Turner Prize short-list

Here's a slideshow of the 2013 Turner Prize shortlist.
Here's an explanation of what the Turner Prize is.
Here's a list of former winners.

(Here's a photo of an orangutan.)

Turner Prize finalists

(photo)

If you believe that contemporary art is a large-scale scam that makes no sense to anyone not part of the elaborate game, this brief article will probably help confirm your view.

An excerpt: "...and Paul Noble, who produces minutely detailed drawings of a dystopian imaginary city named Nobson Newtown populated by human excrement. The judging panel said Noble's work was an 'utterly compelling ongoing narrative' about a 'dysfunctional' world."

Street art is ignorant?

From this self-promoting blog from a Turner Prize jurist:

"Anyway, I believe in education. The reason I don't like street art is that it's not aesthetic, it's social. To celebrate it is to celebrate ignorance, aggression, all the things our society excels at. For middle class people to find artistic excitement in something that scares old people on estates is a bit sick."

There's a lot in this paragraph: "aesthetic" is more important than "social," street art is ignorant and aggressive, ignorance and aggression exemplify "all the things our society excels at" (he's British, not America, but our societies are a lot alike), middle class people are aligned with "old people on estates" more than street kids.

I find myself agreeing with most of these points, though I hate to admit it.

What do you think?