Turner Prize exhibition makes art a dirty word

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 10/30/2002 | Nigel Reynolds

[Pokey78]

Another Turner Prize exhibition and, no surprises, another wannabe "shock" artist. But no dirty beds this time, just dirty words - thousands of them - posing as contemporary art.

Quite possibly borrowing the SAS motto, Who Dares Wins, Fiona Banner, one of the four British artists shortlisted for this year's £20,000 prize, has filled a giant billboard with a long and vivid description of the action, frame by frame, from a porn film.

Her piece, measuring 19.5ft by 13ft, is called Arsewoman in Wonderland. Seen from a distance, it resembles nothing so offensive as an exercise in pointillism.

But viewed close to, the board is Ms Banner's detailed narration, printed in words of shocking pink, of what she saw when she watched an American porn film, Asswoman in Wonderland.

Nearby is a companion piece - the artist calls them "wordscapes" - called Mother, in which she records her own sexual fantasies while she watched Asswoman in Wonderland. It is in her own handwriting and, fortunately, it is difficult to read.

The works are in an exhibition, opening at Tate Britain in London today, which gives the shortlisted artists a room each to display their wares in the run-up to the announcement of the winner on Dec 8.

For the first time in the history of the prize, the Tate has decided to warn visitors about the explicit nature of the exhibition. Nonetheless, without a hint of irony, the exhibition's curators yesterday described Ms Banner's work as being "in the tradition of life drawing".

Stephen Deuchar, the director of Tate Britain, was unapologetic about the show. He said: "These are not comfortable works to view but then much art is not comfortable."

Ms Banner apart, this year's shortlist has not excited critics and the exhibition is likely to be judged as lacklustre, a big come-down for a prize that first introduced Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin to a wider world.

And worryingly, artists seem to have started treating the nation's most notorious prize as a DIY trade fair.

Following Martin Creed, last year's winner, who showed an empty room with the lights switching on and off, Liam Gillick, the favourite for this year's prize, has simply hung a false ceiling in his gallery at the Tate.

The ceiling consists of a number of coloured Perspex panels, creating a Mondrian-like landscape, through which the gallery lights shine. "This intervention," say the curators profoundly, "encourages visitors to engage both physically and intellectually with the manipulated environment."

Keith Tyson displays 39 drawings musing on the meaning of life and a black sculpture, The Thinker (after Rodin), which hums, apparently because it has computers inside.

Catherine Yass, a photographer, has displayed a series of lightboxes sporting distorted coloured negatives and two silent videos.

One is taken by a camera lowered by a crane slowly down the outside of a new office block at Canary Wharf on a misty day; the other by a camera on a remote-controlled model helicopter flying over and around Broadcasting House.

[Pokey78]

'Arsewoman in Wonderland' by Fiona Banner

[Savage Beast]

I can't wait to see this.

[okie01]

Stephen Deuchar, the director of Tate Britain, was unapologetic about the show. He said: "These are not comfortable works to view but then much art is not comfortable."

One might also observe that, nowadays, much art is sterile as the gardens of Carthage.

[Peter Libra]

Brave New World

Huxley saw it coming. I,as a much younger Londoner, who haunted some of the finest art galleries in that city, have one reaction. For these people, I am simply sorry for them. Philistines all.

[RLK]

"This intervention," say the curators profoundly, "encourages visitors to engage both physically and intellectually with the manipulated environment."

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The art is no longer the art. The art is the verbal abstractions contrived to describe angry witless trash.