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Turner Contemporary, MargateFleeing figures sit and wait, a voluptuous city cries out for people, Derry women fight for peace, and an earwitness encounters tortured Syrians … we give our verdict on this year’s gripping show
All four artists in this year’s Turner prize focus on the miseries of our time; on human resilience; on division and reconciliation; on despair and hope. None have neat solutions, nor do they ignore complexity. Their approaches are all utterly different, in an exhibition that has painting and sculpture, film and digital imagery, theatricality and documentary, horror and humour.
With the help of 40 volunteers, Oscar Murillo brought his audience of 23 clothed and painted papiermache figures to Margate from his London studio by train, in wheelchairs. Now the figures sit, in their workclothes, in rows of church pews, in front of a huge gallery window overlooking the sea. Except the view is obscured by a huge black drape that partially sags open, giving a small view on to the sky. Dumbfounded, expectant, laughing, gawping and bemused, they stoically wait for work, to travel, for something. Some have metal pipes driven through their stomachs, stuffed with burned corncobs and ashes. Continue reading...