2008 Turner Prize
Encyclopedia
The four nominees for the Tate
gallery's 2008 Turner Prize
were Runa Islam
, Mark Leckey
, Goshka Macuga
and Cathy Wilkes
. The chairman of the jury was Tate Britain
director, Stephen Deuchar. The award went to Mark Leckey on 1 December.
Nicholas Serota
made a short speech before the award was presented by Nick Cave
. Leckey had not prepared an acceptance speech. In an interview with Channel 4 News
directly following the announcement Leckey said "the worst place to be in terms of critics is Britain. They like middlebrow art. I don't make middlebrow art. Sod 'em."
from September 30, 2008 to January 18, 2009. The curator was Carolyn Kerr.
The Turner Prize is awarded for a show by the artist in the previous year. When nominees are told of their nomination they then prepare exhibits for the Turner Prize exhibition, often at short notice. As such, the Turner Prize exhibition may not feature the works for which the artist was initially nominated by the judges. However the Turner Prize exhibition tends to be the basis on which public and press judge the artist's worthiness for nomination.
It was the first time in a decade that three of the four nominees for the £25,000 award have been women.
Stephen Deuchar who chaired the jury has said "the prize is not there to award the most competent artist at work today, but to draw attention to what the jury considers new developments."
Artist's comment:
The critics said:
The critics said:
Macuga's work incorporates photographs by surrealist Paul Nash
and drawings by his mistress Eileen Agar
. There are also sculptures utilising the work of Mies van der Rohe made in glass and steel.
The critics said:
Wilkes says of her work that it "apprehends an end point in our understanding of things as they are - a point at which words become insufficient, and the naming of objects is disconnected from our experience of them."
The critics said:
Outside the exhibition, the Stuckists art group handed out leaflets with the message "The Turner Prize is Crap", to protest at the prize's lack of figurative painting.
Online slideshows
Online video coverage
Audio
Press coverage
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
gallery's 2008 Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the 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...
were Runa Islam
Runa Islam
Runa Islam is a Bangladesh born artist based in London, and was a nominee for the 2008 Turner Prize. Islam is principally known for her film works.-Background:...
, Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey is a British artist, working with collage art, music and video. His found art and found footage pieces span several videos, most notably Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore and Industrial Lights and Magic , for which he won the 2008 Turner Prize.-Life:Leckey was born in Birkenhead, near...
, Goshka Macuga
Goshka Macuga
Goshka Macuga is an artist based in London. She was one of the four nominees for the 2008 Turner Prize.-Life and work:Goshka Macuga was born in Poland. A graduate of Central St...
and Cathy Wilkes
Cathy Wilkes
Cathy Wilkes is an artist from Northern Ireland, who creates video installations. She is a 2008 Turner Prize nominee.-Life and work:...
. The chairman of the jury was Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
director, Stephen Deuchar. The award went to Mark Leckey on 1 December.
Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
made a short speech before the award was presented by Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
. Leckey had not prepared an acceptance speech. In an interview with Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
directly following the announcement Leckey said "the worst place to be in terms of critics is Britain. They like middlebrow art. I don't make middlebrow art. Sod 'em."
Exhibition
An exhibition of work by the nominees was shown at Tate BritainTate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
from September 30, 2008 to January 18, 2009. The curator was Carolyn Kerr.
The Turner Prize is awarded for a show by the artist in the previous year. When nominees are told of their nomination they then prepare exhibits for the Turner Prize exhibition, often at short notice. As such, the Turner Prize exhibition may not feature the works for which the artist was initially nominated by the judges. However the Turner Prize exhibition tends to be the basis on which public and press judge the artist's worthiness for nomination.
Nominees
There were four nominees for the prize:- Runa IslamRuna IslamRuna Islam is a Bangladesh born artist based in London, and was a nominee for the 2008 Turner Prize. Islam is principally known for her film works.-Background:...
- nominated for her solo exhibition Centre of Gravity at Bergen Kunsthall, BergenBergenBergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
and National Museum of Art, Oslo and the presentation of her work at Venice BiennaleVenice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
2007.- Bangladesh born, aged 37, trained both at the RijksakademieRijksakademieThe Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten is a two-year residency for visual artists, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Funded by the Dutch government, residents are granted a stipend and are allotted a personal studio in the former military barracks building in which the Rijksakademie is housed...
in AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and the Royal College of ArtRoyal College of ArtThe Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
.
- Bangladesh born, aged 37, trained both at the Rijksakademie
- Mark LeckeyMark LeckeyMark Leckey is a British artist, working with collage art, music and video. His found art and found footage pieces span several videos, most notably Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore and Industrial Lights and Magic , for which he won the 2008 Turner Prize.-Life:Leckey was born in Birkenhead, near...
