British artist Simon Starlinghas been awarded the 2005 Turner Prize, the most prestigious contemporary art award in the UK. He received £25,000 (around R$100,000) for his work Shedboatshed (Mobile Architecture No. 2). Starling dismantled a wooden shack from the Swiss village of Schweizerhalle, turned it into a boat, then paddled it 11 kilometres down the Rhine to Basel, where he turned it back into a shed. The curators at London’s Tate Modern, where his work is being exhibited, said that his work “counters the illusory nature of globalisation and capitalist exchange."

Starling was one of the UK representatives at the most recent Biennial in São Paulo, held in 2004. With the support of the British Council, he brought his work The Mahogany Pavillion (Mobile Architecture No.1), an upside-down yacht of Brazilian mahogany made in Scotland in 1963 and measuring 6.4m high by 6m long by 3.5m wide. He took the opportunity his participation in the Biennial presented to bring the yacht back to the place where the wood used to build it originally came from.

In the same year, the British Council brought Simon Starling’s work to South America as part of Still Life/Natureza-Morta, a touring exhibition which visited São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. His contribution on this occasion consisted of five photographs which documented the recovery of plants (seven rhododendrons) that were removed from Scotland and transported to Los Alcornocales Park in Spain, their place of origin.

The other artists shortlisted for the 2005 Turner Prize were Darren Almond, Gillian Carnegie and Jim Lambie. The prize was established in 1984 to be awarded to artists aged under 50 whose work has stood out in the twelve months prior to 9 May. It is designed to encourage public debate about the latest developments in British contemporary art, and is regarded worldwide as one of the most important and prestigious visual arts awards in Europe.

More information about Simon Starling and his work at www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/2005.