The Turner Prize has been stirring up trouble since 1984. What started as a straightforward award for British artists has become the art world's most reliable source of controversy. J.M.W. Turner probably never imagined his name would be attached to pickled sharks and unmade beds. Yet here we are, four decades later, still arguing about what constitutes art.
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The Groundbreaking Contemporary Art Winners
Some artists don't just win prizes—they change everything. These five Turner winners redrew the map of British art entirely.
1. Damien Hirst (1995)
Walking into Hirst's exhibition meant confronting a cow and her calf, both sliced cleanly in half. Four glass tanks displayed the animals, preserved in formaldehyde for eternity.
You could examine the creatures from angles nature never intended. The piece divided visitors immediately. Some found it profound; others walked out disgusted.
2. Rachel Whiteread (1993)
Whiteread won by doing something nobody had attempted before. She filled an entire condemned house with concrete, creating a solid impression of empty rooms.
After stripping away the exterior walls, what remained was architecture turned inside-out. The piece lasted only a few months before demolition, but its impact was permanent.
3. Steve McQueen (1999)
McQueen's films moved at the pace of meditation rather than entertainment. "Deadpan" showed him recreating Buster Keaton's falling house gag, but stretched the moment across several minutes.
These weren't movies in any conventional sense. They demanded patience from viewers accustomed to quick cuts and constant action.
4. Grayson Perry (2003)
Perry makes pottery that would shock your grandmother. His ceramic vases look traditionally elegant until you notice the explicit imagery decorating their surfaces.
He collected his prize dressed as "Claire," complete with ribbons and lace dress. The television cameras loved it; art critics debated whether it was performance or publicity stunt.
5. Anish Kapoor (1991)
Kapoor scattered pure pigment across gallery floors like colored sand in a Tibetan monastery. The powder seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it back.
These monochrome installations transformed sterile white spaces into something approaching the sacred. Visitors reported feeling dizzy when surrounded by such intense color fields.
Controversial Winners That Sparked National Debate
The Turner Prize judges seem to enjoy winding up the British public. These three artists certainly achieved that goal.
6. Martin Creed (2001)
Creed's winning artwork consisted of lights switching on and off every five seconds. Nothing else happened in the empty gallery room.
Half the country called it genius; the other half demanded their tax money back. When Madonna presented his award, she swore live on television, adding another layer of controversy.
7. Chris Ofili (1998)
Ofili built his paintings using elephant dung as one ingredient among many. The finished canvases shimmered with beauty despite their unconventional materials.
"The Holy Virgin Mary" caused riots when it toured America. New York's mayor threatened funding cuts while protesters gathered outside the museum every day.
8. Gilbert and George (1986)
These two artists have dressed identically since art school in the 1960s. Their photographs feature themselves alongside bodily functions and sexual imagery that makes viewers squirm.
They consider their entire lives to be one continuous artwork. Every meal, every conversation, every public appearance becomes part of their practice.
Pioneering Media And Technical Innovation
Photography, video, and sound weren't considered "real" art until these three winners proved otherwise. They opened doors that remain open today.
9. Wolfgang Tillmans (2000)
Tillmans became the first photographer to claim the Turner Prize, but his approach rejected traditional presentation methods entirely. He taped unframed pictures directly onto gallery walls.
His subjects ranged from nightclub scenes to abstract experiments with darkroom chemicals. Everything received equal treatment in his democratic vision of photography.
10. Gillian Wearing (1997)
Wearing handed pieces of paper to strangers on London streets, asking them to write down their thoughts. The resulting photographs revealed private anxieties behind public masks.
A suited businessman might confess his loneliness while a teenager shared surprisingly mature wisdom. The project exposed the gap between how people appear and how they actually feel.
Her video of motionless police officers tested everyone's attention span. Watching uniformed authority figures do absolutely nothing for an hour proved unexpectedly compelling.
11. Susan Philipsz (2010)
Philipsz won the Turner Prize for singing. She recorded herself performing traditional folk songs underneath Glasgow's bridges, then played these recordings through gallery speakers.
"Lowlands Away" drifted through empty exhibition rooms like a ghost from Scotland's maritime past. Nobody had ever won for pure sound before. Philipsz changed the rules forever.
Sculptural Masters And Public Art Icons
These sculptors didn't limit themselves to gallery spaces. Their ambitions extended to entire cities and landscapes.
12. Antony Gormley (1994)
Gormley cast five identical figures from his own body for his Turner Prize exhibition. Each iron sculpture was bent at a different angle, creating a study in human posture.
"Angel of the North" made him a household name years later. The massive sculpture has become as much a part of Gateshead's identity as its famous bridges.
His technique involves making plaster casts of his body, then using these as templates for metal sculptures. Dozens of Gormley doubles now populate beaches, rooftops, and city centers worldwide.
13. Richard Long (1989)
Long treats walking as sculpture, documenting his journeys across remote landscapes from England to the Himalayas. His exhibitions feature maps, photographs, and stones collected during these expeditions.
"A Line Made by Walking" consisted of nothing more than trampled grass in a field. The work existed only as long as the grass took to grow back.
14. Richard Deacon (1987)
Deacon bends materials into shapes they probably shouldn't achieve. Wood gets laminated into impossible curves while leather stretches beyond its natural limits.
His sculptures look ready to collapse but never do. The engineering required to achieve such precarious balance remains hidden within seemingly organic forms.
Recent Turner Prize Winners (2010s-2024)
Today's winners grapple with issues previous generations never faced. Social media, climate change, and identity politics shape their artistic responses.
15. Helen Marten (2016)
Marten transforms household objects into abstract puzzles that demand interpretation. Kitchen utensils, magazines, and industrial components become cryptic sculptural arrangements.
16. Lubaina Himid (2017)
Himid paints stories that history books forgot to record. Her canvases recover narratives about cultural exchange that academic institutions have traditionally overlooked.
She spent the 1980s curating exhibitions for other Black British artists before achieving recognition herself. That curatorial work laid foundations for entire artistic movements.
17. Charlotte Prodger (2018)
Prodger shot her winning video entirely on smartphones, proving that expensive equipment isn't essential for powerful storytelling. Her films weave together personal memoir with Scottish landscape footage.
Gender identity becomes the central theme explored through intimate confession and natural imagery. The combination creates something both personal and universal.
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Conclusion
Why does the Turner Prize still generate headlines after forty years? Because it refuses to give audiences what they expect. Each winner proves that art should challenge rather than comfort. The Turner Prize matters because it keeps pushing British culture into uncomfortable but necessary conversations.