The Turner Prize Shortlist 2025 begs a question

Today is Turner's 250th Birthday. Two days ago, the artists shortlisted for Turner Prize 2025 shortlist were announced.

What is The Turner Prize?

What the Tate says - other than in this year's press release - is

The Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist. 'British' can mean an artist working primarily in Britain or an artist born in Britain working globally. The prize focuses on their recent developments in British art rather than a lifetime's achievement.

Very many well known artists - or ones who have gone on to become very well known - have won The Turner Prize in the past. You can see a list here.

The award in 2025 is £55,000

• £25,000 goes to the winner and 
• £10,000 each goes to the other shortlisted artists.

In the past, the prize has been criticised for having criteria which are unfocused i.e. how do they get from the vast range of contemporary art development in the UK to those artists who are shortlisted for this prize.

Can one determine purpose from those shortlisted this year?

One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art.

They are:

• Nnena Kalu, 
• Rene Matić, 
• Mohammed Sami and 
• Zadie Xa.

Nnena Kalu, Conversations, Walker Art Gallery, installation view.
Courtesy of the Artist and Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Photo credit: Pete Carr.

the unveiling of the short list often occasions a fierce debate about the artists’ relative merits and sometimes about the very definition of art. 

My initial inclination is to think somebody is trying to make a point. Which is all art needs to have a message. 

I don't think it does. I think art can be very many things. What it emphatically does not ALWAYS need to be is something with "a message" - and yet this is what jurors always seem to like.

In 2025, art seems to have become something which can only be celebrated if the artist is marginalised in some way - in terms of heritage or gender or ethnicity. Maybe this is connected to the fact that this year the Turner Prize is associated with Bradford as the City of Culture - and one might expect some sort of respect for the diverse communities that live in Bradford. 

But should it reflect just one city or the nation as a whole?

Of very great and increasing concern to me is that art favoured by jurors often seems NOT to connect in any way with vast numbers of the British public.
In turn, this can then be exploited by extreme right wing political parties which leads to increasing numbers of people voting for them. That way lies fascism and all that goes with that - as we are seeing playing out right now in the USA. That is very much NOT the way I want to see the UK go.

I'm also left wondering if the jurors selected their four shortlisted artists before or after this headline from the Evening Standard - Visitor numbers plunge at London art museums as Tate galleries lose 2.7 million in five years (25th March 2025) - which really shocked me! (There will be another blog post on this topic and why numbers have dropped - which is pertinent to my comments above).

But who decides?

It seems to me that which artistic developments get noticed rather depends on who is judging the prize - and which organisations they are associated with. 

This year the members of the Turner Prize 2025 jury are:

A major change in those shortlisted for the Turner Prize

Last week, Tate Britain announced the shortlist for the Turner Prize 2021 - and the shortlist comprises five art collectives.

One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical British painter JMW Turner (1775-1851). The Turner Prize winner is awarded £25,000 with £10,000 going to each of the others shortlisted. 

This year they seem to be in two minds about whether it's about art or a very wide definition of the visual arts.

I've absolutely no problem with 

• the prize being about the Visual Arts 
• or with it focusing on arts grounded in the community 

I do have a problem with the use of the term "art" - and then shutting out of all those engaged in the fine arts of drawing and painting!!

As in historically, the Turner Prize jury has shortlisted four artists for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation.

I must confess I increasingly think that the organisers are interpreting its intent to be more and more about "The Arts" as opposed to art. Otherwise, why would they be substituting for the British Film Institute in providing recognition and prizes for films? Alternatively why isn't Tate Britain joining forces with the BFI if it intends to include the ubiquitous 'film' as media for future shortlists.

My personal view is that the current version of the Prize should become wholly independent of Tate Britain (and instead be run by a collegiate co-operative of different organisations relevant to the Visual Arts - including video / sound / film / digital arts / broadcast media) and Tate Britain should go back to providing a prize for contemporary fine art - including fine arts which increasingly get excluded and left on the fringe.

In other words "Contemporary Fine Art" is NOT "The Arts" - and this is not the Oscars or any of the other awards associated with popular arts-related culture!

Shortlist for the Turner Prize 2021

This year, the shortlist consists entirely of art collectives who have been listed for their recent projects and activities.

I'm guessing this has partly been prompted by the major absence of exhibition for most of 2020/21 - and hence the usual basis for selection evaporated. They could hardly make a selection based solely on those who were lucky enough to have an exhibition open in the very tight window of last summer.

So the Turner Prize organisers have made a positive out of a negative

“One of the great joys of the Turner Prize is the way it captures and reflects the mood of the moment in contemporary British art. After a year of lockdowns when very few artists have been able to exhibit publicly, the jury has selected five outstanding collectives whose work has not only continued through the pandemic but become even more relevant as a result.” Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and Chair of the Turner Prize jury

The nominees - who will each be receiving at least £10,000 each - are:

• Array Collective, 
• Black Obsidian Sound System, 
• Cooking Sections, 
• Gentle/Radical, and 
• Project Art Works.

Turner Prize Exhibition

The other change is that the exhibition will not visit Tate Britain.

An exhibition of the Collectives' work will be held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry from 29 September 2021 to 12 January 2022 as part of the UK City of Culture 2021 celebrations. 

The winner of the Turner Prize will be announced on 1 December 2021 at an award ceremony at Coventry Cathedral covered on the BBC.

The members of the 2021 Turner Prize jury are:

• Aaron Cezar, Director, Delfina Foundation
• Kim McAleese, Programme Director, Grand Union
• Russell Tovey, Actor
• Zoé Whitley, Director, Chisenhale Gallery
• Alex Farquharson, Director, Tate Britain (Chair)
  

Shortlisted Art Collectives

All the nominees work closely and continuously with communities across the breadth of the UK to inspire social change through art. The collaborative practices selected for this year’s shortlist also reflect the solidarity and community demonstrated in response to the pandemic

Below is the information provided about each collective - PLUS

• The names of those identified in the extended press release
• the address and screenshot of their website (where this could be identified).