Turner Prize: The four winners denounce the ruling conservatives and fascism

London (AFP)

The four winners of the Turner Prize, a prestigious British contemporary art award, denounced the ruling Conservative government and the "revival of fascism" at the award ceremony, for the first time jointly awarded to the nominees.

Artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Cammock Helen, Oscar Murillo, and Tai Shani had asked to collectively receive the award invoking "solidarity" in a period of "political crisis". This was granted by the jury, an unprecedented decision and faithful to the unconventional reputation of the Turner Award.

Explaining that the prize was exploring British identity, the artists considered it "significant in an era marked by the rise of the right, and the revival of fascism in the hostile conservative environment," in a statement read by Helen Cammock at the award ceremony Tuesday night at the Turner Museum in Margate (south-east of England), where their works are on display until 12 January.

The artists, including Colombian-born Oscar Murillo, who arrived in London at the age of 11, said they, like many of their family and friends, felt "less and less welcome in the UK".

At the ceremony, in the midst of the legislative campaign of December 12, Tai Shani had an inscription "Tories out" hostile to the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while Oscar Murillo was wearing a sticker calling to vote for the Labor Party.

"After discussions between us, we came to the collective conclusion that we, the four nominated artists, are all winners of the 2019 Turner Prize," said Helen Cammock.

She explained that the artists all implemented "social or collaborative practices" that they considered "incompatible with the format of the competition, which tends to divide and individualize".

The surprise announcement of this collective victory was hailed by a commentator of the left-wing daily The Guardian as a "subversive act", the sort of thing that "artists are supposed to do".

"Maybe annual rewards like the Turner Prize and the Booker prize, which has not designated a single winner this year, are reaching their expiration date: an anachronism from a bygone era and a binary between winners and losers", commented the arts correspondent of the BBC.

The Booker Prize, a prestigious British literary prize, was awarded in October to Canadian writers Margaret Atwood and Anglo-Nigerian Bernardine Evaristo.

© 2019 AFP