Turner turns thinking art world on its head

The Turner prize has had something of a topsy-turvy year. After years of tabloid controversy about the merits of its entries, the flurry of headlines this year came from the art world.

And the panel behind the most famous prize in modern art delivered another disappointment to the lurid by rejecting the most obviously outlandish piece, Arsewoman in Wonderland, in favour of the work of Keith Tyson, who takes his inspiration not from porn movies but from science.

The 33-year-old, whose work includes scientific drawings and mathematical formulae, collected the £20,000 ($62,180) prize at a ceremony at Tate Britain in London.

One of his prize-winning works was a giant black block humming with hidden computers which was inspired by Rodin's The Thinker. The judges said they "admired the way in which his work embraces the poetic, the logical, the humorous and the fantastical and draws connections between them".

Tyson's rivals included Fiona Banner's retelling of a pornographic film in shocking pink letters, and Catherine Yass' video of a descent down a skyscraper in a mist-bound Canary Wharf in London. Liam Gillick's entry comprised various drawings, including a design for an airport, all displayed under a glowing perspex roof.

But Tyson's win came in a year when the prize went beyond its usual controversy and drew criticism from the contemporary art establishment. Criticism of the Turner prize has been part and parcel of the award, which was set up to spark controversy and encourage debate about contemporary art.

While the chairman of the Turner judges, Sir Nicholas Serota, will have been untroubled by the Culture Minister, Kim Howells, describing this year's entries as "conceptualist bullshit", he will not have appreciated criticisms from two of his friends and contemporary art icons, the collector Charles Saatchi and the artist Tracey Emin.

Saatchi dismissed its latest shortlist as "pseudo-controversial rehashed claptrap". Emin, who was shortlisted in 1999, claimed the judging process was fatally flawed by compromise voting and favouritism.



The prize was set up in 1984 by the Patrons of the New Art, a group of rich contemporary art enthusiasts who wanted to introduce new art to a wider public. In 1991 it was rejuvenated under Channel 4 sponsorship, the prizemoney was doubled and the age limit set at 50. In 1993, the art pranksters, the K Foundation, set up a counter-award for Worst Artist with prizemoney of £40,000 ($124,360). Rachel Whiteread won both prizes and gave the K Foundation money to charity.

Media interest in the award reached a peak in 1995, when Damien Hirst won with his preserved sheep. One exhibit that failed to get on the 1997 list was Work of Living Art - involving the former tramp Roger Powell, who was paid by the advertising millionaire Tony Kaye to wander around art galleries talking about being homeless.

- INDEPENDENT