A playground in the east end of Glasgow, a one-off operatic performance at the city's Mitchell Library, and a strong year for women artists feature in this year's Turner Prize short list.

The 16-strong artist collective Assemble, Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel and Nicole Wermers are on the short list for 2015.

This year the prize, which has been very successful for Scottish or Scotland-based artists in the last twenty years, is being staged in Glasgow for the first time at the Tramway venue.

However - although it includes two projects conceived in the city, the shortlist for the £40,000, oft-controversial prize, does not feature any Scottish or Scotland-based artists for the first time since 2004.

However both jury member Alistair Hudson, director of the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, and jury chair Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain, said that was not intentional - Hudson said the jury, which also features Kyla McDonald, director of Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Joanna Mytkowska,director of Museum Sztuki Nowoczesnej and Jan Verwoert, critic and curator, had simply chosen the best and most exciting works of the year.

Hudson, who said this year's short list shows artists engaging politically in the world around them, said: "That is just the way it shook out - the way artists work is here, there and everywhere, and you can look at how artists are connected to places in all kinds of ways.

"But Assemble came to our attention through the Baltic Street playground and Janice Kerbel's show was very much embedded in and came through the Glasgow situation."

Ms Curtis said: "It is ironic, isn't it? But of course it is absolutely not deliberate - we do not tell the jury what to do, and they are just trying to find the very best work.

"It will be a very interesting show for the Tramway to stage, but as the Tramway is a production and theatrical space too, it is probably better placed to show these artists than the Tate."

Last year Duncan Campbell, based in Glasgow, won the prize, the seventh artist with Scottish links to take the prize since 1996.

Assemble, which currently numbers 16 artists, have been short listed for a series of projects which work across art, design and architecture, including the Baltic Street Adventure Playground, a new playground and organisation at 427 Baltic Street, Dalmarnock, in the east of Glasgow.

Funded as a public art commission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the project was "initiated as an immediate, practical response to the challenges facing a group of children growing up in a relatively scarce urban environment where around 54% of children live below the poverty line."

It is described as "supervised child-led space offering free open-access play, caring adults, daily campfire food and warm and waterproof clothes to children from 6 to 12 years of age."

Another Glasgow-based work, the operatic work DOUG is part of the portfolio that led to the inclusion of Janice Kerbel.

Kerbal's work was commissioned by The Common Guild of Glasgow and performed at the Mitchell Library last year.

DOUG takes the form of nine songs for six voices as is expected to be performed again for the Turner Prize show.

Kerbel, 45 and based in London, was born in Canada in 1969 and was trained in Canada and at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Kerbel has exhibited internationally since the late 1990s and has participated in numerous group exhibitions and biennales.

DOUG was written by Janice Kerbel and composed in collaboration with Laurie Bamon and Philip Venables.

Bonnie Camplin has been short listed for the The Military Industrial Complex at South London Gallery.

Camplin's work takes the form of drawing, film, performance, music and writing.

The Military Industrial Complex took the form of a study room exploring what 'consensus reality' is and how it is formed, drawing from physics to philosophy, psychology, witchcraft, quantum theory and warfare.

She was born in the UK in 1970 and lives and works in London.

Nicole Wermers, perhaps the most traditional show of the short listed artists, was short listed for her exhibition Infrastruckur at Herald Street, London.

She creates sculptures, collages and installations.

Wermers was born in Germany in 1971 and lives and works in London.

Last year's winning show by Campbell was made for the Scotland + Venice show, which was curated by Glasgow's Common Guild gallery and visual arts organisation in 2013.

In 2013 David Shrigley, who trained and lives and works in Glasgow, was up for the award.

Between 2009 and 2011 there was a hat-trick of wins for artists connected to the city - Richard Wright in 2009, Susan Philipsz in 2010 and Martin Boyce in 2011.

Simon Starling, also a GSA student, and Martin Creed, who grew up in Lenzie, have also won the award.

And over the years, the shortlists for the prize have featured many Scottish artists, including Karla Black, Nathan Coley, Anya Gallacio, Jim Lambie, Cathy Wilkes, Lucy Skaer, and Luke Fowler.

The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The prize, established in 1984, is awarded to a "British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of work in the twelve months preceding 17 April 2015."

Every other year, the prize leaves Tate Britain and is presented at a venue outside London.

An exhibition of work by the four shortlisted artists will be free and will run from 1 October to 17 January 2016 at Tramway, Glasgow.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on 7 December 2015.