Auckland Art Gallery: The Walters Prize 2012 opens

1 August 2012

The Walters Prize 2012 opens

This Saturday 4 August, the exhibition of New Zealand’s most prestigious art award opens at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. It will be the first Walters Prize presented at the newly developed Gallery and, for the first time in the Prize’s history, entry to the exhibition is free.

The $50,000 Walters Prize is awarded for an outstanding work of contemporary New Zealand art produced and exhibited during the past two years. This year’s nominated artworks are by finalists Simon Denny, Alicia Frankovich, Kate Newby and Sriwhana Spong.

The Walters Prize 2012 International judge, Mami Kataoka, Chief Curator at the Mori Art Museum (MAM) in Tokyo, Japan, will decide and announce the winner at the awards dinner held on the 20 October.

In addition to the $50,000 prize, the winner receives an all-expense paid trip to New York with the opportunity to exhibit at Saatchi & Saatchi’s world headquarters. They also join a celebrated list of former Walters Prize winners and contemporary New Zealand artists: Yvonne Todd, et al., Francis Upritchard, Peter Robinson and Dan Arps.

Held every two years, the Walters Prize aims to make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life. Named in honour of the late New Zealand artist Gordon Walters, the Prize was established in 2002 by Founding Benefactors and Principal Donors Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs, working together with Auckland Art Gallery.

OPENING WEEKEND VISITOR PROGRAMME

Artist Talks
Saturday 4 August – Alicia Frankovich (1pm) and Simon Denny (3pm)
Sunday 5 August – Sriwhana Spong (1pm) and Kate Newby (3pm)

Live Performance
Sunday 5 August - Alicia Frankovich’s Floor Resistance (11.30am)
During the course of the three-month exhibition, visitors will be able to vote for their favourite artwork in the people’s choice award.

FINALISTS FOR THE WALTERS PRIZE 2012

Simon Denny: Introductory logic video tutorial shown at Artspace, Sydney (5 March – 10 April 2010)
Alicia Frankovich: Floor Resistance shown at Hebbel Am Ufer, HAU 3, Berlin, (25 June 2011)
Kate Newby: Crawl out your window, shown at Gesellschaft für aktuelle Kunst GAK, Bremen (28 August – 7 November 2010)
Sriwhana Spong: Fanta Silver and Song shown at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (4 February – 5 March 2011)

The four finalists will each receive $5000, thanks to major donor Dayle Mace.

The Walters Prize 2012 will be exhibited from 4 August until 11 November.

Founding Benefactors and Principal Donors
Erika and Robin Congreve
Dame Jenny Gibbs

Major Donor
Dayle Mace

ENDS

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