30 January 2024
By Hannah Wilcox
Finalists of the biennial North Sydney Art Prize have been announced, with the selected works to be exhibited at the Coal Loader later this year.
93 artworks were chosen from 320 entries by the selection panel; consisting of Museum of Contemporary Arts Curator Anna Davis, Museum of Applied Arts and Scientists Head of Collections Nathan Mudyi and Waverley Council Curator and Visual Arts Coordinator Elizabeth Reidy.
The grand prize will see the winner walk away with the title of the Major Open Award and $20,000.
$12,000 will go to the Sculpture Award winner whilst $5000 will go to the Site Specific Award winner.
One lucky artist will be given the title of Emerging Artist and $2000, whilst the winners of the Royal Art Society’s Award for Drawing and the Primrose Park Art and Craft Centre’s Award for work on/with Paper will each receive $1000.
Alyson Bell took home the Major Open Award in 2022 for The Twilight Hour, a video projection installation highlighting the ‘small window of opportunity before darkness falls in the fast diminishing timeline of climate change’.
In 2019 the Major Open Award went to S.A Adair’s piece Secrete, constructed with felt and UV blacklight, which offered a palpable and penetrating reflection of what lies within the human psyche.
This year’s works will be displayed at the site from May 11 to June 2.
Entrants were encouraged to explore a cultural, historical, social, metaphorical or physical feature of the site, either conceptually or materially, through any artistic medium.
“The curatorial theme embraces diversity in contemporary art providing an entry point into conversations about our complex relationship with the world around us, in a rapidly changing global landscape,” the Council website reads.
Artworks will be displayed in the underground tunnels and chambers amongst other locations across the Coal Loader.