Dummies, loos, The Simpsons – it's Turner Prize time again

Published on Wednesday 14 May 2008 00:27

A FEMALE shop mannequin perched on a toilet helped Glasgow contemporary artist Cathy Wilkes on to the shortlist for the Turner Prize yesterday.

A second contender, Mark Leckey, used characters from The Simpsons in his work. He spliced images of himself with Marge Simpson in a work titled Cinema in the Round.

A year after the judges turned political, awarding the prize to artist Mark Wallinger's recreation of an Iraq war protest site, the focus turned back yesterday to radical contemporary art.

Wilkes, 42, who lives and works in Glasgow, uses shop mannequins in many of her installations. We Are Pro-Choice from 2008 has a mannequin on a toilet with a bowl with bits of dried porridge at her feet.

Fellow Turner contender, Bangladesh-born Runa Islam, recreates scenes from Ingmar Bergman films, with footage of the car park used in the Michael Caine thriller Get Carter.

Polish-born Goshka Macuga, described as a "cultural archaeologist", draws inspiration from the 1919 German horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

She was one of the artists who represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2005.

Jennifer Higgie, the editor of Frieze and one of the judges for this year's prize, said the mannequin acted as "a stand-in, in a self-portrait used to disrupt an idealised idea of what women might".

Katrina Brown, who was named yesterday as director of the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art, said it was fantastic that the city had another nomination.

"I think all of her work is an honest and direct take on her experience, everything from the banality of domestic life to trying to work and make art, and the reality of that experience. I think she's a really unique voice," said Ms Brown.

The Turner, first awarded in 1984, is open to British-based artists under the age of 50. Their work is showcased from October at London's Tate Britain museum and the winner of the 25,000 award is announced on 1 December.

Toby Webster, of the Modern Institute, who represents Ms Wilkes, said: "Her work is dealing with quite simply but complicated issues of life and death.

"In her works, the mannequins are surrounded by objects. It's everyday things, it's not anything unusual about it, but the way she has put it together gives it the soul that exists beyond the physical thing."