This is a cultural and sociological study of the Turner Prize of England’s Tate Gallery, which has grown in international prestige through its contribution in establishing a new school of artists referred to as young British artists (yBa). The Turne...
This is a cultural and sociological study of the Turner Prize of England’s Tate Gallery, which has grown in international prestige through its contribution in establishing a new school of artists referred to as young British artists (yBa). The Turner Prize popularized modern art through strategic use of the media and corporate sponsorship, for which it is evaluated as having played a major role in raising London and England’s stature in the world’s art industry. Such developments, however, were not the result of efforts made solely by the Tate gallery, but rather the result of complex participation by each and every player involved - both in- and outside the art industry - brought on by the structural transformation of the 1990s English society. Therefore, this dissertation aims to determine the political and economic situations in England that influenced the Turner Prize through empirical study, and to contemplate on the impact and meaning a single art award can have on the art industry through culture-sociological analysis of the Turner Prize.
In this regard, the study analyzes the role of art prizes within the art field by applying concepts introduced by Pierre Bourdieu. The purpose of art prizes and other art systems are to support the art field by producing and consolidating convictions within the field, the identity of which were defined in late 19th century as the art field gained independence as a self-regulating world. Art prizes are symbol of accreditation from those with the authority to judge the value of artistic productions with the function of ‘institutionalized cultural capital.’
The number and variety of Art prizes have been drastically increasing throughout the world since the late 20th century. This phenomena is the result of art prizes being abused by a corporate community thirsting for symbolic capital in order to fulfill their need for a more positive image in the world of post industrialization. Art prizes are a cultural tool suited to the exchange and integration between different types of capital, and as such are used by corporations in transforming their economic capital into cultural capital. As corporations emerge as powerful agents in the art field, the art field has been placed in a situation where its autonomy is being infringed by the market.
The Turner Prize began amid the art industry’s structural transformation. The Turner prize later gained popularity after forming sponsorship with Channel 4 in 1991. Since then, the Turner Prize award ceremonies were held publicly and broadcasted on TV providing an opportunity for popularizing modern art. The Turner Prize during the period of Channel 4 sponsorship had grown up as the most influential event in British art, while channel 4 earned its brand identity as the young and innovative art channel.
The artists that were short listed for the Turner in the 1990s were mostly unknown artists named the ‘yBa.’ These artists who bore what the Thatcher administration emphasized as ‘entrepreneurial spirit’, presented a proactive attitude of actively exhibiting and interacting with the public rather than merely waiting to be approved by the existing institution. The Turner Prize nominated a mass of yBas, playing a large role in mainstreaming the yBa through the authority of the TATE. Most of yBa’s art pieces were motivated by shocking and raunchy subjects affected by pop culture. However, if anything, this particular part had stimulated the public curiosity which led to a commercial success of the Turner Prize exhibition while yBa developed as renowned artists.
The success of the Turner Prize led to propel the establishment of Tate Modern. Tate Modern did not only revive the economy in the lags of southeastern region of London but also raised London’s status in the world art industry. Thereupon realizing the economic potential of culture, the British government started to actively support overseas exhibition of yBa pieces and pushed ahead the cultural industrialization. Nevertheless, within the series of procedures, added values of culture-politic and economic values accounted larger proportion than the art itself thus concerns should be raised upon the possibility of the threat of autonomy of art in the end.