Turner Prize 2022: a perplexing but ‘eye-popping’ experience
Despite the ‘apparent conflicts of interest’ of the judges, this year’s Turner Prize ‘looks pretty good’

The Turner Prize often seems like the art industry “talking to itself”, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. It has been awarded many times to “bafflingly overpromoted, dull or indifferent art”. But in the past, at least you could rely on its jury to be “credible”.
This year, however, “only the most complacent insider could fail to be struck by the apparent conflicts of interest”: of the six jurors, four work or have worked for galleries at which this year’s nominated artists staged the shows for which they were shortlisted. For perspective, imagine this was the Booker Prize, and “that the judges reading all those novels, submitted by publishers, were actually publishers themselves”.
This is a prize that never seems to make “any sense” any more. Yet while the work on show here in Liverpool is decidedly uneven, the ethical lapses can hardly be blamed on the artists themselves. By Turner standards, the shortlist is reasonably conventional: Ingrid Pollard and Veronica Ryan are both “much-respected” black British artists in their late 60s, working in a variety of media; Heather Phillipson, 44, and best known for putting an “outsize ice cream” on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, is an installation artist; and Sin Wai Kin, 31, offers “a sequence of films that pastiche everything from TikTok to Chinese television”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“The 38th reheating of the award is not significantly inferior to the preceding ten or so,” said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. But it’s still awful: “the usual mix of lots of video, lots of electronic noise, lots of angry identity politics, thimblefuls of talent”.
A case in point is Sin Wai Kin, who identifies “as mixed-race and nonbinary” and adopts a series of different identities: we variously see Sin dressing up as “all four members of a Korean boy band”; a TV newsreader; and as “a glamorous hiker hugging a banyan tree”. If this was an award for “narcissism, make-up or bathos, Sin Wai Kin would be a shoo-in”; but good art is meant to lift its eyes from its “navel”.
Phillipson’s post-apocalyptic offering, meanwhile, features “mutating piles of spooky industrial equipment”, “ranks of flickering TV monitors” and the sound of “an unceasing wind signalling the end of the world”. It appears to offer an environmentally conscious message. Ironically, it probably “requires several rainforests’ worth of daily energy to drive it into clanking action”.
Being the Turner Prize, the exhibition is inevitably committed to diversity and progressive politics, said J.J. Charlesworth in Art Review. But it’s not bad: it’s an “eye-popping, sensorially engaging experience”. Montserrat-born Veronica Ryan presents us with a “custard-coloured” room filled with “quirky, absorbing” sculptures of mysterious objects that defy categorisation. One moment you’re looking at something vaguely resembling “the dried skin of a fruit”, the next something “between a cakemaker’s ring-mould and a toilet seat”.
Better still is Ingrid Pollard. One exhibit gives us a large group of photographs and works devoted to many English pubs that have kept the name the “black boy” or the “moor”. The piece is obviously about ingrained prejudice, but it is “complex and open”, not “accusatory”. Despite the slight sense of insider dealing on the judges’ panel, this year’s Turner Prize “looks pretty good, considering”.
Tate Liverpool (0151-702 7400, tate.org.uk). Until 19 March
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Is Prince Harry owed protection?
Talking Point The Duke of Sussex claims he has been singled out for 'unjustified and inferior treatment' over decision to withdraw round-the-clock security
By The Week UK
-
Sudoku medium: April 20, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Crossword: April 20, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
One-pan black chickpeas with baharat and orange recipe
The Week Recommends This one-pan dish offers bold flavours, low effort and minimum clean up
By The Week UK
-
G20: Viola Davis stars in 'ludicrous' but fun action thriller
The Week Recommends The award-winning actress plays the 'swashbuckling American president' in this newly released Prime Video film
By The Week UK
-
6 must-see homes in Boston
Feature Featuring a factory-turned-loft in South Boston and a wraparound roof deck in South End
By The Week US
-
Cartier at the V&A: a 'dazzling' show
The Week Recommends A 'once-in-a-lifetime' display of the French jeweller's 'exquisite' objects
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
-
What is Free Speech?: a 'meticulous' look at the evolution of freedom of expression
The Week Recommends Fara Dabhoiwala provides both history and critique while 'correcting misconceptions'
By The Week UK
-
Rupert Gavin shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The theatre impresario picks works by Dan Jones, Annie Ernaux and Floella Benjamin
By The Week UK
-
What They Found: Sam Mendes's powerful debut documentary
The Week Recommends The Oscar-winning director's harrowing film features footage and first-hand accounts of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
By The Week UK
-
The Return: a 'lethally effective' Odyssey adaptation
The Week Recommends Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche reunite in Urberto Pasolini's 'emotionally gripping' drama
By The Week UK