Phil Collins’s art investigates our ambivalent relationship with the camera as both an instrument of attraction and manipulation, of revelation and shame. He often operates within forms of low-budget television and reportage-style documentary to address the discrepancy between reality and its representations. In his projects, Collins creates unpredictable situations and his irreverent and intimate engagement with his subjects – a process he describes as ‘a cycle of no redemption’ – is as important for his practice as the final presentation in the gallery.

For the return of the real / gercegin geri donusu 2005, originally commissioned by the 9th Istanbul Biennial, Collins invited people who felt their lives had been ruined by appearing on talk-shows and makeover shows to tell their extraordinary stories at a press conference. Furthermore, Collins hired a director of a Turkish reality TV show to conduct hour-long interviews with the participants. By putting these individuals under scrutiny once again, Collins makes the ethics of further exploitation one of the main subjects of the piece.

A new work conceived for the Turner Prize examines the relationship between the production of art and its wider social context by recognising and utilising the mechanism of the Turner Prize itself as a media spectacle. Over the course of the exhibition, a fully functioning office, shady lane productions 2006, will research and organise a set of projects exploring the influence that the camera exerts on the behaviour it seeks to record, beginning with a British episode of the return of the real.

Visit the shady lane productions site at www.shadylaneproductions.co.uk.

Phil Collins is nominated for solo exhibitions at Milton Keynes Gallery, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, and his presentation in British Art Show 6 in which he showed engaging photographic and video installations involving diverse social groups. By instigating unpredictable situations, he encourages people to reveal their individuality, making the personal public with sensitivity and generosity.

Phil Collins: Three Minute Wonder

Directed by Emily Dixon
Phil Collins explores his interest in reality TV and examines how filming someone alters their behaviour and influences their life.

Phil Collins the return of the real / gercegin geri donusu, 2005 Photo from Turner Prize 2006 exhibition at Tate Britain. Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Phil Collins Shady Lane Productions, 2006 Photo from Turner Prize 2006 exhibition at Tate Britain. Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Phil Collins Shady Lane Productions, 2006 Photo from Turner Prize 2006 exhibition at Tate Britain. Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Phil Collins Shady Lane Productions, 2006 Photo from Turner Prize 2006 exhibition at Tate Britain. Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Phil Collins baghdad screentests 2002 Courtesy Kerlin Gallery enlarge

Phil Collins they shoot horses, 2004 Courtesy Kerlin Gallery enlarge

Audio Guide

The Turner Prize 2006 audio guide is available from the ticket office outside the exhibition.
Listen to three clips from the audio guide below.

Audio guide transcripts: Phil Collins Annie Fletcher on Phil Collins Andrew Renton on Phil Collins

You must have version 8 or higher of the Flash Player installed on your computer in order to view the mp3 player, select and playback tracks. To download the latest version of Flash see here.

Artist Biography

1970	Born Runcorn
1990–4	University of Manchester
1998–2000	University of Ulster, Belfast
Currently based in Glasgow