Tate Britain Level 2
2 October 2007 – 6 January 2008
As the Turner Prize heads north to Tate Liverpool this autumn as part of the European Capital of Culture 2008, Tate Britain celebrates the last twenty-three years of the prize with a major exhibition. Turner Prize: A Retrospective allows a unique opportunity to reflect upon some of the most significant moments in the recent history of British art and the reception of the prize by artists, the public, and by the media. Opening on 2 October 2007, the exhibition brings together key works by the winning artists set against the broader context of each year’s shortlist.
Since the mid 1980s the visual arts scene in Britain has changed beyond recognition and throughout this period the Turner Prize has both documented and contributed to these developments. Established in 1984 to draw greater public attention to contemporary art,
the Turner Prize has both reflected and informed the popular reception of new British art in this country and abroad. Each year a specialist jury has shortlisted some of the most important artists working at that time, and made the difficult decision to award the Prize to one of them, causing annual debate and sometimes controversy.
The exhibition features key works by the 22 winning artists, selected from the period in which they were nominated, including Howard Hodgkin’s A Small Thing But my Own, 1983-5, Antony Gormley’s Testing a World View, 1993, Damien Hirst’s Mother and Child Divided, 1993-2007, Gillian Wearing’s 60 Minute Silence, 1996, Martin Creed’s Lights On and Off, 2000, Grayson Perry’s Golden Ghosts2001, and Simon Starling’s Shedboatshed, 2005.
The winning artists are: Malcolm Morley (1984), Howard Hodgkin (1985), Gilbert & George (1986), Richard Deacon (1987), Tony Cragg (1988), Richard Long (1989), Anish Kapoor (1991), Grenville Davey (1992), Rachel Whiteread (1993), Antony Gormley (1994) Damien Hirst (1995), Douglas Gordon (1996), Gillian Wearing (1997), Chris Ofili (1998), Steve McQueen (1999), Wolfgang Tillmans (2000), Martin Creed (2001), Keith Tyson (2002), Grayson Perry (2003), Jeremy Deller (2004), Simon Starling (2005), Tomma Abts (2006).
All shortlisted artists will be represented in the exhibition through supporting material in the exhibition including an extended exhibition guide and profile films of the artists. In addition there will be a comprehensive programme of public talks, web-based projects, a new book of essays, The Turner Prize and British Art (price £12.99), discussing the Turner Prize’s relationship with contemporary art since 1984, and an updated edition of The Turner Prize publication.
Turner Prize: A Retrospective will tour to Moscow Museum of Modern Art from 7 February – 30 March 2008 and MoriArt Museum, Tokyo from 26 April – 13 July 2008. The Turner Prize 2007 exhibition will open at Tate Liverpool on 19 October and the winner of this year’s prize will be announced in early December. The Turner Prize will return to Tate Britain in 2008.
Information and features on the Turner Prize and its history can be found at Tate Online (www.tate.org.uk/turnerprize).