EYE

ON
THE
PRIZE
by SM King

he Turner Prize, named after the

T painter J.M.W. Turner,

established in 1984 to annually
was

award a British artist under fifty for

an outstanding exhibition or other
presentation of their work in the previous year. It’s
also designed to promote public discussion
about contemporary art. Widely recognised as
one of the most important and prestigious
awards for the visual arts, the Turner Prize is
notoriously controversial, from the works
themselves to the awards ceremony.
This was consummated in 2001, when
Madonna, glamorous in a Stella McCartney
designed trouser-suit, used an equally
unglamorous expletive as she announced the
winner. Martin Creed took out the award for his
similarly controversial “Work No. 127, the lights
going on and off”, involving a space where the
light went on and off at regular intervals. Creed’s
Above MARK TICHNER Top TOMMA ABTS
The Memory Of Our Will Will Wash The Dirt From Your Feet, 2003 Mehm, 2005
Lightboxes, carved wood, metal, concrete, amplifier, microphone, water, speakers acrylic & oil on canvas
185 x 351 x 30 cm 48cm x 38cm
Courtesy the artist and Vilma Gold, London Courtesy greengrassi
 MARK TICHNER
If You Can Dream It,
You Must Do It,
2003
Transparency in
lightbox
180 x 120 x 20 cm
Courtesy Joaquin
diez Cascon,
Barcelona
REBECCA WARREN
Donald Young Gallery, Installation view
Courtesy of the artist, Donald Young and Maureen Paley

piece was not the first winner to spark a flurry in

the press as to whether such abstract and
conceptual work could even be considered ‘art’,
with Tracey Emin and her unmade bed and
Damien Hirst’s cow in formaldehyde getting the
nod in previous years. Such is the Prize’s
reputation for honoring the puzzling that last
year’s roll of nominees contained a shock – one of
the shortlisted artists was Gillian Carnegie, a
conventional painter of still life, landscape, and
the nude.
Work by this year’s shortlisted artists will be
shown in an exhibition at Tate Britain beginning
on 3 October 2006. The winner will be
announced at Tate Britain on 4 December 2006
during a live broadcast by Channel 4.

Turner Prize 2006 – Shortlisted Artists:

REBECCA WARREN, TOMMA ABTS,
PHIL COLLINS, MARK TICHNER.
Tate Britain
Supported by Gordon’s gin
PHIL COLLINS
baghdad screentests
2002
Single–channel video projection with audio, 47 min.
56 Courtesy Kerlin Gallery