Stuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high-profile both in Britain and abroad. Their primary agenda is the promotion of figurative painting and opposition to conceptual art.
Their demonstrations are particularly associated with the Turner Prize at Tate Britain (sometimes dressed as clowns to mock the museum), but have also been carried out at other venues, including Trafalgar Square and the Saatchi Gallery. There have also been other protests in the United States by US Stuckists, and there have been Stuckist events against the Iraq War in 2003.
They have received extensive media coverage for these events both in the UK and internationally, and become possible suspects for any London art protests, as in Matthew Collings' description of the opening of Tate Modern in 2000: "Guilt-free art lovers crossed picket lines put up by envious artist-outsiders. They didn't know who was protesting out there. Maybe it was the Stuckists."Collings, Matthew (2001). Art Crazy Nation, page 16, 21 Publishing Ltd. There is, however, no mention of any such demonstration on the Stuckism website.Stuckism International official site Retrieved 27 March 2006 Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate gallery, has recognised the demonstrations as a contribution to artistic debate,"Tate rejects £500,000 gift from 'unoriginal' Stuckists", The Times, 28 July 2005 Retrieved 28 March 2006 and the Tate archive contains material from the demonstrations,Nordland, Rod. "You call that art?", Newsweek, 4 October 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008. which are now a staple feature of the Turner Prize process.Culture24 staff. "Stuckists launch their annual protest against the Turner Prize at Tate Britain", Culture24, 29 September 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
The Stuckists
The Stuckists were founded in 1999 by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish to promote figurative painting and oppose conceptual art. Thomson derived the name of the group from an insult by Tracey Emin to her ex-boyfriend Childish that he was "stuck". The original group of 13 artists has now grown to an international movement of 183 groups in 44 countries, as of November 2008. (Childish left the group in 2001.)
Clowns at the Tate The Stuckists have demonstrated annually at Tate Britain on the occasion of the Turner Prize since 2000, and have been featured extensively in the media for their appearances. The demonstrations have adopted a variety of themes to make their point, which is simply that the prize is named after a famous painter, but painting is neglected by it in favour of other media. Their Turner Prize manifesto comments: "The only person who wouldn't be in danger of winning the Turner Prize is Turner."Stuckists Turner Prize Manifesto Retrieved 27 March 2006 This is a leaflet they have handed out to the public and prize ceremony guests. Although they have always been outside the building during the actual prize ceremony, they have, on two occasions, been mentioned by the guest of honour on live TV, just before the announcement of the winner—by Sir Peter Blake in 2003 and by Culture Minister, David Lammy in 2005."Archive of demos" www.stuckism.com Retrieved 22 March 2006
2000
The first Stuckist demonstration took place outside Tate Britain on Turner Prize day, 28 November 2000. The group took care to work within the regulations in order to subvert them and ridicule the institution. They were dressed as clowns, and had obtained advance permission to enter the museum in this costume. They announced on their web site (and in the London Evening Standard):"Send in the Clowns for Turner", Evening Standard, 16 October 2000.
Damien Hirst's godmother, the late Margaret Walsh, announced the "Art Clown of the Year" for "outstanding idiocy in the visual arts" was Charles Saatchi, the prize being a custard pie, which the winner was expected to purchase and administer on themselves."Clowns at the Tate" in "A Stuckist on Stuckism", stuckism.com Retrieved 27 March 2006 This award continued to be made in subsequent years.
They then paraded outside Tate Britain in clown costumes, walked into the museum and around the exhibition itself. To coincide with the Tate's show, they also staged their own concurrent show The Real Turner Prize Show with simultaneous shows of the same name in Germany and Australia. The Guardian announced the winner of the real Turner Prize with the headline "Turner Winner Riles the Stuckists"."Turner Winner Riles the Stuckists", The Guardian, 29 November 2000 Retrieved 26 March 2000
2001
There was a demonstration in ordinary clothes at the Prize press launch on 6 November. The Independent on Sunday said, "In certain respects the Turner Prize never changes: art fleetingly makes the front pages; the dreary Stuckists protest outside the Tate and the winner gets a cheque for 20 grand.""The critics: Visual art - Big thrills in the broom cupboard", The Independent on Sunday, 11 November 2001.
Another demonstration took place on the Prize ceremony day, 9 December: this reached a worldwide TV audience, when it was syndicated by Reuters."Turner Prize demo 2001", stuckism.com. Retrieved 3 May 2008. The work of one nominee, Martin Creed, was an empty room, where the lights went on and off every five seconds. The demonstrators dressed in clown costume and shone torches in protest.Vogel, Carol, "A prize for lights", The New York Times, 14 December 2001. Retrieved 3 May 2008. Ekow Eshun wrote, "if scandal equated directly to success then this year's winners should probably be the Stuckists, the ragged band of artist malcontents who've turned their annual placard-waving anti-Turner protest outside the Tate into a kind of art event of their own that now generates press attention from around the world."Ekow Eshun BBC site, 24 December 2001.
The Stuckists gave their "Art Clown of the Year Award" to Sir Nicholas Serota. Other nominees were Charles Saatchi (the winner in 2000), Norman Rosenthal and Sarah Kent.
