After seeing the Deutsche Börse Prize in the fibrous paper flesh, my first reaction was that there was indeed enough straight photography in it; perhaps I was primed, after the reading I had done before my visit. Only Thomas Demand’s work seemed to be caught between sculpture and photography. With the others, enough of the act seemed to be around the pressing of the button.

I would like to see Roe Ethridge or Jim Goldberg win. A couple of emoting faces afloat in seas of almost jet black interior settings sold me on Goldberg; his work was comprised of little pieces so great in number that I could imagine most viewers finding one or two that they liked. Sometimes the scrawled annotations had the semblance of a beautiful patina, sometimes they appeared less natural; I enjoyed the different scripts in their, mainly, felt-pen characteristics.

An en pointe shot of dancers legs sticks in the memory from Ethridge’s work – the beautifully done crosshatched scores to the exposed soles of their shoes in particular; I had been wondering what was gained from the gallery exhibition of his images over their publication in Vice et al until I saw that detail nice and large. All in all, a thought provoking selection with not more misses than hits.