Newsnight Review discussed Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition at Tate Britain.

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(Edited highlights of the panel's review taken from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight Review.)

NITIN SAWHNEY:
I was really struck by his use of scale, and the exhibition itself, the very big rooms, and the photographs kind of varied from being absolutely massive to kind of like these tiny little shots. It was amazing, because, in fact, in the Cruel and Tender exhibition there was a reference by Thomas Ruff, to the idea that scale actually added presence to particular depictions. I think that was the case here. Sometimes you would get these very powerful shots, and once they were enlarged, even though they were recurring themes, you would get a sense of something quite amazing and overwhelming happening. I felt it was very powerful in places, but there were other times when I thought it was a bit crass and strange. I walked into this dark room and felt like I was at a German techno club.

MARK LAWSON:
That's the effect that he has, because the argument against him is this disposability, that he shoots thousands of these things. It's almost as if we become a picture editor. He gives us the content sheet, and says, "There's some good stuff here, and probably some rubbish", and pick out what he thinks.

BONNIE GREER:
He calls his show "If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters." Going into his space, for me, was a kind of journey into his own mind, in a sense. Looking at the world through this kind of queer sensibility, which I enjoy.

MARK LAWSON:
And his own body.

BONNIE GREER:
Exactly. But again, he's taking all sorts of pictures, and inviting to you choose which ones you like. I found that, in a way, disposable is the only word that I could use. I'm not sure that disposable is what you want in this kind of context. The colour, the way the show has developed, his taking of the photos and so forth, are striking and gorgeous. But again, I came out feeling, "What am I supposed to do with all this, what am I supposed to feel? Would it matter to him?"

MARK LAWSON:
Paul, in that title, "If One Thing Matters Everything Matters", he's obviously trying to say something. God is in the details, that kind of thing. Does it sustain that?

PAUL MORLEY:
It rakes up a lot of dust and debris of the '90s. It's interesting to get this point of view of the '90s as a decade of fame, clubbing and blank spaces. I'm glad it tells me that he's an artist, because I'm not impressed by him as a photographer. At least I now know what he is. You're very ambiguous going around it, because occasionally, you're feeling that you must dredge up your own meaning. You're finding the wonderful combination of the photograph of Kate Moss, then the photograph of the Queen in front of the Carphone Warehouse, and thinking, "OK, I'm going to dredge up some meaning here. This is the '90s." Then there's the awful room that you were talking about, the techno room, where he has his installation. You think, "This is incredible, he has got away with this. This is a fantastic thing. If anybody was going to say that he was a photographer, an artist to win the Turner Prize, this guy was the guy that did it. All hail to him for doing that." But it leaves you very empty in the end. Nothing tremendously moves you. The beauty that he gets is emptied out, and a little bit exhausted. You come away thinking, "I know a lot about this guy now, and I don't know if I wanted to."

MARK LAWSON:
He also mixes up the sources and destinations of this stuff, some of it is for magazines or record covers, some of it he just appears to take. If he sees a penis or something that appeals to him, he just photographs it.

BONNIE GREER:
It's very odd being in the gallery, being in the space that it's in. You walk into it, it's all white, it's on the wall all over the place. It does not afford you the opportunity to feel what the curator may have felt about this place, or the photographer himself. It's a very disconcerting experience.

NITIN SAWHNEY:
I don't mind it when you first go in. I find the differences in scale really interesting. But the problem is, when I leave the exhibition I feel I've just come out of the dance tent at Glastonbury. It leaves you a bit cold.