Britain's controversial Turner prize baits critics

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Elephant dung, pickled sheep and now a load of old rubbish from Japan -- Britain's most controversial art prize ran true to form on Tuesday.

The Turner prize, condemned by critics as "an ongoing national joke," has traditionalists spluttering with rage and the Millennium short-list will not disappoint.

German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans offers shots of shaved genitalia and a naked man bending over, legs akimbo, under the title "Wanna Party In My Hole?"

Japanese artist Tomoko Takahashi has collected a load of old rubbish -- from twisted steering wheels to discarded hubcaps -- to relive the trauma of taking her driving test.

But at least painters do get a look this time with Britain's Glenn Brown vying for the 20,000-pound prize ($30,110) along with Dutch landscape artist Michael Raedecker, whose canvases are covered in cotton threads and twisted wool.

The winner will be announced, live on Britain's Channel Four television, on November 28.

Turner baiters accuse the judges of staging heavily hyped publicity stunts -- but the short-list exhibition attracts 120,000 visitors a year and British art is now an undoubted star in the art galleries of the world.

In 1998, the prize was won by avant-garde artist Chris Ofili whose elephant dung-marked Virgin Mary painting sparked outrage when shown in New York. In 1995, Damien Hirst won with a sheep pickled in formaldehyde.

Conceptual artist Tracey Emin made last year's short-list with an unmade bed surrounded by soiled underpants, condoms and champagne corks.

Tate spokesman Simon Wilson agreed: "The prize always generates controversy but it does bring together young artists who are doing fresh innovative work."

But what of the shocking photographs by Tillmans that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination?

"The modern artist is increasingly frank. Social attitudes to the nude have changed," Wilson said.

He also springs to the defense of Takahashi's cluttered room full of detritus. "At first you think 'what is all this rubbish?' But then it looks like an Aladdin's cave, a Santa's grotto that starts to add up to a meditation about life."

The Turner prize is open to artists who live and work in Britain and Wilson argued that this year's four-nation short-list was a real bonus, mirroring the rude health of Britain's latest generation of avant-garde artists who stir sensation from Berlin to New York.

"London is one of the absolute art capitals of the world. It has the buzz. It is a compliment that artists live here," Wilson said.

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