Fox Carpet, by Tonico Lemos Auad, is among the 10 contenders

The Beck's Futures award offers £20,000 for the winner and £40,000 for the other nine shortlisted artists.

Brazilian artist Tonico Lemos Auad makes squirrels, lions and cats from carpet fluff while Susan Philipsz sings Radiohead and Nirvana in Tesco.

The works will be shown at London's ICA with the winner announced in April.

Auad's work is aimed at "turning the personal expression of daily experiences and perceptions into something magical".

Glaswegian Susan Philipsz' performs her art in public - she walks into a Manchester Tesco or a Belfast bus station and sings unaccompanied versions of Radiohead, Rolling Stones and Nirvana tunes.

Haluk Akakce's DVD projection, Birth of Art, is another shortlisted work

Fellow nominee Ergin Cavusoglu, who was born in Romania, is a video artist who shoots surveillance-style film of London streets at night-time through his curtained windows.

And performance artist Nicoline Van Harskamp, from the Netherlands, focuses on security guards, with nightclub bouncers, hotel doormen and M&S store guards standing in the building during the exhibition.

To qualify for the award, artists must be based in Britain but half of this year's contenders were born abroad.

Philip Dodd, director of the ICA, said: "The artists selected for next year's Beck's Futures show how migrants and the migrant experience constantly renew the creativity to be found in Britain."

The prize is now in its third year and was created to highlight the work of a new generation of British artists.

The shortlisted artists are: