The Turner Prize, named after the

painter J.M.W. Turner, was

established in 1984 to annually

award a British artist under fifty for

an outstanding exhibition or other

presentation of their work in the previous year. It’s

also designed to promote public discussion

about contemporary art. Widely recognised as

one of the most important and prestigious

awards for the visual arts, the Turner Prize is

notoriously controversial, from the works

themselves to the awards ceremony.

This was consummated in 2001, when

Madonna, glamorous in a Stella McCartney

designed trouser-suit, used an equally

unglamorous expletive as she announced the

winner. Martin Creed took out the award for his

similarly controversial “Work No. 127, the lights

going on and off”, involving a space where the

light went on and off at regular intervals. Creed’s

EYEONTHEPRIZE

Above MARK TICHNERThe Memory Of Our Will Will Wash The Dirt From Your Feet, 2003 Lightboxes, carved wood, metal, concrete, amplifier, microphone, water, speakers 185 x 351 x 30 cm Courtesy the artist and Vilma Gold, London

Top TOMMA ABTSMehm, 2005 acrylic & oil on canvas 48cm x 38cm Courtesy greengrassi

by SM King

MARK TICHNERIf You Can Dream It,

You Must Do It,2003

Transparency inlightbox

180 x 120 x 20 cm Courtesy Joaquin

diez Cascon,Barcelona

56

REBECCA WARRENDonald Young Gallery, Installation view Courtesy of the artist, Donald Young and Maureen Paley

PHIL COLLINSbaghdad screentests2002Single–channel video projection with audio, 47 min.Courtesy Kerlin Gallery

piece was not the first winner to spark a flurry in

the press as to whether such abstract and

conceptual work could even be considered ‘art’,

with Tracey Emin and her unmade bed and

Damien Hirst’s cow in formaldehyde getting the

nod in previous years. Such is the Prize’s

reputation for honoring the puzzling that last

year’s roll of nominees contained a shock – one of

the shortlisted artists was Gillian Carnegie, a

conventional painter of still life, landscape, and

the nude.

Work by this year’s shortlisted artists will be

shown in an exhibition at Tate Britain beginning

on 3 October 2006. The winner will be

announced at Tate Britain on 4 December 2006

during a live broadcast by Channel 4.

Turner Prize 2006 – Shortlisted Artists:

REBECCA WARREN, TOMMA ABTS,

PHIL COLLINS, MARK TICHNER.

Tate Britain

Supported by Gordon’s gin