An exhibit featuring a film about US President George W. Bush's home town in Texas won the Turner Prize, pipping a digital recreation of Osama bin Laden's house. Jeremy Deller, 38, a British artist was announced the winner ahead of three shortlisted rivals at the Tate Britain gallery in central London and awarded a cheque for 25,000 pounds. "Memory Bucket", documenting his travels last year through the US state of Texas, features various encounters with locals, including a survivor of the Waco siege, and takes a look around Bush's favourite burger bar near his ranch. Deller's unnarrated film concludes with the image of millions of bats emerging from a cave at sunset and blackening the sky. | That's it? No secret plan to steal the oil, no oppressing the poor, no dead baby ducks? What the hell has happened to the Turner Prize that they've suck this low? And where the hell did I put my video camera? |
Accepting the 20th annual Turner Prize award, Deller thanked "everyone who recycles, those who look after wildlife and bats, and the Quaker movement". He thanked the teacher who did not allow him to take an art examination in his school days, saying: "It's probably a good thing. If I had taken it, I probably wouldn't be here so it was a good decision." He said his work was "about Bush but it's not anti-Bush." "I'm surprised and shocked," he said. "It hasn't really sunk in to be honest... you don't make things like this to win prizes, you do it to satisfy yourself. This is ultimately a personal thing about what I'm interested in." His creation was seen as a comparatively tame for an award which is known for attracting controversy. | I know I'm shocked, there's not one cross in a vat of urine |
Previous winners of the prize, awarded to a British artist under the age of 50, include Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, and, last year, transvestite potter Grayson Perry. Others on the 2004 shortlist included the duo Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, who recreated an interactive digital model of bin Laden's former house in Afghanistan. Yinka Shonibare, who was born in London and grew up in Nigeria, and Turkish-born Kutlug Ataman were the other final competitors for the prize. Deller, the youngest of those shortlisted, was previously best known for works such as "Acid Brass", in which a brass band played contemporary dance music, and a meticulous recreation, using actors, of a battle between striking coal miners and police in the 1980s. |