Just a quick reminder to Pimlico residents that this weekend it’s your last chance to pop along to the Tate Britain and see The Turner Prize exhibition.
The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art. It is awarded each year to ‘a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding’.
Nominations are invited each year, and the prize is judged by an independent jury that changes annually. The four shortlisted artists present works in this exhibition although artists are not judged on their show at the Tate but on the work for which they were nominated.
Over the recent decades the Turner Prize has played a significant role in provoking debate about visual art and the growing public interest in contemporary British art in particular, and has become widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.
This year’s surprise winner is Elizabeth Price the least known of the shortlisted artists, for her series of “seductive and immersive” video installations. The winner had been expected to be either Spartacus Chetwynd, the performance artist who resides in a south London nudist colony, or the intricate pencil drawings of Paul Noble. Price’s videos splice images, sound and text drawn from different genres, including advertising, pop videos, graphics and historical film and each takes up to a year to create.
