“Tuesday sees the announcement of the Turner prize shortlist. One critic has described the prize as “bipolar”, veering between good and bad years. Last year’s shortlist – which I was involved in selecting and judging – was well-received, after a widely criticised instalment the year before. Will this year’s list live up to 2009’s, or will it outdo it? In other words, can the Turner have two good years in a row? It’s always fun to speculate about who will be shortlisted. I hope this year’s judges come up with some unexpected and exciting names – controversy, too, never goes amiss. But it’s not been a spectacular year for British art: there has been no equivalent to Roger Hiorns’s Seizure, which simply demanded to be considered. On the other hand, the usual suspects who might so easily have been on last year’s list are still around: don’t be surprised if the names Ryan Gander, Charles Avery or Susan Philipsz appear in the papers next week. Last year’s Turner exhibition featured no film or video for the first time in donkey’s years, so perhaps they will go the other way and select a video artist such as Hilary Lloyd or a filmmaker such as Rosalind Nashashibi…”
Andrew Frost
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