The Turner Prize, the esteemed Tate-run award for British artists, has revealed this year’s nominees, and in typical Turner Prize fashion, they’ve already polarized critics.
Simon Barclay, Kira Freije, Marguerite Humeau, and Tanoa Sasraku are the four nominees for this year’s award, which once again comes with a £25,000 ($33,800) award for the winner. Facilitated by Tate Britain in London, the Turner Prize will this year stage a show of the nominees’ work at Teeside University’s Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, marking the first time the award has done its exhibition in an academic setting.
By the standards of past Turner Prize editions, this batch of nominees is tame—none of the artists are known for loud, scandalous work. That is exactly why some have already criticized this edition of the Turner Prize, an award that has historically been associated with divisive, controversial conceptual art.
In the Guardian, for example, critic Eddy Frankel wrote that the prize now represents “something way more appropriate for the age: a bit timid, a bit fearful, a bit safe.”
Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson spoke more positively of the nominees in a statement, saying, “This year’s selection presents a rich and diverse range of work, spanning installation and performance, and with a strong emphasis on sculptural practice. Each artist invites us into carefully constructed scenarios, both real and imagined, that offer distinct perspectives through which to explore the world around us, and to reflect on our place within it.”
Below is a quick look at each nominee.
