Turner Prize 2015 – fur coats on chairs?

I’ve been meaning to write about the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize for a few weeks now and today I have the chance to do so (now it is a couple of weeks since I finished my foundation degree final project).

I’m intrigued by this year’s nominees: there are no video pieces (my new favourite medium), no drawings or paintings (my main medium) and one of the nominees is a not a person, but a lot of people. I’m excited by the idea that a collective has been nominated. They are my personal favourite for the first prize.

This ‘collective’ is called ‘Assemble’. They are a London-based art collective of individuals who work in art, design and architecture. There are 18 members of the collective and they started working together in 2010. Their aim is to engage the public in their art and achieve a greater harmony and relationship between people and place.

An example of their work and one that appeals to me, is ‘Big Slide’ which was literally, a big slide. It was constructed as a temporary structure. On the one side was a slide, on the other, large steps that also functioned as seating.

A play area for all - people just love to climb

A play area for all – people just love to climb

What appeals to me about Assemble is the diversity of the artwork and the anonymity of it. They produce art for art’s sake and for the sake of the public. That is what real art should be about. They just want to improve and enrich lives. That’s all. Full stop.

Another nominee this year is Bonnie Camplin. She has been nominated for her work ‘Military Industrial Complex’ which is a living work that takes the form of a study room exploring what ‘consensus reality’ is and what form it takes. Drawing from physics to philosophy, psychology, witchcraft, quantum theory and warfare, this work examines the anxieties caused by the categorisation of lived experiences as valid or invalid. The idea is to question the locus of madness. Camplin’s practice lies somewhere in the broad spectrum of performance art. But her work also encompasses writing, drawing and film.

The Military Industrial Complex

The Military Industrial Complex

Janice Kerbel has been nominated for her operative work ‘Doug’ which is a musical composition for a single voice that chronicles a continuous stream of nine catastrophic events endured by a single individual. Kerbel is known for work which blends reality and imagination. My question here is: is this art, or is it music/narration? Can this be classed as art? I think it can. This is my second favourite choice to win.

The last nominee is Nicole Wermers (who is the same age as me so I still have time for the Turner Prize). Wermers’s work uses the media of collage and sculpture to explore consumer culture. For the Turner Prize, she has been nominated for her work Infrastruktur which explores modern aesthetics, fashion and class.

Fur coats and chairs

Fur coats and chairs

I have seven years left. Perhaps next year I’ll be writing a blog about my own nomination. I can but hope.

 

References

BBC News website 12 May 2015 ‘Turner Prize 2015: Shortlist includes Toxteth housing estate’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32706928 [last accessed 1 June 2015]

Assemble’s website http://assemblestudio.co.uk/ [last accessed 1 June 2015]

Bonnie Camplin on South London Gallery’s website http://www.southlondongallery.org/page/bonnie-camplin [last accessed 1 June 12015]

The Common Guild website http://www.thecommonguild.org.uk/2014/03/janice-kerbel-doug/ [last accessed 1 June 2015]

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