I am here seated and thinking about an interesting angle on Tate’s 2014 Turner Prize

I think it is amazing what time-lapse can cause to a particular cause. People complaint about the 80s, for instances, but it may not be the proclaimed principle. The main thing about it is that it worked on the subcultural level, with extreme levels of creativity to inform about a cause deserving our attention, a movement that advocated a deep commitment to support a socio-political whatsoever - being it a lesbian or gay cause, negritude or colonialism, or, even, Samantha Fox's completely dressed performance in 'Touch Me', which is still more social-cultural provocative than Miley Cyrus almost naked performances.

We need public interventions like those, when the questioning was also relevant, not the cynical entertainment that we are offered on a constant base, by the present days, of abstract ideas documenting our ordinary everyday life routines; go and redefine off so terrible moments. The abysmal thing to say, to transform a dull language, either it be about (gratuitous) images from nipples, dicks, vaginas, anus or a person's pubic hair… whatever! Do not want to trivialise, but this idea is packed of trivial topics. Definitely, if the 80s were whatever they were, the 00s and the 10s are worse!

Turner Prize 2014

Turner Prize 2014
Tate Britain

«Tris Vonna-Michell has been nominated for his solo exhibition Postscript (Berlin) at Jan Mot, Brussels.

Through fast-paced spoken word live performances and audio recordings Vonna-Michell (born Southend, 1982) tells circuitous and multilayered stories. Accompanied by a ‘visual script’ of slide projections, photocopies and other ephemera, his works are characterised by fragments of information, detours and dead ends.»

Some or all of the events in these absurd tales may never have occurred, yet all are narrated with a breathless persuasiveness so as to seem tentatively real. Sam Thorne, Frieze [... MORE ...]

«Ciara Phillips has been nominated for her solo exhibition at The Showroom, London.

Phillips works with all kinds of prints: from screenprints and textiles to photos and wall paintings. She often works collaboratively, transforming the gallery into a workshop and involving other artists, designers and local community groups. Phillips has taken inspiration from Corita Kent (1918–1986), a pioneering artist, educator and activist who reinterpreted the advertising slogans and imagery of 1960s consumer culture.

For the exhibition that won her the nomination she turned London’s The Showroom gallery into a print workshop, inviting designers, artists and local women’s groups to come and make prints with her. Born in Canada in 1976, she now lives in Glasgow.»

Phillips is a brilliant print maker who imbues the medium with a freshness that is remarkable, in posters, prints and textiles. Moira Jeffrey, The Scotsman [... MORE ...]

«James Richards has been nominated for his contribution to The Encyclopaedic Palace at the 55th Venice Biennale.

Richards weaves together his emotive films from a diverse range of found and original footage to explore the pleasure of the act of looking. Found VHS video and new imagery undergo varying levels of manipulation and repetition and, with an accompanying soundtrack, heighten the emotional and psychological range of the original.

Born in 1983 in Cardiff, Richards was nominated for Rosebud, which includes close-ups of art books in a Tokyo library – the genitalia scratched out to comply with censorship laws.»

Richards generates meaning through abundance, by way of allusion, ellipsis and unity of tone, the lack of legibility counterbalanced by a strong sense of mood. The White Review [... MORE ...]

«Duncan Campbell (born Dublin, 1972) has been nominated for his contribution to Scotland’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Responding to Chris Marker and Alan Resnais’ 1953 film Statues Also Die, Campbell’s It for Others included new work by choreographer Michael Clark.

Campbell makes films about controversial figures such the Irish political activist Bernadette Devlin or the quixotic car manufacturer John DeLorean. By mixing archive footage and new material, he questions and challenges the documentary form.»

He’s a really compelling filmmaker. I’ve noticed that when his films are shown in galleries people will sit through 45 minutes and no one will leave. Jennifer Higgie, Frieze editor[... MORE ...]

Loose thoughts on the Turner Prize 2014 artworks: fragments, emptiness; ...; gratuitous, personal; documentation, fiction, colonialism, art market, capitalism, neo-liberalism, conditions of uncertainty, meaningness prices

LAURE PROUVOST | TURNER PRIZE WINNER 2013

Laure Prouvost as the winner of this years Turner Prize.

Prouvost was nominated for her recent exhibitions Wantee, commissioned as part of Schwitters in Britain, Tate Britain and Farfromwords, Whitechapel Gallery, London. At the Turner Prize 2013 she exhibited an expanded version of the film installation work Wantee (2013) which explores the lasting legacy of artist Kurt Schwitters through her fictional grandfather, and the new companion film Grandma's Dream.

Prouvost creates installations which break out of the frames of her filmic works. Drawings, domestic objects and sounds invoke loose narratives based on a single event. Humorous, complex and whimsical her work plays with issues of language, translation and authority.

Turner Prize 2012 shortlist

This year the Turner Prize bring an everyday-western-exotic selection of artists. I didn't see any of the exhibitions, so, definitely, have to go and see the exhibition at Tate Britain, opening on 2 October 2012, with the shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2012.

«Tate Britain today announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2012. The artists are Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price.

Spartacus Chetwynd
For her solo exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ, London. Combining a broad spectrum of historical and cultural sources, Chetwynd makes paintings, carnivalesque performances and sculptural installations utilising handmade costumes and sets. Chetwynd confuses the boundary between performer and spectator, creating an atmosphere of joyful improvisation.

Luke Fowler
For his solo exhibition at Inverleith House, Edinburgh, which showcased his new film exploring the life and work of Scottish psychiatrist, R. D. Laing. Fowler interweaves found footage and new material into accomplished and immersive films that evoke the atmosphere of a particular era, revealing how the relationship between individuals and society changes through time.

Paul Noble
For his solo exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, London, which brought together the painstakingly detailed and engrossing drawings of the fictional metropolis Nobson Newtown. Undercutting the precise, technical drawing is a dark satirical narrative which unfolds in the micro-cosmos of these monumental works.

Elizabeth Price
For her solo exhibition at BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, in which she presented a trilogy of video installations. Price reanimates existing archives of imagery, texts and music to explore our complex relationship to objects and consumer culture. Her carefully sequenced films guide us through immersive virtual spaces, derived from the cultural debris of the material world.

The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The Prize, established in 1984, is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding 24 April 2012. It is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art and is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

Work by the shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at Tate Britain opening on 2 October 2012. The winner will be announced at Tate Britain on Monday 3 December 2010 during a live broadcast by Channel 4.

The members of the Turner Prize 2012 jury are:

Andrew Hunt, Director, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea
Heike Munder, Director, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich
Michael Stanley, Director, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford
Mark Sladen, Director, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
Penelope Curtis, Director, Tate Britain and Chair of the Jury»
Me, Director, newsfrom..., anywhere and everywhere

Images: Luke Fowler, All Divided Selves, 2011. Courtesy of the artist, The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne; Elizabeth Price, User Group Disco, 2009. Copyright Elizabeth Price, courtesy MOTInternational, London; Paul Noble, Public Toilet, 1999. Copyright Paul Noble / Gagosian, London; Spartacus Chetwynd, Odd Man Out, Sadie Coles, London, 05 May – 04 June 2011, inaugural performance 05 May. © Spartacus Chetwynd, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London