Witness a "work of art" in motion on the streets on London

A team of distributors at one end of the bridge co-ordinated the "artistic happening" by handing out cardboard headgear, together with application forms for the Turner Prize.

Why ears? "Why not?" - Anthony Samuelson on BBC Radio Five Live

Under competition rules, nominated artists must be aged under 50 and fill out a form. These have been provided by the organiser, Anthony Samuelson, who is 68 and therefore not qualified to take part.

Samuelson: Paper ears "do great things for people"

At the last count, around 300 nominations were handed in which means if the London Bridge happening wins the £2,000 prize, each person will receive the grand sum of £6.66.

But some participants were blissfully unaware of this fact. "If we won, we'd just go mad, have a holiday, live it up!" said an excited secretary on her way to work.

'It's no joke'

"It's genuine. It's not an elaborate hoax," said Samuelson, who distributed leaflets outlining his idea for six weeks prior to the event.

Hospital worker Jason Petit: "This takes pomposity out of art"

He also advertised on his web-site which has received thousands of hits and scores of e-mails - with mixed reactions.

But why is a retired businessman from North London spending somewhere in the region of £10,000 to enter a competition he has by his own admission, no chance of winning?

"Well, the alternative is to go on an ocean liner and spend the whole trip worrying I won't be invited to the captain's table," he says.

And why ears? "It does great things for people," he says. "They roll around laughing."

On a more serious note, he adds: "The ears say 'Art iz Us' which is literally what is happening here. They are saying 'We are art - forget about all the other weird things which are art - WE are art."

Nominations for the Turner Prize must be in by May 31

Some may think he is making a mockery of current conceptions of modern art. Yet Samuelson insists he is a great admirer of the Turner Prize competition and its choice of winners in the past.

He admits that he is no artist himself, but under his intepretation of the competition rules anyone can enter - even your dustmen "for the artistic way in which they spill rubbish all down your garden path as they empty your bin."

Rehearsal for humiliation

Thanks to a rehearsal two days earlier, participants weren't quite as embarrassed as might be expected.

The Accustomiser: worn to lessen the embarrassment factor

Accustomisers - headbands adapted for ladies and gents "for indoor use only" - were handed out to lessen the feeling of utter idiocy on the appointed day itself.

It worked for Jason Petit, a hospital worker, who said he felt "quite relaxed." Yes, but is it art? He reckoned: "It is art of a sort. It takes away the pomposity of art."

The Turner Prize is no stranger to controversy. Sponsored by Channel 4 and held at the Tate Gallery, it is awarded to a British artist under 50 "for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work" in the 12 months preceding 31 May 1998.

Past winners include:

1997 - Gillian Wearing for her video work including 26 real police officers asked to keep still for one hour.

1996 - Glasgow artist Douglas Gordon the first to be awarded for techno-art - or experimental video installations.

1995 - Damien Hirst for "Mother and Child, Divided", a cow and calf, pickled, bisected and presented in two parts.

1994 - Sculptor Antony Gormley, more recently acclaimed as the creator of the Angel of the North sculpture unveiled earlier this year near the M1 at Newcastle.