VISUAL ART
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TURNER PRIZE 2015 Glasgow hosts Europe’s most prestigious visual art prize
Finally arriving in Glasgow after 21 years of its existence and several past Scots nominees and winners, the Turner Prize 2015’s first day open to the public bore a genuine sense of occasion. Of the four finalists here, Nicole Wermers’ ‘Infrastruktur’ is perhaps the slightest work, and that’s not to disparage it. Ten sleek chairs arranged around the room, luxurious fur coats slung across them; on closer inspection they’re revealed to be upholstered into the chairs, blurring the line between casual appropriation of the seat and formal aesthetic design.
Wermers’ work plays with form and
function in aesthetically pleasing fashion. The ‘Granby Four Streets’ project by design and architecture collective Assemble (pictured) is far more complex. The original and still ongoing project is the renovation of ten derelict council houses in Liverpool for community purposes, represented here by a timber frame house built within the gallery and a selection of very beautiful and tactile homewares and crafts produced in and put up for sale from the original houses.
It’s all very celebratory, in much the same
way as Janice Kerbel’s sound works are celebratory – not so much of the song, but of the human voice itself. The poems her small, black-clad choir performs at half-hourly intervals are written on the wall, but it’s the interpretation which really matters. ‘Blast’, for example, lasts 40 seconds, a low hum for most of it and then an unearthly volley of vocal power. Bonnie Camplin’s ‘The Invented Life’ is rich in detail and resonance. Around the room lay texts that weave a complicated landscape of resonances, books and internet printouts on subjects like psychology, Artificial Intelligence and what may be termed conspiracy theories. Five television screens show individuals giving their own testimony about the conspiracy they believe they’re at the heart of.
It’s an immersive experience dense in
storytelling, and easy to lose yourself in, a haunting and powerful work amid a solid lineup of engaging and relevant art. (David Pollock) ■ Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 17 Jan, tramway.org ●●●●●
5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016 THE LIST 121
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