Rollercoaster tracks bent into a skeletal woolly mammoth and a fountain cascading water to drown out gallery goers are among the works nominated for this year’s Turner Prize.
The £25,000 prize, which has previously been won by Grayson Perry and Steve McQueen, is given every year to a British artist for an “outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work”.
This year’s shortlist includes Londoner Ghislaine Leung whose exhibition Fountains filled a Danish gallery with objects including toys and baby monitors which broadcast noise from different rooms in the building. The jury said “temporal boundaries were investigated” by the show which was centred around a fountain diverted into the building from a nearby public water feature.
Jesse Darling, whose show No Medals, No Ribbons “evoked vulnerable human bodies” with its use of twisted metal tracks is shortlisted. He was also praised for a show at Camden Arts Centre where bricks, tiles and plastic bags were scattered throughout the gallery in a portrait of “the messiness and reality of daily life”.
Also nominated is multi-disciplinary artist Rory Pilgrim whose work RAFTS included a concert performance featuring eight residents of Barking & Dagenham explaining what helped them “keep afloat” during the pandemic.
The fourth artist is Barbara Walker who is nominated for her charcoal portraits of people affected by the Windrush scandal, some drawn directly onto gallery walls.
This year’s prize jury includes Camden Art Centre director Martin Clark and Melanie Keen, director of the Wellcome Collection, and is chaired by Tate Britain’s director Alex Farquharson.
The prize — and corresponding exhibition — will be hosted by Towner Eastbourne in East Sussex with the winner announced on December 5.
