A new book chronicles the history of the spoof Turnip Prize, which is awarded annually for the world’s intentionally worst work of modern art.
The parody of the better-known Turner Prize encourages entrants to “take the least amount of effort possible” in creating their pieces, which are then judged on how crappy they are.
Trevor Prideaux launched the competition in Wedmore, southwest England, in 1999 as a humorous response to what he believed was the Turner Prize’s “decline in integrity.”
“It was in protest to Tracey Emin entering her unmade bed into the Turner Prize,” he told The Huffington Post this week. “A few locals in the pub agreed we in Somerset could come up with equally shit art to challenge it.”
What started as a tongue-in-cheek award for locals has expanded into a global competition, with dozens of artists from around the world now vying each year for the turnip-impaled trophy on a rusty 6-inch nail.
Many enter under pseudonyms and their titles are usually an amusing play on words. In 2015, Bonksy took the prize for a doodle on a piece of wood entitled “Dismal And” ― an amusing reference to street artist Banksy’s pop-up bemusement park Dismaland which he opened in nearby Weston-super-Mare that summer.
Prideaux teamed up with Royston Weeksz, an art critic who also goes under a pseudonym, for the new book “The Turnip Prize — A Retrospective,” which showcases examples of the award’s best worst entries.
See some of the other entries that are featured in the book here:
The Turnip Prize: A Retrospective
Entries for this year’s competition are open from Nov. 1 to 21. Organizers will announce the winner at The New Inn in Wedmore on Dec. 5.
Send pieces to venue via the address on its website. But don’t expect the works back. “We do not return entries,” Prideaux said. “We just throw them all in the skip!”
