Nominated by: Grayson Perry, artist, winner of 2004 Turner Prize
Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God. It -represents two trends: firstly, the money madness that infected the art world, where hedge fund managers seemed to have more control over what is considered good art than art -historians. Secondly, as with a lot of recent art, the debate it generated was a lot more interesting than the object itself Photograph: guardian.co.uk
The installation Oil by Isa Genzken, shown at the Venice Biennale in 2007. The German pavilion was covered in orange netting, while inside was a riot of colour and objects: the seven dwarfs, astronauts, stuffed animals, nooses, packing cases and, covering the walls, mirrors with little locks on them. Of course, it is all about oil, how it has enabled our decadent lifestyle and allowed us to buy the things we love. Yet it’s also neurotic and anxious about the cost to our planet Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Nominated by: Nathan Coley, artist, Turner prize 2007 nominee
Forty-Part Motet 2001 by Janet Cardiff, because I’ve seen it in lots of places, including Newcastle and Paris. She uses a piece of music that is 400 years old and it’s brave to go back so far. There is a great sophistication to the way she treats the audience: the speakers surround the room, and you find yourself gathering like a congregation towards them. Photograph: guardian.co.uk
You or Me, 2005, by the Austrian artist Maria Lassnig. It’s a nude self-portrait in which Lassnig, in her late 80s, points one gun at herself and another at the viewer. It’s shocking in its directness Photograph: guardian.co.uk
Nominated by: Jeremy Deller, artist, winner of 2004 Turner Prize:
It’s a toss up between Guitar Drag by Christian Marclay and Michael Landy’s Breakdown. Breakdown is the work I could not have made – simultaneously confrontational and poetic. Guitar Drag is the work I wish I’d made. Photograph: guardian.co.uk
As nominated by: Gillian Wearing, artist, winner of 1997 Turner Prize I’d have to choose Breakdown by Michael Landy, even though we live together. Most people have dreamed of momentarily ridding themselves of their identity. But to actually go ahead and do it, to open up the inventory of your life whilst simultaneously destroying it in public, was such an incredible, powerful art work.
And Jeremy Deller, artist, winner of 2004 Turner Prize:
It’s a toss up between Guitar Drag by Christian Marclay and Michael Landy’s Breakdown. Breakdown is the work I could not have made – simultaneously confrontational and poetic. Guitar Drag is the work I wish I’d made. Photograph: guardian.co.uk
