Judge Misal Adnan Yildiz has selected 34 entries as finalists for this year’s National Contemporary Art Award managed by Waikato Museum.
Finalists were selected through a blind judging process where Yildiz reviewed artists’ statements, images and optional video works online without seeing the identity of the artist.
Waikato Museum Director Cherie Meecham says the National Contemporary Art Award had an excellent response this year.
“We’re excited about the calibre of this year’s entrants and I would like to thank all those who entered; it’s a tough competition and your support is invaluable to the success of the National Contemporary Art Award.”
The finalists for the 2016 National Contemporary Art Award are:
The winner and merit award winners of the National Contemporary Art Award will be announced on Friday 2 September at Waikato Museum. The exhibition will open from Saturday 3 September until Sunday 4 December 2016.
The winner of the 2016 National Contemporary Art Award will receive $20,000 from the major sponsors, Chow Hill and Tompkins Wake. Three merit awards of $1000 each will be awarded from the Friends of Waikato Museum, Random Art Group and David’s Emporium.
Judge’s statement
“One of the most significant voices of our time, gender and queer theorist/author Jack or Judith (whichever you choose) Halberstam proposes to ‘think counterintuitively and act accordingly’ as one of the five tenets of her/his “Gaga Feminism”- framed as a timely form of feminism for post-capitalism. She/he argues that ‘[a] lot of what we learn as common sense actually makes no sense, especially as change does happen in complex societies such as the ones we inhabit’.
“During the process of evaluating the applications for the National Contemporary Art Award, I have been intuitively following this advice; and approaching the images, texts and links with a curiosity around their actual forms, presentation skills and ideas for installations. One can never experience a painting through an online layout or an installation via images; so my only tool was my paracuratorial practice.
“Today, from Orlando to Istanbul gender politics are still relevant. The questions around immigration, integration and refugees are urgent. ‘The end of neoliberalism’ is not just a title for an article printed by Monocle magazine; it is a reality that surrounds us. We are seeing the end of things and the new beginnings every day, every moment, every second, more and more...
“So what is the social impact of the artist on this global-glocal-local transformation? How can art contribute to the question of living together? What is empiricism and what is experimenting in art context? What is risk and failure today? How do artists approach material, space and context? Through several different strategies of developing attempts to “read” these images in these applications, I have found myself ending up with the same list of applications. They have all started to look back at me and repeat the same advice: Think counterintuitively and act accordingly. I am proud that the exhibition of finalists for the 2016 National Contemporary Art Award is based on questions we can share with the rest of the world.” – Misal Adnan Yildiz
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