Not going Beck to the future

Hey, ho: another day, another art prize. At least you get to take home customised fizzy beer from this one, though, it being the ICA's second annual Beck's-sponsored competition show.

The trendy line is that it's all much more important than that passé old Turner thing, although the work of the ten finalists does make you wonder.

The lack of videos and sudden abundance of wall-based pieces - Simon Bill's oval paintings and Tim Stoner's linen bacchanals - is vogueish enough but it's also a wee bit predictable.

The glib ironising of the YBAs has finally gone, but it's been replaced by an emphasis on (yawn) 'mediation' - David Burrows's photographs of models of rooms, Russell and Audeoud's self-deconstructing paintings of paintings of paintings - a transformation that is unlikely to get your juices running unless you've recently emerged from a professional curating course.

All in all, you get the feeling that this show says more about its selectors than it does about the current state of British art: it's safe rather than edgy, comprehensive rather than inspiring. And the beer makes you burp.

Friday March 30 until May 20, ICA , The Mall SW1, daily noon to 7.30pm, Mon to Fri £1.50, Sat and Sun £2.50. Tel: 020 7930 3647.