2002 There was a demonstration at the Turner Prize press launch on 29 October, and one in clown costume on the prize day, 8 December. The "Art Clown of the Year Award" was given to Serota again, with the commendation, "The judges were extremely impressed by Sir Nicholas's ability to create a Turner Prize show which was even worse than last year's","The Real Turner Prize 2002", stuckism.com. Retrieved 3 May 2008. and announced in The Daily Telegraph with the headline: "A custard pie for Serota as Turner Prize winner named.""A custard pie for Serota as Turner Prize winner named", The Daily Telegraph, 9 December 2002 Retrieved 27 March 2006 Meanwhile, the Stuckism International Gallery staged The Real Turner Prize Show 2002.Prudames, David. "The Real Turner Prize 2002—The Stuckist alternative award", Culture24, 6 December 2002. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
2003 In 2003, the Stuckists displayed two blow-up sex dolls to parody Jake and Dinos Chapman's bronze (painted) sculpture modelled on one."Turner Prize Goes to Perry – and Claire", The Guardian, 8 December 2003 Retrieved 22 March 2006 As guests, including Jay Jopling, Tracey Emin, Victoria Miro and Jake Chapman, arrived, they were greeted with the announcement, "Turner Prize preview—see the original here and the copy inside." Sarah Kent, art editor of Time Out, commented, "Fucking Stuckists... yes, you can quote me." Inside Tate Britain, on live television, Serota introduced Sir Peter Blake, who before he announced the winner, started his speech: "Thank you very much Nick. I'm quite surprised to be here tonight, because two days ago I had a phone call asking if I would be a judge for the Not the Turner Prize. And two years ago I was asked by the Stuckists to dress as a clown and come and be on the steps outside, so I am thrilled and slightly surprised to be here." There were cheers from the guests.
2004
There were two Stuckist demonstrations, one at the press launch on 19 October and one at the prize-giving day on 6 December. On 10 October, Charles Saatchi had been quoted in the press as saying there were not enough painters in the Prize—"For the last 10 years, only five of the 40 Turner Prize artists have been pure painters." "Saatchi's Latest Shock for the Art World Is – Painting", The Daily Telegraph, 10 October 2004 Retrieved 27 March 2006 The Stuckists turned this to their advantage with placards such as: "Charles Saatchi & Stuckists v the Tate" and "No painters in the Turner Prize for the last 4 years!"
The Turner show itself was characterised by video and computer imagery, including a virtual tour of one of Osama bin Laden's former residences. Thomson was quoted by the BBC website: "A lot of the stuff this year would be suitable for a Channel 4 documentary. There is no need for this to be in the Tate gallery when television does exactly the same thing.""Light at the end of the Turner Show", BBC News Online, 19 October 2004
To bring their point home, the Stuckists handed out a leaflet which read, with the mock tone of officialdom: "We apologise for the lack of art in this year's Turner Prize. As an alternative, you will find a display of enthusiasts' television programmes and computer games."Tate 2004 demonstration on stuckism.com Retrieved 27 March 2006
They also announced:
2005
The Stuckists demonstrated outside the Turner Prize on 6 December 2005 against the Tate's purchase of its trustee, Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room. They displayed placards with slogans such as "£25,000 Turner Prize, £705,000 Trustee Prize", and wore monkey and elephant masks, referring to the monkeys Ofili had painted in his work, as well as the trademark balls of elephant dung it was propped on."Shed Wins $58,000 Art Prize", Sydney Morning Herald 6 December 2005 (a Reuters syndicated report) Retrieved 28 March 2006
The demonstrators were approached by Sir Nicholas Serota, and the atmosphere was tense, according to Thomson: "I thought he was going to explode ... I looked at his face and I thought, this guy's going to lose it and hit me, or he's going to burst into tears.""How Ageing Art Punks Got Stuck into Tate's Serota", The Observer, 11 December 2005 Retrieved 23 March 2006
Andrew Marr, a guest at the evening Prize reception, commented, "When they picketed us, the Stuckists seemed to me affable and intelligent people", although he strongly disagreed with them over Ofili's work.Notebook by Andrew Marr (2nd item), The Daily Telegraph, 7 December 2005 Retrieved 24 March 2006
That evening in front of guests at the award ceremony in what Marr described as a "moment of rare passion" and an "unusual, possibly unprecedented" move, Serota spoke out with "an angry defence" of the purchase, saying, "I defy anybody who has actually taken the time and trouble to see the work not to agree with the trustees' decision to acquire this most extraordinary and important piece of work.""It's a shed, it's collapsible, it floats and (with help from a bike) it's the winner", The Guardian, 6 December 2005 Retrieved 24 March 2006
Following this, David Lammy, the Culture Minister, made a brief speech before presenting the award, commenting, "Every year, the Turner Prize makes contemporary art the talk of the airwaves ... Stuckists threaten never to paint again","Turner Prize Demo 5 December 2005" on stuckism.com Retrieved 28 March 2006 (although there is no evidence they had ever made such a statement).
The Stuckists were included in reports on the Prize by the four UK broadsheets and in a Reuters syndication internationally, where Thomson commented, "The Tate is run by a self-serving clique who hide behind secretiveness" and "The real prize at the Tate is becoming a trustee. It's worth far more money." The winner, Simon Starling had converted a shed into a boat and back again; The Times quoted Thomson that "The Turner should be renamed the B&Q diy prize." Retrieved 28 March 2006
2006