BalletLab McMahon Contemporary Art Award
Phillip Adams BalletLab (PABL) recently announced the first BalletLab McMahon Contemporary Art Award (BMCAA). This $12,000 invitation-only Contemporary Art Award will be awarded annually to an artist who demonstrates a commitment to brave and innovative contemporary arts practice.
Marking PABL’s creation of an ambitious and dynamic multidisciplinary arts space known as Temperance Hall, the BMCAA will celebrate vision and transformation and encourage artists to challenge and extend the boundaries of their own work in new and significant ways.
PABL’s inaugural selection committee is made up of a group of experienced curators – independent artist Michael Brennan, ACMI Assistant Curator Serena Bentley, MUMA Senior Curator Hannah Mathews and Westspace Director Patrice Sharkey. Plus, philanthropist and collector Dr. Marcus McMahon shares a committee place with PABL Artistic Director Phillip Adams.
In 2017, PABL has Max Delaney, the esteemed artistic director and CEO of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, as judge. He will select the outright winner.
Delaney commented, “It is truly an excellent short-list of artists.”
For Adams, the model of the BMCAA aims to “shake up art prizes and for artists to transform and experiment with their work.”
Short-listed artists are invited to propose a work that draws on PABL’s evolution to its new premises, South Melbourne’s historic Temperance Hall, and to reflect conceptual concerns underpinning their practice.
The 2017 short-listed artists are Ruth O’Leary, Lane Cormick, Eric Demetriou, Lisa Radford and Chris Bond.
For more information on the BMCAA, visit www.balletlab.com.
Image by Jeff Bubsy.