Zeitgeist: War of Words Misses Real Theme of Turner Prize

Summary

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MUCH HAS BEEN MADE OF THE political nature of this year's Turner Prize shortlist. Several cultural commentators have proclaimed that all the work on the list is political. One has even suggested that this is the first time political art has been recognised by the Turner judges since the prize's inception in 1984.

It all sounds very impressive, but what do these people actually mean by the word "political"? Do they mean to use it in its specific sense: "of or relating to government"? If so, only three of the four shortlisted artists can really be said to fit that criteria. (It's difficult to see how Kutlug Ataman's video of people from south- east Turkey recounting their experiences of reincarnation can be political in this way.) Or are we talking about "politics" as a more abstract concept: "the total complex of relations between people living in society". If so, isn't all art political?

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Zeitgeist: War of Words Misses Real Theme of Turner Prize

That's just what Ben Langlands pointed out in a recent new...

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