Late at Tate: The Turnip Rise

This years 4 contenders:

Mark Titchner - a wierd array of hand carved contraptions, and wall-sized digitally produced slogans. Tate says: "His installations questions both our blind faith in science and our obedience to authority". ADT says: at least he's got a few ideas, and his stuff made me smile, hard to accept the weighty significance ascribed to it though. Needs to lighten up.



Rebecca Warren - A combination of hamfisted light boxes, with stray bits of wood and a crude twist of neon, and large lumps of unformed clay, mainly painted gold. Tate says: "The unfired clay sculptures project a sense of unleashed creativity, appearing to explode out of and merge back into the amorphous properties of the material". ADT says: If that clay is unfired, chuck a bucket of water on it and let somebody else use it. Those light boxes belong in a skip.


Tomma Abbts - Rectangular piantings, all 48 x 38cm, varied colourful geometric designs and patterns. Tate says: "As the internal logic of each composition unfolds forms are defined, buried and rediscovered until the painting becomes congruent with itself". ADT says: cute 4th form doodles in oil.


Phil Collins - A series of filmed interviews with people who had appeared on Turkish reality TV shows, and a life size reality TV production office. Tate says: "Addresses the discrepancy between reality and it's representations". ADT says: a bit too clever clever for my liking, really just an excuse to make rude remarks about the other Phil Collins on the comments cards.



All in all the usual mixture, of mildy interesting stuff and huge piles of stinking cack. Titchner to win, and a special award for the most pretenciously twaddlicious catalogue yet.

After that we saw Grayson Perry discussing a Victorian painting 'The Death of Chatterton' by Henry Wallis. This was part of a series of presentations on London:City of Disappearances. Grayson had made an effort and was dressed in a nice shiny black satin dress, in keeping with the Victorian theme. Thankfully he isn't an academic, but knows what he thinks, and communicates his opinions in a confident, entertaining and amusing way. Probably the highlight of the evening.