Dust, skulls and a bottom make arts' Turner Prize shortlist

Oct 5, 2009, 12:48 GMT

London - A whale's skull, a heap of dust made up of the remains of a jet engine and a workman's naked backside are among the artworks featuring in a display by this year's shortlisted Turner Prize artists, unveiled Monday.

Roger Hiorns, Enrico David, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright are the artists in the running for the award, which is worth 25,000 pounds (40,000 dollars) to the prize winner and 5,000 for each of those shortlisted.

Among the exhibits at Tate Britain is a heap of metal dust from an atomised passenger jet engine by Hiorns.

Helen Little, assistant curator, said the engine had been melted down and sprayed through nozzles at high speed, to create fine granules.

She said his work was about 'giving new life to objects. It's a test of faith in technology.'

Three wall sculptures made up of preserved bovine brain matter, plastic and steel were also among Hiorns's pieces on display, which Ms Little said 'challenged' gallery-goers perceptions as they were viewing something which could once see and feel.

Hiorns's previous works also include transforming an derelict south London council flat into a cave filled with blue crystals.

David's exhibition includes a parade of bizarre toy-like characters, including papier-mache 'egg men' with feet which would enable them to rock back and forth, from his nominated exhibition How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy?

Skaer's work includes Leviathan Edge 2009, the skull of a sperm whale, just visible from behind a screen partitioned with 'peep holes.'

Another of her works, Black Alphabet, 2008, is a series of 26 sculptures made from coal dust.

Wright's display, described by Tate as his 'most complex and ambitious composition to date', includes a highly intricate gold-leaf pattern across one wall of the gallery.

The work took around three weeks to install and will be destroyed when the exhibition closes.

The prize has traditionally been won for controversial work.<

Previous winners include Gilbert and George, Damien Hirst and transvestite potter Grayson Perry.

The Turner Prize 2009 exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday and runs until January 3 2010.

This year's winner will be announced during a live TV broadcast on December 7.