If nothing else, the Turner Prize has performed a service to Britain by bringing the nation together through a communal gasp of prudish affront. Shock is essential to the Prize’s status, and part of the fun; as we confront an ever-kookier parade of elephant dung and Baby Jane transvestism, the question is always: ‘what next?’ 2009’s nominees answer: ‘think again.’ If the Turner Prize is a barometer for national disposition then 2009’s refusal of flamboyance makes sense. Here is a collection of (if not terribly cool) solid, dependable art; a homage to bed-sits and the humble wall.

The four representative works published in the press give an impression of 2009’s muted tone, with the exception of Enrico David’s gouache of a human-turkey hybrid wearing David Hockney’s glasses. David is the sole hang-over from the Turner Prize’s past (the curators feebly protest his wild-card status, citing his use of ‘gay pornography’), but his work is the least remarkable, visually and conceptually (Kristeva and Hans Bellmer are both predictable sources). Lucy Skaer’s Leviathan Edge is a highlight (although her obsession with whales borders on odd), though her space is overly crowded; something that neighbour Richard Wright’s minimalist two-piece room benefits hugely from. Judging from the responses tacked to the gallery’s wall, Wright seems to have captured the hearts of those who dotted their ‘i’s with hearts, which probably derives from the unobjectionable prettiness of his decorative wall-paintings. It’s Roger Hiorns, however, who gets my name-badge vote; his sparse, unapologetic sculptures are the most arresting works on show – his atomised aircraft engine resembles at once a set for a fake moon landing, and a post-apocalyptic transformation of the Chapman brothers’ Hell. It is also Hiorns who is most in tune with the point of the Turner Prize: encouraging public awareness of developments in contemporary art. Hiorns’s works, all variously titled Untitled, reinforce the slogan of the Turner Prize: ‘Judge for yourself’. So go on.

Until Jan 3

DEBBIE LENNARD