“It’s great to have a prize that celebrates what art can be,” said ex-Sonic Youth bass player and artist Kim Gordon before presenting the 2015 Turner Prize.
The fact that she then handed the award to an architecture collective that has admitted it was a total surprise to be nominated for a contemporary art prize was surely not lost on those present.
The 18-strong Assemble collective were awarded the 2015 Turner Prize at a special event at Glasgow’s Tramway gallery. The three runners up – Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel, and Nicole Wermers – each receive £5000.
As the members of Assemble went up on stage to collect their award, Gordon quipped: “I’m not sure who I should give the cheque to.”
Assemble were nominated for their Granby Four Streets project in Liverpool. At Tramway, they are presenting A Showroom for Granby Workshop (2015) – pictured top – a to-scale replica of one of the houses in Liverpool filled with products made by the Granby Workshop, a new social enterprise they have set up.
Assemble were the bookies’ and people’s favourite to win, in a year featuring a shortlist that has for many challenged ideas about what contemporary art can be.
Speaking on Channel 4 as part of the station’s live coverage, the author and broadcaster Muriel Gray commented that giving the prize to Assemble was a game changer for the Turner Prize, because despite all the merits of the collective’s socially aware work, it couldn’t be classed as contemporary art. “I think it’s changed the nature of the prize,” she said.
More on a-n.co.uk:
Turner Prize 2015 exhibition: from homely warmth to ice-cold installation
Turner shortlisted artist: the prize machine stifles art
