Max Mara art prize for women 2011: the shortlist

Sculpture of an Idea of a Painting of You (2009)
Christina Mackie makes wonderfully protean installations that probe the foibles of perception Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

Figure 1 (2007)
Mackie's works have included constellations of primordial gobs of clay, crystals and more advanced technology – as well as this memorable jesmonite hippo Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

Beyond the Speed of Sound (2007-2009)
Avis Newman’s pared-down drawings have been described as an ‘intuitive investigation of the subconscious’
Photograph: Whitechapel gallery/FXP Photography

Beyond the Speed of Sound (2007-2009)
The works, on unstretched canvas, often pursue the ambiguous forms of drifting thoughts or dreams Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

Idealy ... (2010)
Laure Prouvost’s mischievous, inventive films cut swiftly between collaged clips and counterintuitive snippets of text Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

It, Heat, It (2010)
Her work unbalances how we see the world, sending us off on leftfield imaginative journeys Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

Game Keepers Without Game (2009)
Emily Wardill’s films are cryptic, compelling and intense, with female protagonists working to counteract the male gaze that dominates cinema. Based on Calderón's Life is a Dream, Game ... is a disturbing psychosexual drama of capitalism and patricide Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

Ben (2007)
Wardill's 2007 work features two narratives, which interlink only through a single mention of the name Ben. The Diamond (Descartes’s Daughter), meanwhile, references the mythic tale of the grief-stricken philosopher fashioning an automaton of his dead child Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

An Evening with Jabba the Hutt (2003)
With her carnivalesque performances, Spartacus Chetwynd uses references as diverse as Star Wars, Karl Marx and David Copperfield. Disparate figures are brought to life by her evolving troupe of artist friends and family, with elaborate homemade costumes and a hefty dose of DIY Photograph: Whitechapel gallery

The Folding House (2010-11)
Chetwynd’s innovative sculpture is in the current British Art Show, where it recently doubled as a set for her performance-cum-workshop The Visionary Vineyard, about free energy and famed inventor Nikola Tesla. Spartacus and crew dressed in silver foil bikinis, performed rock songs and played the marimba Photograph: Whitechapel gallery