A video artist who uses YouTube clips, a print-maker and an artist who pairs spoken word with photography are among this year’s Turner Prize nominees.
Duncan Campbell, James Richards, Ciara Phillips and Tris Vonna-Michell are on the shortlist for the prestigious and provocative contemporary art prize. Between them, they employ audio, video, craft and design – but there are no traditional painters or sculptors. The winner, who will receive £25,000, will be named on 1 December. Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis, who chairs the jury, admitted this year’s Turner nominees were “less well known” than in previous years. “They are serious works, they have quite a political or social commitment,” she said at Thursday’s shortlist announcement. “It’s perhaps less fun but I hope that we can do the job in communicating why these works are important and have caught the imagination of many people over the last 12 months.” Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Tate Britain’s curator of contemporary art, said the shortlist was “more accessible” than in past years. “It’s not art about art, it’s art about the world and other subjects everybody has experience of and can relate to.” Internet impact The nomination announcement said the four artists’ methods “suggest the impact of the internet, cinema, TV and mobile technologies on a new generation of artists”. Curtis said they shared “a strong international presence and an ability to adapt, restage and reinterpret their own and others’ works, very often working in a collaborative social context”. BBC News arts editor Will Gompertz suggested that the four all “make work that is in some way shape or form, a collage”. He said: “This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Turner Prize, and true to its non-conformist nature, there are unlikely to be any oil paintings or figurative sculptures on display at the 2014 exhibition.” His film, It for Others, is a reflection on a remarkable historical documentary about African art made by the French filmmakers Chris Marker and Alain Resnais in 1953. It also includes a stunning dance sequence created with choreographer Michael Clark. Campbell studied at the Glasgow School of Art. The city has produced four of the last nine Turner Prize winners. – BBC Entertainment
