About, Turner
For the first time since a brief visit to Merseyside in 2007, the Turner Prize has left London with works by the nominated artists on show at the Baltic in Gateshead.
Baltic Mill in Gateshead hosts Turner Prize
The controversial modern art exhibition, which has seen pieces such as Tracey Emin’s un-made bed (My Bed) and Damien Hirst’s halved cow and calf preserved in Formaldehyde (Mother and child divided), gains a mixed reception from the general public and I feel that a move away from the capital’s artisan circles is a big risk.
The sad thing is it really shouldn’t be. I’m no art expert, or even enthusiast, but have been to see the last three Turner prize exhibitions and have found something interesting in all of them. When approached as a sensory adventure as oppose to a reverent cultural experience, a walk around these artworks is very enjoyable.
The exhibition’s curator, Laurence Sillars, said the work by the four artists nominated for this year’s prize will be seen by as many people in Gateshead as it would in London. This is partly due to the Baltic’s seasonal attendance averaging between 70,000 and 90,000 people – roughly the same number of visitors as the Turner Prize normally attracts at its Thames-side home.
But the question this relocation poses is whether new people in the North East will be inspired or put off by the Turner Prize and the supposed sense of intellectual gravitas that it could be said is unfairly leveled at it.
Take art critic Brian Sewell’s comments from a few years back declaring that Gateshead should be ‘bombed’ and that the people of the north are not sophisticated enough for art. Such statements from the ‘Educated Un-enlightened’ are detrimental to the future of art exhibitions as they try to marginalise and force people out; telling them they are not clever enough to have opinions of their own.
This is a ludicrous notion. Art thrives on interpretation and opinion and the way something makes one person feel is no less valid than the feelings it stirs in another.
I would encourage everyone to take some time and explore the pieces on show at the Baltic in order to decide what they think for themselves.
On my previous visits to Turner prize exhibitions I haven’t even gone out of my way to go. I’ve been in London Christmas shopping and have chosen to take a couple of hours out of the winter rain and busy shops to have a look around, and on every occasion, to be transported to a different and weird world.
Some things have resonated with me, others have shocked me. Some have made me laugh and some have been just plain strange, but one thing is for sure – all have been fascinating in their own way.
For an insight into the imaginations of four very talented individuals, get down to the Baltic before 8th January 2012.
