Page 48

HULL WILL TAKE CENTRE STAGE THIS AUTUMN WHEN THE FERENS ART GALLERY HOSTS THE TURNER PRIZE. BUT WHILE IT IS GUARANTEED TO HIT THE HEADLINES, DOES IT ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? WE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ART’S BIGGEST EVENT EYE ON THE PRIZE1 Hurvin Anderson, Is it OK to be black?, 2016 Oil on canvas2 Lubaina Himid, Naming the Money, 2004 Installation view of Navigation Charts, Spike Island, Bristol 2017This September, the Turner Prize award and the prestigious follow-up exhibition will be staged in Hull, not – as for decades previously as a standalone show – but instead within the permanent collection of the Ferens Art Gallery. While bringing one of the world’s most prestigious art events to the north east affirms Hull’s success as 2017 UK City of Culture, the change also reflects the evolving face of the Turner Prize. The prize was founded in 1984 by a group called The Patrons of New Art, 1designed to encourage wider public interest in contemporary British art. Naming the award after 19th-century painter JMW Turner nodded to the power of debate to change opinion– many Victorian commentators expressed just the sort of “But is it art?” scorn about Turner that continues to greet Turner Prize nominees today.The shortlist is created by a jury of four experts from across the industry, who this year included Dan Fox, writer and co-editor of Frieze magazine, and art critic Martin Herbert. Their role is to 48The Arts Society ReviewAutumn 2017