Executives from the Ford Motor Company pronounced themselves surprised to have won the Turner Prize this morning.
Jasleen Kaur‘s installation “Sociomobile”, consisting of an early 1980s Ford Escort with a big doily on it, was announced as the winner during a ceremony at Tate Britain last night.
'I don’t think any of us knew we’d entered this competition,' said Ford’s Head of PR Mark Nylon. 'But it’s hard to dispute that more work went into designing and building the car than making a big doily, or putting the doily on top of the car. So I guess this is mostly down to us.'
Kaur described the work as “exploring themes of memory, identity and subjectivity”, to which Nylon added “Er… sure. What she said.”
Meanwhile Elon Musk has complained that Tesla’s Cybertruck was surely more of a work of art than a Ford Escort, and should have won the prize.
“A Ford Escort was fundamentally useful. It represented the pinnacle of car design in its time, and millions of people used them to get to work every day. The Cybertruck would look ridiculous in any era, and spends more time being recalled by Tesla than being driven by anyone. If you want to actually get anywhere, you’ve got more chance with a banana taped to the wall.
“Surely it must be a work of art, since it’s bloody useless as anything else?”
Photo by Luca Hooijer on Unsplash
