The Turnip Prize is a spoof UK award that satirises the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize by rewarding deliberately bad modern art. It was started mainly as a joke in 1999, but has gained national media attention and inspired other similar prizes. Credit is given for entries that have bad puns as titles, display "lack of effort" and pass the crucial test of "is it shit?"; conversely, entries which show "too much effort" or are "not shit enough" are disqualified. The first prize is a turnip nailed to a block of wood.[1]
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It was conceived in 1999 by the management and regulars of The George Hotel (subsequently the New Inn), Wedmore, Somerset. Its instigation was prompted by the exhibition of Tracey Emin's My Bed in the Turner Prize that year. It is organised by Trevor Prideaux. It was announced as, "The Turnip Prize is a crap art competition ... You can enter anything you like, but it must be rubbish." The competition was based on the notion, "We know it's rubbish, but is it art?" and competitors submitted entries of ridiculous objects posing as contemporary art objects, mostly made from junk with titles that are spoofs or puns. The prize is a turnip impaled on a rusty six-inch nail.
In May 2000, the nominees appeared on the BBC TV Esther Rantzen show. The show has been featured regularly by national and even international media.[2]
In 2003, the winner was James Timms with Take a Leaf out of My Chook, a raw chicken stuffed with leaves.[3]
In 2005, Ian Osenthroat, a 69-year-old former photocopier salesman, won with Birds Flew, a bird's nest with a flu remedy box. He commented, "I have entered this most coveted art award on several occasions and I really feel that the lack of effort this year has really paid off."[4]
The winner in 2006 was Ian Lewis with Torn Beef, an empty corned beef can. He said, "The work took no time at all to create." Trevor Prideaux commented, "I believe that over the last seven years the bad artists of Wedmore and surrounding areas have created far better works than Nicholas Serota and The Tate Britain Gallery could ever wish to exhibit."[5] Also in 2006, the BBC's Chief Somerset Correspondent, Clinton Rogers, was immortalised as Clint on a Row of Jars.[6]
In 2007, the competition gained even more publicity after the entry of a piece of artwork with the title By the Banksea. The painting bears a striking resemblance to the work of the famous Bristol graffiti artist Banksy and its origins are a closely guarded secret. By the Banksea portrays a seaside Aunt Sally in the form of a stencil of the Mona Lisa, but in true Banksy-style, the Mona Lisa is holding a rocket launcher, firing a turnip over the wreckage of a seaside pier and an emergency exit sign. Competition organiser Trevor Prideaux said: "It does seem to be in Banksy's style. But someone has thought too much about this one and tried too hard. So for that reason it's not likely to win." The piece was duly disqualified for "too much effort and not shit enough." The 2007 competition was won by Bracey Vermin with Tea P, used tea bags in the shape of a P.
The entries for 2010 included "Ivor Crush"'s clothes hanger linked the letter U, entitled "Hung up on You", and an entry by Banksy, which focuses on the recent student protests.[7]
Entrires for 2011 included a piece of cheese carved into the letter E, entitled CheeseE, a fish full of dollars, an Action Man toy - called First Class Mail - with a carefully placed stamp and a coloured rock called Half a Stone Lighter.[8]
This list is incomplete
Many independent "Turnip Prize" competitions are now held around the world, with differing rules made up by those who are running the competitions. Competitions generally aspire to concept, "We know it's rubbish, but is it art?" and competitors submit entries made from junk with titles that are nonsensical or puns. Marks are awarded for amusement and lack of effort, and competitors are frequently disqualified for applying too much effort. In 2001, The Sun tabloid newspaper featured its own Turnip Prize.[9]
In 2002 "The Turnip Award" was opened annually for students at Edinburgh College of Art to "carve or design something out of the humble vegetable".[10] The 2005 prize was a mountain bike.[11] In 2005 a Turnip Prize was staged at St Paul's Gallery in Tower Hamlets, London for local residents.[12]
The term was previously used in 1998 by YBA Jake Chapman of the Chapman Brothers (2003 Turner Prize nominees): "We thought if we couldn't get the Turner Prize we should get the Turnip Prize."[13]