3 October 2006 – 14 January 2007 Teacher and Student Notes By Jackie Steven Produced with support from Tomma Abts Phil Collins Mark Titchner Rebecca Warren Turner Prize 2006 Introduction to the Exhibition How to use this pack and structure your visit The Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an The aim of this pack is to provide an introduction to the exhibition outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the and information about key works on display, as well as themes twelve months preceding 9 May 2006. The four nominees this and issues to consider and discuss. It also suggests ways of year are Tomma Abts, Phil Collins, Mark Titchner and Rebecca looking at contemporary art and links to the wider Tate collection. Warren. Work by the artists will be shown at Tate Britain from The key work cards can be used to help focus work in small 3 October 2006. The winner will be announced at Tate Britain groups in the exhibition, as well as preparation or follow up on 4 December during a live broadcast by Channel 4. work in the classroom. The Turner Prize was established in 1984 by the Tate’s Patrons Resources availbable in the gallery of New Art and, although controversial, it is widely recognised In the final room of the exhibition there is an Interpretation Room. as one of the most important awards for the visual arts in Europe. This is a seating area with a film on the artists, press clippings, Gordon’s ® gin is sponsoring the prize for the third year. They comments cards and books related to the artists. There is a increased the value of the Turner Prize from £20,000 to £40,000, free audio guide available to all visitors. It includes commentary with £25,000 being awarded to the winner and £5,000 each to from the artists, jury members and a ‘champion’ of the artist. the other shortlisted artists. The Turner Prize 2006 broadsheet is available at the entrance The members of the Turner Prize 2006 jury are: to the exhibition, price £2.99. The Tate shop has a selection of • Nicholas Serota books, journals, catalogues, postcards and related materials. Director, Tate, and Chairman of the Jury Websites • Lynn Barber Tate Online www.tate.org.uk Writer, Observer Turner Prize www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize • Margot Heller Director, South London Gallery Tate Learning www.tate.org.uk/learning This site includes the Staff Room, a dedicated area for teachers • Matthew Higgs and group leaders, teacher resource notes for all major Director and Chief Curator, White Columns, New York Tate exhibitions including past Turner Prize exhibitions. • Andrew Renton http://tinyurl.com/hg4ph Information on Phil Collins Writer and Director of Curating at Goldsmiths College, University of London www.greengrassi.com/abts.php Information on Tomma Abts There is a useful and informative section on the Turner Prize http://tinyurl.com/h3rze Information on Rebecca Warren and its history on the Tate website at www.tate.org.uk/ http://tinyurl.com/g337z Information on Mark Titchner britain/turnerprize Further Reading Visiting the Exhibition Buck, Louisa, Moving Targets 2, A User’s Guide to British Art Now, Free group exhibition tickets for UK schools are available in 2000, Tate Publishing advance only from Education Bookings on 020 7887 3959. There Button, Virginia, The Turner Prize Twenty Years, 1997, Tate Publishing are a limited number of free group tickets available so please book Button, Virginia, New revised Edition, The Turner Prize, well in advance. Otherwise, school groups are charged £5 per September 2005, Tate Publishing head. If you would like to use the Schools Area to have lunch or use locker spaces, please book these when you book your tickets Button, Virginia, & Esche, Charles, Intelligence, New British Art 2000, (there is limited space available). As all exhibitions at Tate Britain 2000, Tate Publishing can be busy, you cannot lecture in the exhibition space, but you Crary, Jonathan (editor), Installation Art in the New Millennium: can discuss works in a conversational manner with groups of no The Empire of the Senses, 2004, Thames & Hudson Ltd more than six students at a time. If possible, brief your students Farquharson, Alex & Schlieker, Andrea, British Art Show 6, 2005, before they enter the exhibition, and if you have a large group, Hayward Gallery Publishing we suggest that you divide into smaller groups and follow the Nesbitt, Judith & Watkins, Jonathan, Days Like These, Tate suggestions in this pack. Triennial Exhibition of Contemporary British Art, 2003, Tate Publishing Frequently asked questions Q When did the Turner Prize start? Q Has there always been a shortlist? A 2005 is the twenty-second year of the prize: the first Turner