SCOTTISH artist Martin Boyce was declared winner of the Turner Prize last night live on Channel 4 - but perhaps the real winner was Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
Sir Nicolas Serota, director of Tate and instigator of the Turner Prize, said more than 120,000 people had already seen the exhibition, featuring work by the four shortlisted artists, in Gateshead.
He said the Turner Prize was a national competition and it was right that it should be seen nationally and not just in London.
It had been a pleasure to work with a Baltic team under its director, Godfrey Worsdale.
The Turner Prize, the country’s most prestigious and controversial prize for contemporary art, was held annually at Tate Britain until it ventured out of the capital to Tate Liverpool in 2007 as a prelude to that year’s Capital of Culture year.
But this year was the first time the competition had been held outside the capital and in a non-Tate venue.
Sir Nicholas said: "I think the fact it has been such a success in Gateshead is an indication of the success of Baltic itself. It is an indication of what has been achieved here."
He said the thinking now was that the Turner Prize would be staged outside London every alternate year. In 2013 it will be held in Derry, Northern Ireland, to mark its year as UK City of Culture.
Along with the winner, the shortlisted artists this year were Karla Black, George Shaw and Newcastle Polytechnic graduate Hilary Lloyd.
Godfrey Worsdale, director of Baltic and one of the judges, said it had been "incredibly hard" to choose a winner.
"There’s a very, very high quality of artist in this exhibition displaying a huge diversity of style and approach to art. It was really chalk and cheese.
"But we met this morning and by maybe 1.30-2pm we had made our decision. It was very, very equitable and agreeable but we did spend a lot of time considering the merits of all four artists and in the end it was a collective decision."
He said there was no immediate plan to commission the winner to make an exhibition for Baltic but "this will do nothing but help his chances".
Receiving the Turner Prize from celebrated photographer and art collector Mario Testino, Martin Boyce said: "I didn’t expect that.
"It’s been a brilliant year to be part of this thing. The Baltic is a brilliant place but most of all it’s been a brilliant shortlist.
"It’s been an honour and a privilege to be part of it."
Boyce had said when shortlisted that he regarded the prospect of winning with "a blend of excitement and dread". Last night his best dream and worst nightmare came true both at the same time.
Married to a teacher, and with two boys aged 12 and nine, he spoke out on behalf of the "value of education" and "the importance of teachers" in his acceptance speech.
Afterwards he said that the £25,000 prize would be absorbed into the cost of making his art. "The work is expensive to make and I’ll probably break even," he revealed.
An invited audience of hundreds queued to get into last night’s ceremony and, in keeping with the Turner Prize’s reputation for controversy, a would-be streaker made a bid to reach the stage before security men bundled him away.
