Turner Prize 2008 poster Runa Islam
Turner Prize 2008 poster Runa Islam
Turner Prize 2008 poster Cathy Wilkes
Turner Prize 2008 poster Goshka Macuga
Runa Islam First Day of spring 2005 photograph of men riding rickshaws
Installation view of Turner Prize 2008 featuring Mark Leckey Cinema in the Round 2007 and Made in Eaven
Goshka Macuga Objects in Relation 2007 tree trunks and branches arranged so that they look like two figures moving one with a red trainers on
Cathy Wilkes I Give you All My Money 2008 installation view of mannequins positioned around kitchen sink units
Nick Cave giving a speech at the Turner Prize 2008
The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art.
The prize is awarded to an artist under fifty, born, living or working in Britain, for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation in the twelve months before 6 May 2008.
Nominations are invited each year, and the prize is judged by an independent jury that changes annually. Four artists are shortlisted and they present works in a show normally held at Tate Britain before the winner is announced in December. The artists are not judged on their show at Tate – the decision is based on the work for which they were nominated.
Shortlist
- Runa Islam – nominated
- Mark Leckey – winner
- Goshka Macuga – nominated
- Cathy Wilkes – nominated
Watch the Turner Prize nominee films:
Jury
- David Adjaye, Architect and Director, Adjaye Associates
- Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt
- Suzanne Cotter, Senior Curator and Deputy Director, Modern Art Oxford
- Jennifer Higgie Editor, Frieze
- Stephen Deuchar Director, Tate Britain and Chair of the Jury
Turner Prize 2008 in quotes
For a prize that has thrived on outraged headlines about unmade beds and lights being turned on and off, the most controversial thing about this year’s prize was its lack of controversy.
Mark Brown, The Guardian, Monday 1 December 2008
Who can’t understand it? I don’t understand who can’t understand it. Critics are middle brow and they want stuff that looks like art and maybe my stuff doesn’t look like art.
Mark Leckey on winning, The Guardian, 2008
There always seemed to be a year of controversy and then a year when the critics said it was dull, the show should be retired and we should all go home. This show is as strong as any I’ve seen.
Nicholas Serota on the Turner Prize 2008
