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Artist Darling in the exhibition »Enclosures, No Medals, No Ribbons«: »You have to love something to be able to criticize it«

Photo: David Parry / dpa

With a work that reflects the British government's hostile migration policy, Jesse Darling has won the prestigious Turner Prize. The Berlin-based artist received Britain's most important award for modern art on Tuesday evening in Eastbourne for his exhibition of jostling grids, curved rails, faded British flags and barbed wire. The prize is endowed with 25,000 pounds (29,160 euros).

The 41-year-old said his two-part work "Enclosures, No Medals, No Ribbons" was inspired by the years of austerity, Brexit, the pandemic and the "hostile environment" of British immigration policy. Jury chairman Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain, said Darling's exhibition partly reflected the state of the nation.

The award came on the day that British Home Secretary James Cleverly signed a new migration agreement in Rwanda. Asylum seekers who enter the UK irregularly are to be deported to the East African country regardless of their origin. You can apply for asylum there. A return is excluded. In this way, the conservative government wants to deter migrants. Opponents criticize the project as violating international law.

Jesse Darling has worked with sculptures, installations, video, drawings, text, sound and performance. The basic theme of his work is what it means to be a body in the world. However, this significance is politically charged and culturally determined. He showed the humour and everyday relevance of his approach in a video he recorded for London's Tate Gallery. While others stand around gravely in the landscape, he first tells a joke in the passenger seat: "How many performance artists does it take to change a light bulb?"

The Turner jury praised his use of everyday objects, which conjured up a "familiar yet insane world." Jesse Darling told the BBC that "you have to love something to be able to criticise it." At the end of his acceptance speech, he pulled a Palestinian flag out of his jacket pocket and waved it, according to the BBC.

The Turner Prize was awarded in 1984 and is named after the British painter J.M.W. Turner. The prestigious award honours artists born or based in the UK for an outstanding exhibition or presentation over the past twelve months. Four artists selected for a shortlist presented their work in a special show at the seaside resort of Eastbourne.

feb/dpa/Reuters