The Turner Prize 2010

The Turner Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding exhibition. Four artists are shortlisted and they present their work in a three-month exhibition at Tate Britain.

Dexter Dalwood has been nominated for his solo exhibition at Tate St Ives, which revealed the rich depth and range of his approach to making painting that draws upon historical tradition as well as contemporary cultural and political events. He is known for making paintings of famous places he’s never seen, making plausible suggestions of those iconic haunts, Dexter Dalwood pictures his own documentation of history.

Angela de la Cruz has been nominated for her solo exhibition, After at Camden Arts Centre, London. De la Cruz uses the language of painting and sculpture to create striking works that may represent the death of conventional paintings. Her paintings are more like a piece of sculpture escaping the realms of the canvas while braking down its boundaries.

Susan Philipsz has been nominated for the presentations of her work Lowlands at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and Long Gone in the group exhibition Mirrors at the Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Spain. Philipsz uses her own voice to create uniquely evocative sound installations that play upon and extend the poetics of specific, often out-of-the-way spaces.

The Otolith Group have been nominated for their project A Long Time Between Suns, which took the form of exhibitions at Gasworks and The Showroom, London with accompanying publication. The Otolith Group questions the nature of documentary history across time by using material found in its many varieties, in particular the moving image.

The fourth plinth

This year’s exhibition, held in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-fields church in Trafalgar Square has attracted a lot of attention, as the winner will grace the plinth during the 2012 Olympic games in London.

It’s a coveted privilege but it comes at a price. There are demands placed upon the sculpture: two essential criteria for the art is that it is attractive and interesting to look at and that it must convey a universal message which is relevant to contemporary society.

Proposals were shortlisted by judges for the 2012 commission are the best of the best, although almost all of them fulfil only one of the two requirements.

Katharina Frisch’s Hahn/Cock is a sculpture of a cockerel rendered in stunning ultramarine blue. This sculpture would bring vibrancy to the square with its otherwise drab colour scheme. The message for this piece is somewhat vague. It uses the cockerel as a symbol for regeneration, awakening and strength.

To contrast this, Brian Griffiths’ Battenberg is a huge cumbersome brick in the shape of this quintessentially British cake.

The only proposal that seems to fulfil all the criteria for the project is Allora and Calzadila’s untitled a.t.m organ. It’s a replica of an old fashioned pipe organ. If installed on the fourth plinth the organ will be linked to an a.t.m at the ground level, which when used by the general public, will trigger sounds of varying pitch and volume with each press of the a.t.m’s buttons.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a dark science fiction film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same title.

Alex (Malcolm Mcdowell)is the main character who appears very charming but in reality is a sinister phychopath. He pleasures himself with the music of Ludvig Van Beethoven, sexual deviation, and what he describes as 'ultra violence'. Alex associates with a group of thugs he calls his droogs. The film follows his life as he commits a string of crimes, which leads to his arrest. Alex is then incarcerated and forced to undergo controversial aversion therapy. Alex delivers the narration of the film in Nadsat, a fractured branch and combination of eastern european, English, Cockney dialect.

This film adaptation was produced, directed, and written by Stanley Kubrick. The scenes captured on film are very disturbing, showing extreme violence. This is meant to illustrate contemporary social behaviour, political views and economic stance
in an imaginary future Britain.

The soundtrack comprises of mainly classical music with selections of Moog synthesizer tracks by Wendy Carlos. An unusual addition is 'singing in the rain', chosen especially by Malcolm McDowell because he knew the lyrics. Bill Gold created the now renowned Poster of A Clockwork Orange which is recognised around the world. The film also holds a record for being the first film to use dolby sound and this can be seen in the Guinness Book of Records.

Masks

A mask is an adornment normally worn on the face, typically for protection, concealment, performance, or amusement.

In performance, masks are used in many different ceremonies such as pageants, rituals, and festivals. One instance of this is Halloween which most of us would have experienced at some point in our lives. We have probably all worn some sort of gruesome mask. Masks seem to be universal and maintain their power of mystery for both wearer and audience.
In present times masks are usually mass produced and often associated with popular films, TV programmes or cartoon characters. They remind us to this day of the enduring power of pretence and play.

Ritual masks occur throughout the world, and although they share many similarities they are usually all highly distinctive. The reason behind the mask might be magical or religious, and play a part in some sort of ceremony. Masks in theatre also play a key part in the traditions of many cultures. Masks also have practical functions that are usually of the protective nature, for example, in medicine, as a way of stopping the spread of germs or protection for the wearer to stop flying objects, whilst still allowing a clear view. A mask may also be used to protect the wearers identity, allowing a wearer to see, without being seen.

Modernism/Postmodernism

Modernism can be described as modern ideas, practical application, or character. The term itself describes broadly a set of cultural tendencies and number of associated cultural movements, this was due to large changes to western society at the time (1880s-1930s). The term encompasses traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, music, religion and social organisation, that were seen as becoming outdated in a modernising world.

Postmodernism like its predecessor also encompasses art, architecture, music and other cultural traits. Postmodernism is seen as an international departure from the modernist approaches that had been previously dominated. Postmodernism is percieved to be a new facet on contemporary culture, rejecting the objective truth and cultural tendencies. It finds the use of sharp classifications to be unacceptable, for instant, white versus black or straight versus gay. Postmodernism is a rejection of the modern, opposing scientific mentality of being objective and progress associated with enlightenment.

Modernism and postmodernism are both seen as either cultural projects or a set of ways to view the world. Postmodernism can be seen as an academic movement, which was a reaction to modernism in the humanities. Modernism alternatively is often associated with identity, unit, authority, and certainty. Postmodernism is often associated with difference, plurality and scepticism.

Environment

Environment deals with the surroundings of an object. The subject I deal with in this blog is environmental art. This term is generally used to deal with art referring to ecological issues. Environmental art emerged in the 1960’s in response to the environmental movement. The basic theology behind it is to create a sustainable balance between human and non human nature through restoration and education.

Much environmental art is ephemeral, which means that it is made to disappear or even transform and is usually designed for a particular place and cannot be moved. It can be used to inform and interpret nature and its processes, or to educate us about environmental problems.

One of the most important works of environmental art was in the late 20th century and was called 7000 Oaks. This was an ecological action by Joseph Beuys who highlighted the local environment by planting 7000 oak trees throughout the city of Kassel. Other artists who have worked to improve the environment or reuse waste are Rosalie Gascoigne, and Patrice Stellest. Both of these artists re-used rubbish to create anything from serene sculptures to large installations. Erwin Timmers is another artist who incorporates building materials like window glass into his glass sculptures, helping manufacture an environmentally friendly piece of art.

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of sign processes and the laws governing them. The study itself is usually broken into three separate areas. These are are semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics.

• semantics: the relationship of signs to what they stand for;
• syntactics (or syntax): the formal or structural relations between signs;
• pragmatics: the relation of signs to interpreters (Morris 1938).


Fedinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is know as the forbearer of modern linguistics and semiotics. Other key figures in the early development of semiotics were Charles Sanders Peirce, Charles William Morris, Roland bathes, Algirdas Greimas, Yuri Lotman, Christian Metz, Umberto Eco and Julia Kristeva.

Barthes declared that 'semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all of these, which form the content of ritual convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification' (Barthes 1967).

The reasoning behind semiotics is that it assists us not to take reality for granted. We learn that reality is a system of signs. Learning about semiotics can help us become more aware of reality as a construction and the roles we ourselves have in constructing it.