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Martin Creed won the prize for his work 'The lights going on and off'

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This year, as part of the city's European Capital of Culture programme, the Turner Prize heads north to Tate Liverpool. But those in London who feel they might sorely miss all the hyped-up controversy surrounding the annual award - given to an artist who has made the most 'outstanding' contribution to British art that year - should be reassured: you can catch the Turner Prize retrospective, showing all 22 winners from 1984 to 2006, at Tate Britain.

'In the main gallery, we decided to have a strict chronological sequence,' says co-curator Katharine Stout. 'You walk through the years and you do get some sense of the shifts in British art that have taken place.'

Only in the long central hall, the Duveen Galleries, is the chronological sequence disrupted, with three sculptural pieces - Minster from 1988 winner Tony Cragg, 1989 winner Richard Long's floor painting White Water Line and Shedboatshed (Mobile Architecture No.2) from Simon Starling, who won in 2005 - providing a leap from the award's earliest years to its most recent.

'What's really interesting,' Stout adds, 'is that a lot of the work hasn't been seen for quite a while, especially the earlier works, and the artists themselves are very excited to see them again.'

One artist whose work probably won't be forgotten in a hurry is Martin Creed, he of The Lights Going On And Off. This comprised an empty gallery in which the lights were timed to go, well, on and off. Creed won the prize in 2001 and acknowledges that it made quite an impact on his life.

'Taxi drivers knew about my work and it got a lot of attention from the mainstream press, scandal that it was,' says Creed, wryly.

Like many of the artists nominated for the prize, Creed has learned to take criticism on the chin. 'Well, if people think my work is s***, I don't like it,' he says. 'But I don't think the people that came up to me did dislike it. I mean, they spend a lot of time switching lights on and off themselves.'

How does he respond when people ask him what his work means for the umpteenth time? 'I say, meaning isn't in the object. If you ask what a sunset means, it's hard to say, but it might be a beautiful and amazing thing to watch. I hope people find the things I make beautiful and meaningful but it's not me who provides the meaning.'

Before winning the Turner, Creed once said that all art prizes were stupid. Does he still think this? 'No, not really. I think they're very entertaining. And artists are always competing. When you put something out there and say "look at this", you're demanding attention. It's a very passive-aggressive form of attention-seeking.'

Turner Prize: A Retrospective 1984-2006, today until Jan 6, Tate Britain, Millbank SW1, daily 10am to 5pm, £11, £10 and £6 concs. Tel: 020 7887 8888. www.tate.org.uk/britain Tube: Pimlico

 

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