News Hour headed for London’s Tate Britain to visit the soon-to-close Turner Prize 2008, with attempts at an open mind. Many of the works mirrored each other in principle, giving the exhibition rather more of a curatorial aspect than we expected. Goshka Macuga‘s room reflected this again on a micro scale, being comprised mostly of other artists’ work, placed out of context; most arresting was a spiralling collection of glass sheets that resembled two halves of a revolving door moved aside, their edges just touching. One of those pieces you can just walk around for hours, that picks up your eyes and flings them in unexpected directions – a bit like a zoetrope without a picture, and called Deutsche Volk, Deutsche Arbeit.
Room two, home of Cathy Wilkes, had a linked concept, arranging objects from the real world in manners that you wouldn’t expect – both in terms of combination and size. It has the jarring effect of a surreal jumble sale, with mannequins attired in things that aren’t attire, an effect at its best with the two centrepieces – they look like kitchen counters but turn out to be supermarket checkouts.
Runa Islam‘s collection of films are strangely beautiful, and complementary. The first deals with slow motion falling crockery, poked and prodded by a woman who regards them as alien items. The framing of the shots is magnetic, and the carpet by several strides the most comfortable to sit on in the entire exhibition. The carpet becomes less comfortable for the next film, that fetishises mechanical processes; the room is most unwelcoming, and hastens you toward the honest wooden floors that support viewing of The First Day Of Spring. This third work, mostly silent apart from the odd bird, shows us a park of halted rickshaws and quiet men, one of whom resembles Fidel Castro. They seek respite from the city, which we can (kind of) hear – as the mechanical noise from the previous room, filtering through the adjoining hallway. In our humble opinion, this simple pleasure made it the winner.
The actual winner was Mark Leckey‘s mixed media meditation on image in unusual contexts, hyperfocused or simply in an odd place – a similar concept to Cathy Wilkes only replacing the object with the image, although much more intellectualised. Leckey is the only artist to talk directly to the viewer, through a video lecture that links to the other works surrounding his main film. These include strangely compelling, fast-flipping slide closeups of a wall mirror – and a sinister video of Felix the cat. The play on perceptions is entertaining, and this is by far the most popular room. Whether this is because people want to focus on the winner, or because they genuinely enjoy it is unclear – but the separation of pieces allows for a lot of punters at once. Leckey’s video presence also lends a sense of humour to proceedings, which can be welcome, especially at the end of an exhibition. Arguably the most complete and enveloping work, largely because of the lecture.
Should you visit, it’s worth studying the letters of appreciation and disgust that cover the walls of the room just outside, next to the cafe (you can enter it without paying). Choice messages from a global collection of punters include:
‘I am not entitled to this opinion’
‘I really wish people would learn how to spell. Won’t learn here’
‘Took the red eye from Vancouver and fell asleep in the leckture’ (sic)
…plus grumblings about the lack of a French language audio guide, helped by the inclusion of a French ‘tube’ ticket.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 