Scot in the Turner Prize spotlight

Published on Monday 6 December 2010 19:48

THE most controversial prize in art was won last night by Glasgow's Susan Philipsz - a sound artist whose work incorporates traditional Scottish laments.

• And the winner is … Glasgow sound artist Susan Philipsz enjoys her moment of glory at the Tate Britain Picture: PA

Philipsz was the favourite to win the Turner Prize, which was set up in 1984 to promote British art and carries a 25,000 prize.

Her winning work, Lowlands 2008/2010, was notable in that it was not a visual work, but consisted of a recording of the artist singing Lowlands Away, a 16th-century folk song that mourns the death of a sailor at sea.

The award ceremony in the Tate Britain in London was disrupted by chanting students protesting against the cuts in art and education.

Accepting the 25,000 award from fashion designer Miuccia Prada, Philipz said: "I am really pleased to be standing here, and I would like to thank the Tate.

"I would also like to thank the friends and family who have supported me and who are here tonight. This is for you."

To the chanting arts students who invaded the prize-giving, she added: "Education isn't a right - it is a privilege and I support Arts Against the Cuts."

Director of the Tate Nicolas Serota also acknowledged the protesters, saying: "We are all concerned about the cuts at both national and local authority level."

Previous winners of the Turner Prize include Damien Hirst. Rachel Whiteread. Douglas Gordon.

In the original work - which was part of the Glasgow International - the melancholy song loops were played under bridges in secret locations across Glasgow.

But for the Turner exhibition, Philipsz recreated the piece, which features a layered recording of her own untrained voice, in an empty gallery space - in a work which art critics said celebrated "the sculptural and immersive qualities of sound".

Curator Katherine Stout said it was a "very physical" work that "plays upon the otherwise emptiness" of Tate Britain.

Also shortlisted for this year's prize were Dexter Dalwood, Angela de la Cruz and the Otolith Group.All of the shortlisted artists were shown in the Turner Exhibition at the Tate Britain, and each will receive a prize of 5,000.

Bristol-born Dalwood creates large canvases which depict notable events in history and culture, but in which the central character is missing.

The Otolith Group creates films and archives that celebrate unfinished or unrealised works of the past, and Angela de la Cruz, a Spanish-born artist based in London, creates work that involves smashed canvases, broken chairs and livid splashes of paint.

The prize is intended to "promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art" - but the choice of artists has sometimes been criticised for courting controversy, rather than promoting talent.

The Scotsman art critic Professor Duncan Macmillan said the prize was "the Strictly Come Dancing of art" - and added: "It is certainly not to do with the best art around."

Prof Macmillan said the Turner jury was "very narrow in what it is prepared to consider".

However, winning the prize has consistently boosted careers, with many past winners joining the ranks of the most famous - and the richest - names in contemporary art.