Turner Prize 2018

On the 12th November our degree course had an art trip to London to visit both the Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Our aim was to see the Turner Prize entries for this year. After a few hours of expanding our minds with Rothkos, Christian Marclay's 'Clock' and the literacy genius of Jenny Holzer we ventured across the Thames, (well under as we tubed it) to the Tate Britain.

I've always loved the Tate Britain, there's something nice about going there, its like you're visiting an old friend but every time you are amazed by the collection and architecture of the place.

Even though I have visited the Tate frequently I have never been to see the Turner Prize and after reading about past entries and winners I was quite excited.

This year the Turner Prize chose the subject of 'pressing issues in society today' and had four artists who were shortlisted.

These were Forensic Architecture, Naeem Mohaiemen, Charlotte Prodger and Luke Willis Thompson.

Luke Willis Thompson's was closed due to technical issues so I had the other three to enjoy.

All three entries were film and the first piece I watched was Naeem Mohaiemen's Tripoli Cancelled, 2017. This film was about a man who lives alone in an abandoned airport for a decade. The script was inspired by Mohaiemen's father who was stranded in Athens airport for nine days in 1977 after he lost his passport. The film is filmed at Ellinikon Airport, which was abandoned in 2001 and is now a site for Syrian refugees,

The man walks about, dances and sings in this creepy, broken down site, amid rubble and tossed furniture. I walked in on a scene where he is sitting on an empty areoplane next to an Air Stewardess mannequin and decides to undo her uniform and fondle her plastic pert breasts.....

Naeem Mohaiemen, Tripoli Cancelled, 2017

I found the piece well shot and interesting and couldn't help liking the character as he wandered aimlessly around the desolate site.

The next film I watched was 'Killing in Umm al-Hrran' by Forensic Architecture, a short film on a human rights issue that happened on 18th Jan 2017, when police tried to clear an unrecognised Bedouin village in the Naqab desert,Southern Israel, which resulted in two deaths. The scene is filmed early morning before sunrise and a teacher who was driving a car was shot in the leg, which in-turn created an accident as his foot became stuck to the accelerator pedal and he ploughed into a policeman, the driver was then shot dead.

The whole scene is shown through video, using night vision, digital mapping and in a seperate room 3D modelling and reproductions of tweets and social media that extend across different timescales. It was incredibly interesting but did feel like it was a news article and something the police investigators would do and not really something that I would think would be in the Turner Prize.

The last film I basically walked in and then out of was Charlotte Prodger's 'Bridget', 2016. I think that after watching two movies I really didn't have the energy to sit through another and when I think back, I wished I had. Not because I heard it was good but because I never gave it a chance.

If the Turner Prize's entries were of different media I would have given them more time but I felt a bit mugged off, I spent £12 on tickets and didn't feel inspired. In the end I was in need of some art I could walk around and appreciate. So here's hoping next year will be better and as for who won - I'm really not that concerned.