Turner Prize

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Tate Britain: the venue for the Turner Prize.
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Tate Britain: the venue for the Turner Prize.

The Turner Prize is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under 50, named after the painter J.M.W. Turner. It is organized by the Tate Gallery, and since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised art award, usually attracting controversial press coverage for its exhibits, such as a preserved shark by Damien Hirst, and My Bed by Tracey Emin. The prize fund from 2004 onwards is £40,000. There have been different sponsors, including Channel 4 television. The prize is awarded by a distinguished celebrity.

Contents

[edit] Introduction

Each year during the build-up to the announcement of the winner, the Prize receives intense attention from the media. Much of this attention is critical and the question is often asked, "is this art?".[1][2] The artists usually work in "innovative" media, including video art, installation art and unconventional sculpture, though painters have also won.

Nominations for the prize are invited from the public, although this is widely considered to have negligible effect. Typically, there is a three-week period in May for public nominations to be received; the short-list (which since 1991 has been of four artists) is announced in July; a show of the nominees' work opens at Tate Britain in late October; and the prize itself is announced at the beginning of December. The show stays open till January. The prize is not judged on the show, however, but on the artists' contribution to art over the previous year.

The exhibition and prize rely on commercial sponsorship. From 1987 this was provided by the company Drexel Burnham Lambert; their withdrawal led to the 1990 prize being cancelled. Channel 4, an independent television channel, stepped in for 1991, doubled the prize money to £20,000, and supported the event with documentaries and live broadcasts of the prize-giving. In 2004 they were replaced as sponsors by Gordon's gin, who also doubled the prize money to £40,000, with £5,000 going to each of the shortlisted artists, and £25,000 to the winner.

As much as the shortlist of artists reflects the state of British Art, the composition of the panel of judges provides some indication of who holds influence institutionally and internationally, as well as rising stars. Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota has been the Chair of the jury since his tenure at the Tate. There are conflicting reports as to how much personal sway he has over the proceedings.

The media success of the Turner Prize contributed to the success of the late 1990s phenomena of Young British Artists (several of whom were nominees and winners), Cool Britannia, and exhibitions such as the Charles Saatchi-sponsored Sensation exhibition.

[edit] Criticism

[edit] For

  • In 2006 newspaper columnist Janet Street-Porter condemned the Stuckists' "feeble knee-jerk reaction" to the prize and said, "The Turner Prize and Becks Futures both entice thousands of young people into art galleries for the first time every year. They fulfil a valuable role".[3]

[edit] Against

  • The Evening Standard critic Brian Sewell, wrote "The annual farce of the Turner Prize is now as inevitable in November as is the pantomime at Christmas".
  • Critic Jonathan Jones, wrote: "Turner Prize art is based on a formula where something looks startling at first and then turns out to be expressing some kind of banal idea, which somebody will be sure to tell you about. The ideas are never important or even really ideas, more notions, like the notions in advertising. Nobody pursues them anyway, because there's nothing there to pursue." [4]
  • The art critic David Lee has argued that since the re-organisation of the prize in 1991 the shortlist has been dominated by artists represented by a small number of London dealers, namely Nicholas Logsdail of the Lisson Gallery, and others closely linked to the collector Charles Saatchi: Jay Jopling, Maureen Paley and Victoria Miro. The Lisson Gallery has had the most success of any gallery with the Turner Prize from 1991 to 2004.
  • In 2002 culture minister Kim Howells pinned the following statement to a board in a room specially-designated for visitors' comments. "If this is the best British artists can produce then British art is lost. It is cold mechanical, conceptual bullshit. Kim Howells. P.S. The attempts at conceptualisation are particularly pathetic and symptomatic of a lack of conviction" His stance was approved by the government, who saw it as a popular one.

[edit] Demonstrations

The Turner Prize has attracted a number of demonstrations, usually protesting against the type of art selected. The front steps or pavement outside the museum are a favourite spot, though some have occurred inside the prize itself.

  • In 1993, Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond of the K Foundation received media coverage for the award of the "Anti-Turner Prize", £40,000 to be given to the "worst artist in Britain", voted from the real Turner Prize's short-list. Rachel Whiteread, who won the real prize, also won the anti-Turner Prize. She refused to accept the money at first, but changed her mind when she heard the cash was to be burned instead, and gave £30,000 of it to artists in financial need and the other £10,000 to the housing charity, Shelter. The K Foundation went on to make a film in which they burned £1 million of their own money (Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid).
  • In 1998 an illustrator deposited dung on the steps in protest against Chris Ofili's work, which included elephant dung.
  • In 1999 two artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi , jumped onto Tracey Emin's work, My Bed, stripped to their underwear, and had a pillow fight. Police detained the two, who called their performance Two Naked Men Jump Into Tracey's Bed. They claimed that her work had not gone far enough, and that they were improving it. Charges were not pressed against them.
  • In 1999 a pro-painting group of artists known as the Stuckists was formed. They show particular antipathy towards the Turner Prize, describing it as an "ongoing national joke" and "a state-funded advertising agency for Charles Saatchi"; they continue: "the only artist who wouldn't be in danger of winning the Turner Prize is Turner", concluding that it "should be re-named The Duchamp Award for the destruction of artistic integrity". They have demonstrated outside the prize, sometimes dressed as clowns, every year since 2000, and gained considerable publicity.

[edit] Turner Prize 2005

A great deal was made in the popular press about the winning entry by Simon Starling, which was a shed that he had converted into a boat, sailed down the River Rhine and turned back into a shed again. Two newspapers bought sheds and floated them to parody the work. The prize was presented by Culture Minister, David Lammy.

[edit] Turner Prize 2006

The nominees were announced on May 16, 2006. The exhibition of nominees' work opened at Tate Britain on October 3. Yoko Ono, the celebrity announcer chosen for the year, declared Tomma Abts the winner on December 4 during a live Channel 4 broadcast. The total prize money is £40,000. £25,000 is awarded to the winner and £5,000 to each of the other 3 nominees. The Turner Prize 2006 is supported by the makers of Gordon’s gin.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed that the judges had been sent a list of shows by artists too late to be able to see them, because the Tate curator responsible, Lizzie Carey-Thomas, was too busy, and instead were being supplied with catalogues and photographs of work.[5]

[edit] Nominees

[edit] Judges

[edit] Winner

[edit] Turner Prize 2007

In 2007, for the first time the Turner Prize will be held outside of London, in Tate Liverpool, to support Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

[edit] Winners and shortlisted artists

The 1988 shortlist was not published at the time of the prize, and there was no shortlist as such in 1989, although a number of artists other than the winner were "commended".

[edit] External links

[edit] References in popular culture

  • In December 2002 a quiz question on the BBC News website was:
14 men on toilets, a drag queen and a sailor engaged in a lewd public sex act. What?
A) Chapter one of Will Self's novel Dorian
B) The Stuckist Movement's protest against the Turner Prize outside the ceremony
C) The English National Opera's production of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Head to Head: Turner Prize — Is It Art?" BBC, 2 December 1999Retrieved March 22, 2006
  2. ^ "Turner Prize: Is It Art? BBC, 4 November 2002 Retrieved March 22, 2006
  3. ^ Street-Porter, Janet (2006)"Paul is better off without Heather" The Independent online, May 18, 2006 (pay to view). Accessed May 20, 2006.
  4. ^ The Guardian
  5. ^ Hastings, Chris (2006)"Shows missed by judges, questions over artists… It must be the Turner Prize" The Sunday Telegraph online, April 30, 2006. Accessed May 20, 2006
  6. ^ BBC Online
  7. ^ BBC news
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