- nominated for solo exhibitions Industrial Light & Magic at Le Consortium, DijonDijonDijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
and Resident at Kölnischer Kunstverein, CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
.- from London, age 44 currently a film studiesFilm studiesFilm studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies...
professor in GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at the StädelschuleStädelschuleStädelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.- History :The Städelschule was established by a foundation set up by the Frankfurt merchant Johann Friedrich Städel in 1817...
in FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
.
- from London, age 44 currently a film studies
- Goshka MacugaGoshka MacugaGoshka Macuga is an artist based in London. She was one of the four nominees for the 2008 Turner Prize.-Life and work:Goshka Macuga was born in Poland. A graduate of Central St...
- nominated for solo exhibition Objects in Relation, Art Now at Tate BritainTate BritainTate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
and her contribution to the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art.- Polish, age 41, describes herself as a "cultural anthropologist".
- Cathy WilkesCathy WilkesCathy Wilkes is an artist from Northern Ireland, who creates video installations. She is a 2008 Turner Prize nominee.-Life and work:...
- nominated for her solo exhibition at Milton KeynesMilton KeynesMilton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
Gallery.- from Glasgow, aged 42.
It was the first time in a decade that three of the four nominees for the £25,000 award have been women.
Stephen Deuchar who chaired the jury has said "the prize is not there to award the most competent artist at work today, but to draw attention to what the jury considers new developments."
Runa Islam
Runa Islam's exhibited works are three films:- First Day of Spring
- A film shot in DhakaDhakaDhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
where Islam was born. It shows a group of rickshaw drivers taking a rest beside a deserted avenue on the first day of spring.
- A film shot in Dhaka
- Cinematography
- A film shot using a mechanically controlled camera programmed, in its movement, to spell out the word 'CINEMATOGRAPHY'. The footage is of a film apparatus workshop used by JC Harry Harrison (a motion-control pioneer) in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
involved in the making of The Lord of the Rings (movie). The camera moves around the location filming hardware and shelving to the sound of motor noises.
- A film shot using a mechanically controlled camera programmed, in its movement, to spell out the word 'CINEMATOGRAPHY'. The footage is of a film apparatus workshop used by JC Harry Harrison (a motion-control pioneer) in New Zealand
- Be The First To see What You see As You see It
- A film showing a dreamlike sequence of a well dressed woman approaching items of crockery placed on plinths and then gently pushing the crockery off onto the floor.
Artist's comment:
- First Day of Spring
- "I allowed the rickshaw pullers you see to take 'center stage', to counter the marginal roles they play within the socio-economic climate."
- Cinematography
- "I found in my notebook the sentence 'writing with the camera' and this inspired me. The word 'cinematography' is basically 'writing with movement', or better, 'to record in movement', just as photography is 'writing in light'. I wanted to write the word itself with the camera, to realize a sort of tattoo on a landscape where the starting and ending point coincide."
- Be The First To see What You see As You see It
- The meaning [is] not prescribed (as with almost all of my works)[...] I think my work allows you to use different prisms through which to read it."
The critics said:
- (Regarding Cinematography) "without the intervention of the curator it is virtually impossible for the viewer to figure out what we are supposed to find that's interesting. This art is academic because it was made not to communicate but to be explained. It exists solely to give lecturers and gallery guides a reason to get up in the morning." "[Watching Cinematography] is torture" - The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- "analyses the language of cinema [...] so slowly and minutely that you start to want to scream. - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "The three [films] here are slow, repetitious, and self-referential in their focus on the tediously obvious." - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- "the Turner can still keep some dignity this year, so long as Runa Islam wins." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(Jonathan JonesJonathan Jones (journalist)Jonathan Jones is an English journalist and art critic who has been writing for The Guardian since 1999.He was on the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize.-External links:*...
) - "her work is steeped in film theory and very skilfully edited. But it made me think of better film-artists who ought to have won." - The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey's exhibited works are:- Industrial Light & Magic
- Felix gets Broadcasted
- Made in 'Eaven
- Cinema-in-the-Round
- A 40 minute long lecture delivered by Leckey wearing evening dress, he explains why he finds some aspects of contemporary art effective and covers such subjects as cats, James Cameron's TitanicTitanic (1997 film)Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, images and objects.
- A 40 minute long lecture delivered by Leckey wearing evening dress, he explains why he finds some aspects of contemporary art effective and covers such subjects as cats, James Cameron's Titanic
The critics said:
- (Regarding Cinema-in-the-Round) "it was gratifying to see that even members of the live audience were talking and getting up to leave." - The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- "comes closest to capturing the chaotic flux of the contemporary - or at least he was the artist who most succeeded in making me feel old." - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "Mark Leckey, must win if only because here at last were glimmers of wit [...] with energy and a colourful response to a visually overloaded world." - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- "Diverting in small doses, on a large scale it is exposed as minor art." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Goshka Macuga
Goshka Macuga's exhibited works are:- Deutsches Volk-Deutsche Arbeit
- A glass and steel construction in a limited spiral shape.
