front page of the guardian wed 24th nov.

Terror strikes at the Turner prize as "excellent" winner gets the 
gong from public

Art at its very best (or worst)

Mike Ellison Arts Correspondent
  
    The K foundation, a group of self-styled art terrorists, hijacked 
the much-derided Turner Prize last night by naming its winner as the 
worst artist of the year.
    Rachel Whiteread won 20,000 from the modern art establishment for 
the excellence of her work and 40,000 from the foundation for their 
lack of the same quality.
    The K foundation, an offshoot of the KLF rock band, financed its 
prize through hit records. "She was a faily convincing winner", said 
Mick Houghton, spokesman for the foundation which asked the public to 
fill in ballot forms printed in national newspaper advertisments.
    He declined to say how many had voted but said it was more than 
did so for the Turner, which had five judges, chaired by Nicolas 
Serota, director of the Tate Gallery.
    Whiteread is showing a cast of a room in the Turner exhibition at 
the Tate, but the work which has attracted most attention is House, a 
cast of a home in east London, which is due to be demolished next 
wednesday.
    The Turner judges comended Whitread for "the ways in which her 
work engages audiences with issues of immediate relavance to their 
lives". The public were impressed or not, for other reasons.
    "Whiteread seemed to capture their imagination", said Mr 
Houghton. "Maybe people just liked the sound of her name, or rather 
didn't.
    "It's mean't to be completely random. I'd be surprised if many of 
the voters had seen her work, but the idea is to point out the 
hypocrisy of all these awards."
    Lord Palumbo, chairman of the Arts Council, who presented the 
Turner to Whiteread, said: "Talent at the highest level attracts 
derision. We must let the artist fail."

photo of House with grafitti on the wall "WOT FOR"

caption The best of art, the worst of art...Rachel Whiteread's 
concrete cast of a house in Mile End, London

(later editions expanded the story and moved it to the back page to 
include the K-F's prize presentation on the steps of the Tate with a 
picture of a K-F operative and the 40,000 in the frame)