The Turner Prize invite

The Turner Prize

The Stuckists demonstrating outside this year's exhibition of Turner Prize nominees had a point - will we really look back in 200 years time with awe at a mannequin sitting on a toilet, next to some crusty cereal bowls?

Unlike the Stuckists, I can really enjoy conceptual art - when its fresh, shocking, inspiring or just funny. But my main gripe with this year's Turner Prize was that it was quite simply, mediocre.
The cereal bowls were part of Cathy Wilkes installation - a grouping of sculpture and found objects in a pseudo-domestic scene. It just felt done - hasn't this kind of work become a bit of a joke?

Goshka Macuga's chrome and glass sculptures were sleek and inoffensive - but i could somehow imagine them being created by some sort of Mayor of London-backed consortium at City Hall...

Mark Leckey's film of Felix the Cat among other mixed-media installations felt the most extensive of the lot - it looks like he is the favourite this year.

I found Runa Islam's films of delicately smashing crockery and tut-tut drivers in a sun-baked park the most compelling...

When there is so much exciting art out there, does this shortlist truly represent the best of British talent? Have a look at the Guardian's imagery and see for yourself..

The Stuckists' anti-Turner Prize flyer

Liverpool Biennial: the invite

Liverpool Biennial

Visible Virals, A-Ape
Liverpool Skyladders, Yoko Ono

Liverpool took art outside - buy a ladder from the DIY shop and place it with Yoko's in a bombed out church, find some video art at the back of a pub, and keep your eyes peeled for stencilled messages on walls...

I loved this "discovering" aspect of the event, but some of the art - particularly the video pieces - left me cold - and judging by reactions of fellow previewers, i wasn't the only one.

GalleryGirl is born

GalleryGirl is born from the guts of the European Capital of Culture.


Liverpool Skyladder, Yoko Ono