With less than 2 weeks until the opening of the 2016 Turner Prize at Tate Britain, MCD Heritage set to work to transform the galleries into the exhibition space needed.  

The Turner Prize is open to any British artist who is under fifty and has exhibited within the previous year. With a prize of £40,000 the competition always attracts a wealth of interest along with cutting edge contemporary art. This year was no exception with Michael Dean’s installation of pennies representing the poverty line displayed against glaring white walls and floors; Anthea Martin’s towering pair of buttocks surrounding by stunning blue skyline; and Josephine Pryde’s train that took central stage of her exhibition.

Exhibition Works for the 2016 Turner Prize

Requirements:

• Exhibition works, including creation of temporary stud partition walls.
• Coordination of trade specialists
• Interior design and decorating

The Tate Britain have worked previously with MCD Heritage to construct and decorate the exhibition space for the Turner Prize. In 2016, with under two weeks to the opening of the Turner Prize, we began work to transform the area to showcase the Turner Prize 32nd Exhibition. The project included the additional challenge of co-ordinating with the painter who created the sky for Andrea Hamilton’s installation so that the sky could be created whilst the rest of the space was being finished.

Our Approach

With the complexity of the artwork, including sculpture, photographs, and angled walls to divide the exhibition area, we had to work closely with the artists to ensure that the display was in line with their vision.

A particular challenge was aligning the wallpaper exactly so that it not only resembled a brick wall, but allowed Anthea Hamilton’s suit to take centre stage. The joins had to be seamless and with such a large space to cover this required incredible skill. However, we were delighted with the results, as were the Tate Britain.

In addition, we had to create the metal framework for Andrea Hamilton’s chastity belts, ensuring that they hung precisely as required.

Throughout the project, we completed the following;

• Full internal demolition of the current exhibitions,
• Co-ordination of all works with art handlers,
• Constructing angled walls
• Constructing metal frames for Anthea Hamilton’s artwork
• Wallpapering 3 walls to mirror brick
• Painting and finishing Galleries
• Co-ordination of artists, electricians and painter

Results

The Tate Britain benefitted from a completed installation, ahead of schedule with all artists’ work displayed to meet their vision.