Alice Prize unpackers pick a winner

Agreement between unpackers, judges and the public is rare in art prizes: will it be any different at this year’s Alice Prize, opening this Friday?
 
The unpackers get in first with their winner. This year they have chosen Taking (right), a sculpture by Lucy Irvine from the ACT, a dynamic woven form made from electric fence cord, shaped and joined by the artist with thousands of cable ties.
 
It’s quite large (0.75 x 1.5 x 1.2 metres) and the huge box it was delivered in was apparently also impressive. Were the unpackers swayed by its size, the difficulty of unpacking, or were there more aesthetic considerations? For you to ponder.
 
All of the unpackers are themselves artists and volunteers from the Alice Springs Art Foundation, who present the Alice Prize, and sister organization, the Central Australian Art Society.
 
Donning the white gloves of art handlers they work hard alongside Araluen staff to install the exhibition, sharing the delight of seeing the ‘real thing’ as opposed to viewing a computer screen image, the way the short-listed artists are selected.
 
The judge of this year’s Alice Prize is Chris Saines CNZM, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, whose job will be to chose a winner of the $25,000 purse from a wide range of works including photography, video, painting, printmaking, drawing, digital prints, sculpture, ceramics and mixed-media.
 
The winner of will be announced at the exhibition opening. A public “Walk In the Art” floortalk with the judge and artists will be held the next morning, Saturday, 11:30 am. The exhibition will run to 13 June.