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The Turner Prize Short List: An Odd Lot

by Zoe Strimpel
Wed, 14 May 2008

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Scandal has erupted again in the art world. This time, it's the Turner Prize short list raising eyebrows (a refreshing change from the Arts Council, the body we all love to hate). The candidates for the 2008 award are, erm, less than traditionally talented, to say the least. Still, you could say this is a fitting homage to the most famous short-lister of all time (and one of the most successful now): Tracey Emin, with "My Bed" in 1999.

A front-runner this year is Cathy Wilkes, from Scotland. "She's Pregnant Again" is a television, a sink with one human hair in it, and a stroller. The Times of London reported that one prominent museum director called it a "disgrace," but the Tate commended the work for being "highly charged" and using "an articulate and eloquent vocabulary."

Then there's Mark Leckey, the sole male on the list. He is a London-based video artist interested in youth subcultures; the soundtrack to his video comes from his own band. How modern.

Runa Islam is Bangladeshi, and also a video artist. Her "First Days of Spring" pivots on "notions of truth and fiction, subjectivity and authorship." Here she films a group of idle rickshaw drivers.

The fourth short-lister is Goshka Macuga from Poland, who is seeking to "blur the boundaries between artist, curator and collector." She attempts to achieve this by setting out images of other artists' work combined with seemingly random objects. The Tate praised her "dramatic environments."

The artists may sound pretentious, wacky, or just plain crap (or all three), but could the next Tracey be lurking in this crowd? Quite possibly.

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