- House der Frau 1
- House der Frau 2
- Different Sky (Rain)
Macuga's work incorporates photographs by surrealist Paul Nash
Paul Nash (artist)
Paul Nash was a British landscape painter, surrealist and war artist, as well as a book-illustrator, writer and designer of applied art. He was the older brother of the artist John Nash.-Early life:...
and drawings by his mistress Eileen Agar
Eileen Agar
Eileen Forrester Agar was a British painter and photographer associated with the Surrealist movement.-Biography:...
. There are also sculptures utilising the work of Mies van der Rohe made in glass and steel.
The critics said:
- "sterile work" - The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- "rather beautiful...oddly moving" - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "She has delved into the Tate archives to produce a counter-history of surrealism and modern design with devastatingly dull consequences." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(Jonathan Jones)Jonathan Jones (journalist)Jonathan Jones is an English journalist and art critic who has been writing for The Guardian since 1999.He was on the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize.-External links:*...
[10] - "[Her work] has the theatricality of a bike-rack outside an office window [...] as visually intriguing as an airport lobby." - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "dowdy, obscure and over-formal" - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- "has turned the scrap of previous exhibits into, er, different scrap" - The SunThe Sun (newspaper)The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
- "cold, colourless and short-lived" - The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
Cathy Wilkes
Cathy Wilkes' exhibited work is:- I Give You All My Money
- Two female mannequins in a scene somewhat like a supermarket checkout. One mannequin sits naked on a lavatory with items dangling from her head; a nurse's cap. rusty shoehorses, a deflated balloon, charred bits of wood. The other's head is enclosed in a bird cage. The scene is covered with detritus: unwashed bowls and spoons with porridge and salad dried on. The everyday items are from the artist's own home as are the leftovers.
Wilkes says of her work that it "apprehends an end point in our understanding of things as they are - a point at which words become insufficient, and the naming of objects is disconnected from our experience of them."
The critics said:
- "Wilkes is using a surrealistic vocabulary that was out of date in 1940, or that her take on feminism is one that that Betty Friedan would have recognised 40 years ago." - The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- "Wilkes' art is a poke in the eye, a sort of curse. She goes on and on doing the same thing, and her insistence is telling and painful." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "I can't believe that what looks like so-so student work made it onto the shortlist." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(Jonathan JonesJonathan Jones (journalist)Jonathan Jones is an English journalist and art critic who has been writing for The Guardian since 1999.He was on the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize.-External links:*...
) - "a sinister Tracey EminTracey EminTracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
spinning strangely fetishistic, idiosyncratic tales." - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... - "[a] feeble piece" - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- "it is too busy hammering its point home with all the didacticism of a fifth-form project" - The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
Critic's reception of exhibition as a whole
- "The shortlist for this year's Turner Prize is so wilfully opaque it's irrelevant." - The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- "there's a depth and complexity [in the Turner exhibition] that, it would be nice to think, might overtake the usual chat about winners and losers." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "reflects a mentality only too dominant in art magazines and curating right now - a rather overthought, overtalked, pseudo-intellectual culture." - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(Jonathan JonesJonathan Jones (journalist)Jonathan Jones is an English journalist and art critic who has been writing for The Guardian since 1999.He was on the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize.-External links:*...
) - "I can't help thinking that this show will prove more like the returns desk of Ikea on a Monday morning. Lots of frustrated people will be left staring at a pile of inscrutable junk." - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "Don’t go. Don’t even think about going. This year’s Turner Prize exhibition is without competition the worst in the history of the award." - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- "If ever you were thinking of giving the Turner Prize a miss then 2008 is the ideal year." - The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
Outside the exhibition, the Stuckists art group handed out leaflets with the message "The Turner Prize is Crap", to protest at the prize's lack of figurative painting.
External links
Online slideshows
- Telegraph
- Daily Mirror
- Guardian
- BBC (with audio)
Online video coverage
- Tate video part one
- This video shows the work of Macuga and Wilkes as displayed at the exhibition.
- Tate video part two
- This video shows the work of Leckey and Islam as displayed during the exhibition.
- BBC
- Telegraph
- Guardian
Audio
- Guardian
- Audio available as downloadable mp3 or through a player embedded in the page.
Press coverage
- The Turner Prize - is it art? - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, October 1, 2008.- This article provides a quote from each artist, the view of the paper's critic and comments from the public on each artist's work.