What the critics say

By LINDA HERRICK

A reworking of a porn movie has been picked as a finalist in Britain's consistently and entertainingly "controversial" Turner Prize, with the £20,000 winner announced on December 8. Fiona Banner's entry, inspired by the porn movie Arsewoman in Wonderland, is a giant canvas covered by the artist writing out the plot in bright pink words. It carries an explicit language warning.

The other finalists are Keith Tyson, who shot to prominence when he fed data into a computer which instructed him to cast a Kentucky Fried Chicken menu in lead; his entry - picked by the bookies as the favourite - is a giant black pillar packed with computers, allegedly his interpretation of Rodin's The Thinker.

Photographer Catherine Yass' entry is a video made with a remote-controlled helicopter, while Liam Gillick's offering is a glowing Perspex roof displaying architectural designs.

I love the Turner; it attracts the same sort of mature public debate as conceptual art does in this country. Substitute "New Zealand" for "British" and "English" in this commentary in the Independent, and see how the glove fits: "If you are going to go to an exhibition of conceptual art, why not make it interactive by pinning abusive notes on the wall. 'If this is the best the British art establishment can come up with, then God help us.' Shove the word 'establishment' into your comments and you're straight into the world of sneers against the aesthetes, the arties, the privileged and the elites - all the people the English love to hate."

That was writer Adrian Hamilton's response to culture minister Kim Howells, who accused the Turner candidates of creating "cold, mechanical conceptual bulls***."

The Brits are good at the art of hating art (according to Hamilton, the only country in Europe to do so), while in New Zealand people so far confine their moaning to the letters pages about "art" which is not even worthy of discussion, such as the David Bain daub. In Britain, there's even a "Stuckist" protest movement which is "pro-painting, anti-conceptual art"; its practitioners regularly appear outside Tate Britain to gnash their teeth over the Turner picks.

At least they care; indifference is the worst fate of art. This year, the Tate has asked visitors to leave anonymous comments on cards. The first contribution read, "Wanted to fall in love. Wanted to hate something. This selection leaves me cold." Linda Herrick, arts editor

Recent Work, Rose Nolan and Marco Fusinato, The Gus Fisher Gallery:

These artists from Melbourne have co-operatively been Artists in Residence at Elam, Auckland University. Here both use commercial, flame-red paint. Fusinato spreads it thickly as monochromatic fields of colour, working the surface a little with his hand. Rose Nolan does "the painted word" directly on the walls in huge letters which read like a big, cantilevered construction. It is dramatic but transient as a poster. Both delight academic commentators who can elaborate influences ad infinitum; until December 14.

- T.J. McNamara

Photographs by James King, Aotea Centre foyer:

Fourteen striking black and white Hasselblad images (with 20 prints available of each) taken by Parnell photographer James King, who displays a fine eye for light and shade in inner-city scenes and west coast beaches; from today until Sunday. Linda Herrick The Narrative Space, Barry Lett, Zealandia Sculpture Garden, Warkworth Installation by Auckland art stalwart Barry Lett is a fine excuse to visit sculptor Terry Stringer's stunning sculpture garden at 138 Mahurangi West Rd, a few kilometres north of the SH1 Puhoi turnoff; open daily until Easter 10am-5pm, with guided tours at 11am and 2pm.

- Linda Herrick