Home → Associated Groups → Wattspace → Exhibition 11.08

27 August - 14 September 2008

The UoN Services Ltd Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize

Curated by Fiona Lee

Watt Space Assistant

Exhibition opened and prizes awarded by the judges Marion Borgelt, artist, and Professor Steffen Lehmann, architect and Director of Back to the City project, Newcastle 2008, on Thursday 28 August 2008 at 6.30pm

The Artists

Over 80 current students of the University of Newcastle have submitted 85 new works that respond to the theme of the UoN Services Ltd Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize: STATE OF THE ARTS 2008.

The Theme

STATE OF THE ARTS 2008 is an open prize show which has invited entrants to engage with and respond to the world today by creating new art works. Considering the controversies surrounding art and artists in Australia today, particularly the work of Bill Henson which has attracted much criticism of late due its contentious nature and has been highlighted by the media in recent times, STATE OF THE ARTS 2008 is well-timed. STATE OF THE ARTS 2008 challenges the commonly accepted notion of what an artist is and encourages entrants to experiment with innovative means, any range of subject matter and, by including their own comments, thoughts and reactions, provide their own perspective on the social and political state of art in Australia today.

The Prizes

For the first time in the seventeen year history of the Annual Student Acquisitive Prize, a Travelling Scholarship worth $1300 will be awarded to the overall winner whose work will be acquired into the UoN Services Ltd permanent art collection. This scholarship will aid in the furthering of the successful entrant’s art education. Three Highly Commended Awards worth $500 and two Framing Awards to the value of $200 each will also be awarded to artworks that best respond to the theme STATE OF THE ARTS 2008.

The Sponsors

Many thanks to our financial sponsors UoN Services Limited, who once again has generously donated $2,500 towards this prize exhibition. FordComm has continued its patronage for the second year running with a further $500 and Sign-A-Rama, Newcastle has generously donated $300. Aaron Framed It has made possible the two Framing Awards worth $400. Thank you also to Maggies at Newcastle for supplying accommodation for the visiting judge and Rosnay Organic Wines for sponsoring wines for opening night.

The Judges

Marion Borgeltis one of Australia’s most significant mid-career artists whose stellar career has spanned over 30 years. Based in Sydney, Marion has had a total of thirty eight solo exhibitions and is represented in all the major Australian state museum collections, many regional collections and in numerous private collections in Australia, France, Ireland, USA, New Zealand, Korea, Malaysia, North Africa and Brunei. Marion Borgelt has received many prestigious awards and prizes including a Peter Brown Scholarship to study in the United States, a French Government Art Fellowship residency in Paris and was the first Australian to be awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant. In 2001-03 Marion was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Australia Council - the highest government honor accorded a practicing Australian artist.

Since returning from an eight year stay in Paris, Marion has completed a number of significant public and private art commissions, including a five storey installation for the foyer of the News Limited Building in Sydney, a 1.5 hectare cornfield maze for Arthur’s Seat, Victoria and a sculptural commission for The Gravitational Wave Building, ANU. Her work can also be seen in the foyers, receptions and boardrooms of Goldman Sachs J B Were, J P Morgan CHASE, Aberdeen Assets Management and Mirvac 101 Miller Street. Marion Borgelt is represented by Dominik Mersch of 37 Degrees, Sydney and Turner Galleries, Perth.

Dr Steffen LehmannPh.D. (TU Berlin), AA Dipl. (AA School London),Dipl.-Des. (Mainz-Univ. of Appl. Sc.) RAIA, BDA registered as 'Architekt' in Germany, is the Artistic Director of the Back to the City project and the Founding Director of the s_Lab Space Laboratory for architectural Research and Design (Sydney-Berlin) and he holds the Chair in the School of Architecture & Built Environment at the University of Newcastle. Dr Steffen Lehmann has a wealth of international experience and extensive knowledge in curatorship, which he brings to the Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize. Dr Steffen Lehmann is interested in continuing the dialogue between the different disciplines, and different worlds and has an enduring commitment to involve the local community in excellent exhibition projects about the contemporary city.

Thanks

Many thanks are owed to the tireless Watt Space Director, Anne McLaughlin and to the judges, sponsors, installation team, participating artists, gallery visitors and everybody I encountered along the journey. Thank you ! Fiona Lee

Some of the eighty-five works…..

Ellie Hannon Worry Dolls (detail) mixed media; Christine Phillips Shh (detail) barbed wire, steel, plastic, lights; Nichole Goodlad A book can continue to inspire long after the pages have been absorbed found materials, pillows, polaroids

Phillippe Ribbons Shallow Crossing (detail) watermelon; Casio Gloria Little Room (detail) keyboards, mobile, random

Simone Sheridan STATUS OF THE OBJECT Chevron (detail) interactive ready made; Rose Turner My Morris (detail) mixed media on paper; Ileana Clarke Three States acrylic on canvas

Erin Woodgate The Stae of Art (detail) photographs ; Katrina Coleman Untitled pinhole No 4 (detail) pinhole phhotograph

Vicki Hamilton Flood (detail) raku, wood; Kirra Little In someone else's shoes (detail) barbed found objects, string, wood; Lisa Kirkpatrick A model city (detail) silkscreen on paper

Caelli Jo Brooker & Matty Sage Interview with the artist telephone, disc player, wiring, voice recording;
CK & Co Undo (detail)performance, fibre, photography

and the prizes were:

Judges' Honourable Mention

Nichole Goodlad A book can continue to inspire long after the pages have been absorbed found materials, pillows, polaroids

Aaron Framed It Framing Prize

Kim Bridgland You make me weak at the knees digital c type print

Aaron Framed It Framing Prize

Kieran Perry Forward Sweat performance, DVD,TV, exercise bike

Highly Commended Prize

Jay Sullivan Self portrait, winter 2008 acrylic, charcoal, oil on canvas

Highly Commended Prize

Simone Sheridan STATUS OF THE OBJECT Chevron (detail) interactive ready made, WARNING this typewriter was once state of the art ( a manifesto on what art is ) (detail) vitrine, ink on paper, Editorial response to WARNING this typewriter was once state of the art ( a manifesto on what art is ) (detail) ink on paper

Highly Commended Prize

Lucas Grogan Love (detail) digital prints

Acquisitive Prize - Travelling Scholarship

Gemma Hulsing Family Features (detail) digital prints