The Turner Prize

The Turner Prize was established in 1984 with the principal goal of encouraging wider interest in contemporary art. This prominent event in British culture is one of the best-known prizes for visual arts worldwide, and it has consistently provoked debate on how art is defined and how it reflects contemporary society. 

CONTROVERSIAL

The prize had its heyday during the 1990s when its most controversial artworks were exhibited. Rachel Whiteread’s solid concrete cast of a house standing on a road in East London won the prize in 1993. The actual houses on the street had been demolished by the local council as part of the extensive redevelopment of the area. The work was praised for being a commentary on the housing difficulties of working-class British people, while it was also criticised by others who described it as a “monstrosity.” In 1995, the overall reaction to Damien Hirst’s Mother and Child Divided — a cow and a calfbisected and suspended in formaldehyde-filled glass tanks — was shock. Four years later, Tracey Emin’s My Bed became one of the most notorious works in the Turner Prize’s history, even though it did not win the prize. Inspired by a depressive period in the artist’s life, the work visually represented four days in bed, where she consumed only alcohol. 

TOO MODERN

One of the fiercest criticisms of the prize is that it does not pay enough attention to more traditional art forms, such as painting, and indeed all of last year’s nominated works were video art pieces. However, organisers defend the prize as showcasing art and artists that experiment with a variety of media and materials, and the four artists shortlisted this year work in sound, film, photography, print, text, performance, sculpture, drawing, theatrical installations and painting.

THE JUDGES

The shortlist of finalists is announced about six months before a live award ceremony. Each year, gallery directors, curators, critics and writers make up the panel of judges, who enter into a series of discussions before reaching a consensus. The prize of £25,000 is awarded to the winner, with each shortlisted artist receiving £5,000. 

THE ORIGINS OF ITS NAME

The prize is named after the Romantic landscape painter J.M.W. Turner, who was born in 1775 and died in 1851. Today, Turner is considered to be one of Britain’s greatest artists, although in his day he was controversial as well as innovative. The name is also fitting, as Turner had wanted to establish a prize for young artists during his lifetime.