The news that this year’s Turner Prize nominees include a performance artist called Spartacus and a man who fills imaginary worlds with faeces barely caused a shrug when it was announced earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the major UK galleries are filling their rooms with homely homages to Britain and the Jubilee, and the Olympics is being marked with a retrospective from a man who was last controversial and edgy about 20 years ago.
All of which begs the question: when is art going to shock us again?
From the saucy frescoes of Pompeii to Duchamp’s urinal, art has a long tradition of ruffling feathers and causing a scandal in its time.
To help today’s artists find the inspiration to make us stomp our feet in outrage, here are 10 artists who knew how to cause an upset…