Jury for international sculpture competition announced

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day has announced the jury for ‘situate’ - the international sculpture competition to find a new $1million artwork for Forrest Place.

Mr Day confirmed the jury would consist of five professionals representing various disciplines within the arts and architecture sectors.

The ‘situate’ jury comprised:

· Margaret Moore (Panel Chair) - Chair of the Board of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art and Program Manager: Visual Arts at the Perth International Arts Festival

· Timothy Hill - Principal Partner at Brisbane-based architecture practice Donovan Hill

· Simon Perry - Sculptor and lecturer at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), School of Art

· Louise Dauth - Government Curator for the art+place program in Queensland

· Andy Sharp- Managing Principal of international design firm, Hassell.

“The jury that has been chosen reflects the intention of the competition to encourage innovative partnerships between creative minds from a range of disciplines,” the Minister said.

“All of them have the relevant experience and appreciation of visual arts issues, as well as the technical and conceptual skills, required to make an informed decision.

“The jurists all live in Australia and are highly regarded, nationally and internationally, within their fields.”

The competition jury was responsible for the evaluation of submissions in both stages of the competition, the selection of short-listed applicants at the conclusion of Stage 1 and the winning entrant in Stage 2.

The Minister said ‘situate’ would transform the city landscape with a unique work designed to challenge how people think of sculptures in public spaces.

More information on ‘situate’ and the judging process can be found at http://www.situate.dca.wa.gov.au.

This Australian affair, even if it was organized by a Government official body, turned out to be a scam.
Or simply an embarassing expression of the everlasting Aussy frustration of not being “international” enough…
The results for the first stage were as follows: 4 out of 5 of the shortlisted entries were from Australia and NewZealand.
All this, in spite of the fact that, according to the organizers themselves, only 1 third of the total number of entries were originated in Australia…

Judge for yourselves.