Multimedia works are vying for Turner Prize

Four multimedia works are vying for Britain's most prestigious award for art, the 25,000-pound (32,000-dollar) Turner Prize, the winner of which will be announced late Friday.

The shortlisted works include a human rights collective's documentation of Bedouin in Israel, an exploration of hope and loneliness, an autobiographical work filmed on a phone, and a trilogy of films on violence.

"The artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize are tackling some of today's most important issues, from queer identity, human-rights abuses and police brutality to post-colonial migration and the legacy of liberation movements," said Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chair of the judges.

"For the first time, all the shortlisted artists work with the moving image and its thrilling to see how wide a range of techniques and styles they use," Farquharson said.

In The Guardian, art critic Adrian Searle called the works by artists Naeem Mohaiemen, Charlotte Prodger and Luke Willis Thompson, and arts collective Forensic Architecture, "the best lineup for years" for the annual prize.

First awarded in 1984, the Turner Prize had until last year recognized an artist under 50, born, living or working in Britain, for "an outstanding exhibition or public presentation of their work" in the previous year.

The organizers said they lifted the age barrier to reflect the view that artists can reach their peak at any age.

The change allowed Tanzanian-born artist and professor of contemporary art Lubaina Himid, now 64, to become the oldest winner of the prize for works questioning the representation of black people in art.