Turner Prize

The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised art award. The award represents all media.

As of 2004, the monetary award was established at £40,000. There have been different sponsors, including Channel 4 television and Gordon's Gin. The prize has been awarded by various distinguished celebrities: in 2006 this was Yoko Ono, and in 2012 the award was presented by Jude Law.

It is a controversial event, mainly for the exhibits, such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a shark in formaldehyde by Damien Hirst and My Bed, a dishevelled bed by Tracey Emin. Controversy has also come from other directions, including a Culture Minister (Kim Howells) criticising exhibits, a guest of honour (Madonna) swearing, a prize judge (Lynn Barber) writing in the press, and a speech by Sir Nicholas Serota (about the purchase of a trustee's work).

2011 Turner Prize

The prize exhibition was held at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead from 21 October 2011 to 8 January 2012, the first to be held outside London since the 2007 Turner Prize exhibition was held at Tate Liverpool, and the first time the exhibition has ever been held at a non-Tate venue.

The 2011 Turner Prize was won by Martin Boyce for his installation Do Words Have Voices The other nominees were Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw.

The prize jury for 2011 was Penelope Curtis (Director of Tate Britain in London), Katrina Brown (Director of The Common Guild in Glasgow), Vasif Kortun (Director of SALT (institution) in Istanbul), Nadia Schneider (Director of Kunsthaus Glarus in Glarus) and Godfrey Worsdale (Director of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead).

The prize ceremony was interrupted by the international streaker Mark Roberts who was hired by the artist Benedikt Dichgans.

149,770 people visited the exhibition at the Baltic making it the most visited Turner Prize exhibition ever.

2015 Turner Prize

The 2015 Turner Prize nominees are Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel, Nicole Wermers, and Assemble. The prize was won by Assemble.

References

2013 Turner Prize

The 2013 Turner Prize was won by the French artist Laure Prouvost. The prize exhibition was held at Building 80/81, Ebrington in Derry~Londonderry, from 23 October 2013 to 5 January 2014, as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations. The building, a former army barracks converted into offices, was transformed into a temporary art gallery for the Turner show, and returned to offices afterwards The awards ceremony was held at Ebrington on 2 December 2013. It was the first-time the exhibition and prize ceremony were held outside England.

The prize jury for 2013 was chaired by Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain, and also included Annie Fletcher, curator of exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven; Susanne Gaensheimer, director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt; Declan Long, lecturer at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin; and Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery.

The winning entry by Prouvost has two elements, an installation including collage and film shown at Whitechapel Art Gallery for the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, and a 30 minute film installation named Wantee, commissioned with Grizedale Arts and made in response to the artist Kurt Schwitters and first shown at the "Schwitters in Britain" exhibition at Tate Britain in London. The Scwtters installation was recreated at Ebrington: in a tea party setting a film describes a fictional story between Prouvost's grandfather (who was a friend of Schwitters in real life) and Schwitters. The work is named in reference to the habit of Schwitters' partner Edith Thomas of asking guests if they "want tea". The panel described the work as "outstanding for its complex and courageous combination of images and objects in a deeply atmospheric environment".