Turner Prize judge Helen Legg interview

The Turner Prize is the British art world’s most high profile prize. Awarded annually to a British artist under the age of 50 the prize is organised by the Tate and has a monetary value of £40,000. This year Spike Island director Helen Legg was asked to be one of the judges. Bristol24/7 spoke to her about the prize, artists and the judging process.

“I was asked to be a judge about 18 months ago,” Helen says. “The judging period is April to April the preceding year. And during that time I saw a lot of shows, it’s impossible to count, hundreds. There was no predetermined number.

“The Turner Prize can include exhibitions presented in the UK and overseas so there is an enormously long list of eligible artists. The judges are expected to cover as much ground as possible between them. This is where the process diverges from say literature prizes in that the exhibition format can’t be easily distributed and shared as a book can.

“Exhibitions are very much about a particular time, place and space and how an artist has worked within those confines. The judges are in touch throughout the year so if any one of us saw a particularly strong exhibition we would ask the others to do their best to go to see it.”

As with most arts prizes, the short-listing and judging process is not easy.

“Each judge is asked to come to the short-listing meeting with a list of 6-8 artists and to be prepared to discuss their work and why they should be considered for the shortlist. The public can also nominate and artists on the public list are discussed at that meeting. Then it’s a process of talking it through until the panel can agree on a shortlist. Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain and chair of the judges has a casting vote in the event that the other judges fail to agree.

“There’s little point trying to make direct comparisons between artists, artworks or exhibitions, though I’m not sure media lies at the heart of the problem. Many people have commented on the fact that three of the artists on this year’s shortlist make film, yet the ideas and approaches behind them are incredibly diverse. You have to treat each work on its own merits and try to judge which is the most successful. I’m not expecting it to be easy.”

It has been noted that there were no painters on this year’s shortlist. Helen, however, maintains that new media do retain some traditional qualities.

“Artists have tended towards a free and innovative approach with regards to medium for a long time now, typically thinking of painting and sculpture as qualities rather than as media. James Richards describes his work with film and sound as being sculptural and aspects of Ciara Phillip’s work are painterly.

“Painting and sculpture have rich, long-standing histories that artists continue to reinvent and mine for possibilities, but if artists once used these media to change the way that we see and experience the world, then it’s new technologies that better serve this purpose today.

“It would be disappointing, and weirdly anachronistic – if artists didn’t seize upon the opportunities that technology offers or explore the new relationships with the world that its widespread adoption continues to bring. There are artists who still find fresh and relevant ways of making painting and sculpture but far fewer, I think, than in the past. Like it or not, the genie is out of the bottle.”

The inclusion of live artist Tris Vonna_Mitchell is also notable, perhaps signalling a turning point for live art and its acceptance by the establishment and the public. Helen is optimistic that this is the case

“I hope so. I think shortlists have purpose when they fuel discussion and the inclusion of Vonna Mitchell this year, and over the last two years of Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Tino Seghal, have underlined performance’s centrality within contemporary art. We should remember though that performance is far from new – it’s perhaps the oldest art form, though since it can’t be kept, studied and conserved as objects can, we’re less aware of its history. Giving it prominence through something like the Turner Prize helps, though the challenge is really for our museums to find ways to collect and preserve its legacy.”

Now that Helen’s year as a Turner prize judge is over, the question remains, not who won, but who would she like to see on the shortlist next year.
 
“The great thing about the judging panel changing each year is the breadth of knowledge that brings to the prize. I’d love to see someone on next year’s list whose work I didn’t know well, or hadn’t considered myself.”