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Review Oct 28 2008 « | »
Turner Prize 2008 The Turner Prize is a tense affair. I was tense as I entered, everyone else seemed tense as they......

Tom Wright

The Turner Prize is a tense affair. I was tense as I entered, everyone else seemed tense as they shuffled around and the artists themselves must be tense; it is a competition after all.

Why is everything connected to this infamous exhibition constantly on edge? Love it or loathe it. Ridicule or embrace. The Turner Prize offers nothing less than a constant debate on our senses. I entered not knowing whether or not I should like any of the work and left equally baffled. I did like it but seem to feel decidedly sheepish because of it. And that makes me tense.

Each room seems taut with anxiety as the artists present themselves for your attention. All the work is loaded to bursting point with meaning, exploring a wide variety of subjects but linked through their mutual tension. Cathy Wilkes' work - a diaristic and seemingly confessional collection of everyday objects - is achingly awkward in its configuration. The components seem trapped in their surroundings, stripped of the ritual meaning we apply to them and left empty, desperate for a new dimension and attached ideals.

Runa Islam's short films are laced with stresses of the human condition. Be The First To see What You see As You see It, is car crash cinema at its most literal; a perverse satisfaction comes from seeing cups and plates crash to the floor. The skill of the film making enhances the juxtaposition between the expected and the anticipated. It's present in each of her films and through the exhibition as a whole.

Whether it's Mies van der Rohe's relationship with his lesser known assistant or an attempt to reclaim a subversive, nothing sits lightly in The Turner Prize. It doesn't always come easily but there's beauty in all of it, too much talent is present for it not to be.

One elderly couple remarked solely that it was a waste of nice crockery. Too many people miss what is happening here. I think this is what makes me tense. The Turner Prize runs until the 18th of January. For more information, click here.

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