Turner Prize 2016 at Tate Britain

Anthea Hamilton’s Lichen! Libido! (London!) Chastity! for Turner Prize 2016

Turner Prize 2016
at Tate Britain
Until 2nd January 2017

It’s that time of year again when the Tate presents the shortlisted artists in one of the art world’s biggest and most coveted prizes for contemporary artists under the age of 50, the Turner Prize. This year the four shortlisted artists are Anthea Hamilton, Michael Dean, Helen Marten and Josephine Pryde and the four are presenting their works in the Turner Prize exhibition on now at Tate Britain.

Josephine Pryde presents work from her nominated exhibition lapses in Thinking By the person i Am which includes a stationary model train which has been tagged by graffiti artists from the cities in which it has been previously exhibited.

Michael Dean’s gallery is occupied by a combination of works from his nominated exhibitions. Most affecting is his sculpture United Kingdom poverty line for two adults and two children: twenty thousand four hundred and thirty six pounds sterling as published on 1st September 2016 which consists of £20,436 in penny coins heaped on the floor. Dean has removed one coin so that what we see represents one penny below the UK poverty line.

Helen Marten presents a work full of disparate objects and structures including rolled up snake skins, jars of cotton buds and trays of billiard balls which together create a very puzzling assemblage.

And Anthea Hamilton presents Lichen! Libido! (London!) Chastity! a restaging of her nominated solo exhibition which includes Project for a Door, the larger-than-life doorway in the shape of a giant backside. This is the Turner Prize after all…

But £12 admission? That strikes me as a bit steep for what it essentially the competition entries of four contemporary artists, no matter how interesting and stimulating that may be. If I were you I would go on a Tuesday because every Tuesday it’s Pay What You Can Day.

The winner of the Turner Prize 2016 will be announced on 5th December 2016.
*UPDATE* Helen Marten is the winner of the 2016 Turner Prize

Turner Prize 2016 is on at Tate Britain until 2nd January 2017.

All photographs ©The London Art File

Admission:
£12 full price
£10.90/ £9.50 concessions
Every Tuesday Pay What You Can
Tate Members Free

Opening Hours:
Daily 10am – 6pm

Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG