But is it art?

We've spoken before about the Ig Nobel awards, spoofs of the Nobel Prize presented every year for "discoveries that cannot, or should not, be reproduced".  It seems the art world has an award to rival them.

The Turner Prize is an annual award in England for a British visual artist under 50 years of age.  It's attracted controversy due to some of its wackier winners.  (See, for example, the 2001 award.)  Inevitably, it's also attracted several spoof awards, including the Turnip Prize, described by Wikipedia as:

"satirising the ... Turner Prize by rewarding deliberately bad modern art ... Credit is given for entries containing bad puns as titles, displaying "lack of effort" or "is it s***?". Conversely, entries with "too much effort" or "not s*** enough" are immediately disqualified. The first prize is a turnip nailed to a block of wood."

The Telegraph has produced a picture gallery of some of the nominees for this year's Turnip Prize.  Here are a few of the selections.

A pair of number plates

A coo stick

Finger food

There are more at the link.  Some are NSFW, so view them with care.

I'm not sure I'd present a turnip for any of those.  I'd rather cook and eat the turnip!  Still, in true barmy British tradition, I'm sure the award ceremony will be fun for all concerned.  Now, if we could just whomp up a prize for the weird and wonderful exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art in New York . . . perhaps a stuffed vulture on a stick?




Peter