Intimations of war and the bill for a Brick Lane curry. Queer kisses, shamanistic gurgling, miles of VHS tape and lasers in the jungle. This year’s Turner prize exhibition opens this Saturday at Cartwright Hall in Bradford, the current UK city of culture.
A soundtrack of a 16th-century Lutheran hymn and peals of church bells create an unresolvable conflict with the small photographs trapped behind glass on a low shelf in Rene Matić’s installation. The voices of Nina Simone and bell hooks are dragged from the ether, along with the chants of trans rights activists and commuters calling for a free Palestine. Rihanna sings Lift Me Up a cappella as I go from snapshot to snapshot, looking for the story amid the club scenes and marches, the street graffiti and a baby in a bath. Here’s an elderly man in hospital, then lipstick and cigarettes and a page from a remembrance book: “Dad, Our Hero, VIP, Legend” reads the dedication.