Prize A In the early days there were concerns about the shortlisting was awarded in 1984. process. In 1988 it was decided not to announce the shortlist publicly, and instead of an exhibition of work by shortlisted artists, the winner Q How did it begin? was offered a solo show the following year. In 1989 the jury published A The prize was founded by a group called the Patrons of New a list of seven ‘commended’ artists. The shortlist was reinstated in Art. They were formed in 1982 to help buy art for the Tate Gallery’s 1991, and restricted to three or four artists. collection and to encourage wider interest in contemporary art. Q Is there an age limit? Q Why did they call it ‘The Turner Prize’? A In 1991 it was decided to restrict the Prize to artists under fifty, A The Patrons wanted a name associated with great British art. so that younger artists just setting out weren’t pitted against artists They chose JMW Turner (1775–1851) partly because he had wanted at the height of their careers. to establish a prize for young artists. He also seemed appropriate because his work was controversial in his own day. Q Is there a limit to how often an artist can be shortlisted? A In 1987 it was ruled that any artist nominated for two years Q Who put up the prize money? wouldn’t be eligible for the following two years. This was changed A The first sponsor was Oliver Prenn, though he remained again in 1991. Since then there has been no limit to the number anonymous at the time. He was a founder member of the Patrons of times an artist can be shortlisted. of New Art. The prize money was £10,000 for the first three years. He was followed in 1987 by Drexel Burnham Lambert, an American Q What about the protest groups? investment company. They sponsored the prize until 1989. The prize A Since 1991, when the award ceremony was first broadcast live, was suspended for a year in 1990 when the company went bankrupt. various groups have staged protests. These have included a group From 1991 Channel 4 was the sponsor and the prize money was called Fanny Adams, protesting against male domination of the art raised to £20,000. Since 2004 Gordon’s ® gin have been sponsoring world, the K Foundation (formerly the pop band KLF) who awarded the Prize as part of a three-year sponsorship. They have increased £40,000 to Rachel Whiteread as the ‘worst shortlisted artist’ in 1993, the total prize money to £40,000, with £25,000 being awarded to and FAT (Fashion, Architecture and Taste) who objected to the the winner and £5,000 each to the other shortlisted artists. ‘cultural elitism’ of the art establishment. To find out more about the history of the Turner Prize visit: Q Who was the first winner? www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/history A Malcolm Morley. To find out more about all the artists who have ever exhibited in the Q Why did some of the early shortlists include Turner Prize visit www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/history/artists people who weren’t artists? A At first the prize was awarded to ‘the person who, in the opinion of the jury, has made the greatest contribution to art in Britain in the previous twelve months’. This meant that critics and art administrators were eligible as well as artists. Issues and Themes in the Turner Prize 2006 Exhibition How representative do you think the Turner Prize is of artwork Craft and Skill today? Many aspects may seem arbitrary – for example, the prize Do artists have to make their work with their own hands, or is it is now limited to artists under fifty years old. There have also enough that they create the ideas and direct the work to finished traditionally been more male artists than women artists represented construction and installation? Mark Titchner combines hand-carved in the shortlists. For more information and discussion of issues wooden sculptures with more esoteric mechanical contraptions and and themes relating to the history of the Turner Prize, go to wonders if the time invested in their making gives them more www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize meaning. The handiwork that has gone into Rebecca Warren’s clay The artists included in this year’s shortlist are all very different, and bronze sculpture is impossible to overlook. She deliberately exploring a range of issues through painting, sculpture, video and cultivates a rough and temporary texture, and process is very installation art. Some of them are introduced below, while a more important. Tomma Abts’s paintings are clearly the result of a long and detailed discussion of a selection of individual works follow. intense process and she is inspired by the act of painting, making little or no references to outside sources.