Elizabeth Price wins Turner Prize 2012

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The Turner Prize 2012 has been awarded to Elizabeth Price, it was announced at Tate Britain last night. The £25,000 prize was presented by actor Jude Law. This year’s prize fund is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The event was broadcast live on the UK’s Channel 4. 

The jury applauded the four nominated artists’ commitment and the strengths of their diverse artistic practices.  They awarded the prize to Elizabeth Price for her solo exhibition at BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.  The Jury admired the seductive and immersive qualities of Price’s video trilogy, which reflects the ambition that has characterized her work in recent years. They were impressed by the way Price creates a rhythmic and ritualistic experience through film installations that combine different material and technical vocabularies ranging from archival footage and popular music videos to advertising. 

The exhibition of the four shortlisted artists – Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price – is at Tate Britain until 6 January 2013.

The Turner Prize 2012 is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the 12 months preceding 24 April 2012. (The term British applies to all artists working in the United Kingdom and to British-born artists who may be working abroad.) The Prize was established in 1984 by the Patrons of New Art and is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art.

Previous winners are: 1984 Malcolm Morley; 1985 Howard Hodgkin; 1986 Gilbert & George; 1987 Richard Deacon; 1988 Tony Cragg; 1989 Richard Long; 1990 (Prize suspended); 1991 Anish Kapoor; 1992 Grenville Davey; 1993 Rachel Whiteread; 1994 Antony Gormley; 1995 Damien Hirst; 1996 Douglas Gordon; 1997 Gillian Wearing; 1998 Chris Ofili; 1999 Steve McQueen; 2000 Wolfgang Tillmans; 2001 Martin Creed; 2002 Keith Tyson; 2003 Grayson Perry; 2004 Jeremy Deller; 2005 Simon Starling; 2006 Tomma Abts; 2007 Mark Wallinger; 2008 Mark Leckey; 2009 Richard Wright; 2010 Susan Philipsz ; 2011 Martin Boyce.

The Chair of the Turner Prize 2012 Jury is Penelope Curtis, Director, Tate Britain. The members of the Jury were: Andrew Hunt, Director, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea; Heike Munder, Director, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Mark Sladen, Director, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. 

Sadly, jury member Michael Stanley, Director, Modern Art Oxford, died on 21 September 2012.