lligwy towards Ynas Dulas. The photograph below is by Richard Broomhall.

Anthony Garratt, [Lligwy], 2015 (photo. by Richard Broomhall)