Winner set to be announced for annual British art prize
63 views · Published 8 December 2018 · 5:18 · Indexed 15 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(3 Dec 2018) LEADIN: The winner is set to be announced for a prestigious annual art prize, awarded since the mid-1980s. All four entries shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize involve moving images, from 35 millimetre film, to iPhone-shot movies. STORYLINE: No paintings and no sculptures. All four artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize work with moving images, meaning there's not a picture frame in sight. Instead, Tate Britain's exhibit hall almost resembles a cinema lobby - four dark doors leading to each artists' entry. Luke Willis Thompson's work, for instance, explores the relationship between people and their representation. One video piece features a tearful Native American woman, while a 35-millimetre projector loudly rattles nearby. Founded in 1984 and given annually to a Britain-based artist under 50-years-old, the prize often sparks heated debate about the value of modern art. This year's offering is likely to be no exception. "One of the fantastic things about this year is that there are four artists working with moving image, but they're working with different kinds of moving image," explains curator Linsey Young. "So, we have 35 and 16 millimetre film, we have a film shot entirely on an iPhone, we have an artist working with archive and documentary footage, and we have a group who are working with really the kind of broadest realms of artists' moving image. So, thinking about 3D modelling and police photography." Charlotte Prodiger's video work - named 'BRIDGIT' - was filmed entirely on an iPhone. Biographical in nature, it's made up of footage of the Scottish countryside and shots from within her own home, including her cat. "Well, it's different every year. Last year, we had lots of painting and we had sculpture and we had film," says Young. "Who knows what we'll have next year. "The artists represent the best of what's happening in contemporary art right now, and they discuss really urgent issues. "They talk about politics, they talk about queer identity, about racial politics, really urgent things that we as society need to look at right now." That's certainly the case with international research agency Forensic Architecture's complex work, named 'Killing of Umm al-Hiran 18 January 2017.' Through a mixture of video, photographs, scale models and text, their work explores the deadly events of 18 January 2018, when Israeli police attempted to clear an unrecognised Bedouin village in southern Israel. The work, art critic Estelle Lovatt says, is captivating. "When we think about the time spent looking at a painting, it might be a split second and maybe we walk straight past it if we don't like the frame or the colour of the paint used. But with video, we're drawn to it because it's constantly moving, so it's constantly catching and keeping our attention." Naeem Mohaiemen's work weaves archive and documentary footage to explore ideas of hope and loneliness, often focusing on countries freed from colonial rule. Some might bemoan the lack of what many consider "traditional" art. But critic Lovatt says it's natural. "The artist has always embraced current technology," she says. "If you look at David Hockney, painting on his iPad, if you look at cave artists who used fire to animate their pictures, artist always use the tools that are around them and its quite right that we should recognise video and installation now, as part of an art form." The winner of the Turner Prize 2018 will be announced at a ceremony in London on 4 December. All works will be exhibited at London's Tate Britain, 26 September - 6 January 2019. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d54ca13db9eb0898a87b093c7aa47cc3
