Performance Art centre stage for Turner Prize

LONDON - Had your life ruined by reality TV? Then step up to perform in an exhibit vying for the Turner, one of the world's most controversial art prizes.

Performance Art took centre stage at the Turner on Monday when artist Phil Collins set up an exhibit featuring a real-life office full of researchers wanting to interview people forever scarred by their "15 minutes of TV fame."

"It is the first time we have had live work as part of an exhibit," said curator Katherine Stout at the Tate Britain museum whose annual Turner shortlist invariably produces a tirade of abuse from art aficionados.

For the next two months, Collins' production company will have three researchers on hand to interview and record the reactions of people whose appearances on Makeover and Talk shows tainted their lives.

"Collins is fascinated by what happens next and the impact it has on your life," Stout told Reuters. "Reality TV has become so prevalent over the past 10 years."

Peering through the windows of the researchers' office felt like a human zoo to some critics who asked "is it art?".

"Yes. It is accessible as it relates to a popular form of entertainment," Stout argued as the Turner, true to form, stirred up its annual hornet's nest of controversy.

When the winner is announced on December 4, Collins could face tough competition from a neon-lit box of fluff, one of the prime exhibits put on display by artist Rebecca Warren.

For those who might be confused by the artistic merit of the fluff exhibit, the organisers explained: "Dirty and dysfunctional, its unheroic content is strangely melancholic, subverting the tradition of the vitrine in art."

The shortlist is completed by German-born artist Tomma Abts' abstract paintings and Mark Titchner who uses everything from t-shirts to light boxes, adorning them with song lyrics and advertising slogans.

The Turner, which each year attracts up to 100,000 visitors to Tate Britain, revels in its power to shock and has a rich history of oddball winners.

In 2001, conceptual artist Martin Creed won with a bare room containing a light that switched on an off.

In 1998, Chris Ofili won with a Virgin Mary figure made of elephant dung. Damien Hirst triumphed with a pickled sheep.

- REUTERS