First look as Turner Prize makes triumphant return to Tate Liverpool

Tate Liverpool has unveiled an exhibition of work by the four artists nominated for the Turner Prize 2022: Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin.

One of the world's best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize, aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art.

The prize returns to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years, having helped launch the city’s year as European Capital of Culture. Tate Liverpool was the first gallery outside London to host this prestigious prize in 2007.

Louise Shannon, from Tate Liverpool, told LiverpoolWorld: "If you know nothing about contemporary art, it's your best way to start. It’s a prize that shows four artists across the country, they’ve been selected by a jury, and they’ll be shown here. It’s a real glimpse of four artists, their different works and their approach to work.”

Ms Shannon, Head of Programme Delivery at Tate Liverpool, added: “One of the main reasons why the Turner Prize is so exciting is it really encourages debate around contemporary art.

“What we’ve done at the end of the exhibition is that we’ve encouraged a little voting system. We want to know what the public thinks, what is your favourite, what appeals to you and who do you think is your winner.

Ms Shannon contniued: “We’ve got a really beautiful timeline as you enter the exhibition, which signals the links to Liverpool; whether that be Anthony Gormley or whether that be Mark Leckey.

“So it’s a really wonderful way to not only learn about the prize but also a bit of history and why it’s so important to Liverpool.”

When can you see the Turner Prize exhibition?

An exhibition of the artists’ work will be held at the Tate gallery on the Albert Dock from 20 October 2022 to 19 March 2023.

The winner will be announced on 7 December at an award ceremony at St George’s Hall.

Rewind to Turner Prize 2007 in Liverpool

British artist Mark Wallinger won the prize in that year for State Britain, a multi-part installation that recreated the protest camp set up by peace campaigner Brian Haw in Parliament Square, London, about the treatment of Iraq.

It included a tea making area, hand-painted placards and teddy bears wearing peace slogan t-shirts.

Turner Prize backstory

Established in 1984, each year the Turner Prize jury shortlists British artists who are either working primarily in Britain or born in Britain working globally.

A new independent panel of judges including writers, gallery directors, critics and curators are selected every year.

The Turner Prize is named after 19th century artist JMW Turner, a British artist who was deemed controversial in his day.

The Turner Prize award is £55,000, with £25,000 going to the winner and £10,000 each to the other shortlisted artists.

The artists shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2022

HEATHER PHILLIPSON

Heather Phillipson is the artist who installed the “transformative” Fourth Plinth sculpture in London’s Trafalgar Square. The End features a whirl of whipped cream topped with a cherry, a drone and a fly.

The British artist, 43, was also nominated for her solo immersive exhibition at Tate Britain titled Rupture No 1: Blowtorching The Bitten Peach, which the jury described as “overwhelming” following lockdown.

The judges particularly liked “the audacious and sophisticated way Phillipson splices absurdity, tragedy and imagination” to explore complex ideas.

INGRID POLLARD

Ingrid Pollard’s nominated exhibition Carbon Slowly Turning questions our relationship with the natural world.

The 69-year-old was commended for uncovering stories and histories hidden in plain sight in her work over the decades, particularly focusing on race and the concept of other.

Working primarily in photography, but also sculpture, film and sound, the jury were struck by the bold new developments in Pollard’s recent work.

VERONICA RYAN

Artist Veronica Ryan was nominated for her new body of work Along A Spectrum which explores perception, history and personal narratives, as well as the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fruit, seeds, plants and vegetables are recurring sculptural objects in her installations, representing displacement, fragmentation and alienation.

Ryan, 66, was also praised for her Hackney Windrush Art Commission in London, with the jury struck by the sensuality and tactility of her sculptures.

SIN WAI KIN

Sin Wai Kin, 31, is nominated for the ability to bring fantasy to life through storytelling, drawing on their own experience of existing between binary categories.

In their film, Dream of Wholeness in Parts 2021, in which traditional Chinese philosophy and dramaturgy intersects with contemporary drag, Sin play’s three hybrid characters.

Nominated for their involvement in the British Art Show 9 and their solo presentation at Blindspot Gallery, Frieze London.

The jury were impressed by the boundary-pushing nature of Sin’s work, and how they deftly translated the visceral quality of their live performances into film.