June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Martin Creed, the artist who won the 2001 Turner Prize with lights going on and off, presented his latest work today: a runner sprinting every 30 seconds through Tate Britain's Duveen sculpture gallery in London.

For his ``Work No. 850,'' Creed, 39, advertised in running magazines to recruit semi-professionals aged 18 or more. Employed by Tate, they are paid 10 pounds ($19.95) an hour to make 15 runs per half-hour shift.

``Running is good to look at,'' said the artist, dressed in a navy summer suit, as sprinters in shorts whizzed by, one by one, through the columned corridor. Creed himself made a couple of dashes in his suit. ``It makes me happy to watch people run.''

``We've done a lot of these over the years, but nothing quite like this,'' Tate Britain Director Stephen Deuchar said of the Creed project. The Tate had ``a history of taking on quite a few difficult commissions,'' he said, citing Doris Salcedo's recent concrete crack at Tate Modern (``Shibboleth''), and Carsten Hoeller's slides (``Test Site'').

``There is something inherently absurd in the idea of a runner passing every 30 seconds for four and a half months,'' said Deuchar. Still, he said, Creed's was an ``extraordinary piece'' that should be taken as ``a kind of metaphor for life being the opposite of stillness and death.''

Sotheby's Sponsorship

Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries Commission, for which Creed made the piece, is now an annual event, thanks to Sotheby's sponsorship.

``This is a wonderful work, and something we're very excited to have a small part in,'' said William Ruprecht, chief executive officer of Sotheby's, at the press opening.

Puma AG provided the sports clothes and shoes worn by the runners, which they were allowed to choose. A pool of 50 people will make the 30-second race from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week in a complex logistical operation.

Explaining his work to a huddle of reporters, Creed said the sprinters will ``slow down if there's some obstruction,'' and ``weave around people'' during visiting hours. Visitors are not allowed to run with them.

The exhibition runs from July 1 through Nov. 16. For more information: http://www.tate.org.uk or call +44-20-7887-8888.

To contact the reporter on this story: Farah Nayeri in London at Farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2008 11:54 EDT