Media Releases
14 August 2007
EMINENT CANBERRANS TO HELP CHOOSE $1M ARTWORK
Three prominent Canberrans will join the permanent members of the ACT Public Art Panel, to help oversee the selection of a gateway artwork for Canberra’s Centenary.
Former Director of the National Gallery of Australia Betty Churcher, the Patron of the Centenary of Canberra and former Governor-General Sir William Deane, and 2007 Canberra Citizen of the Year Jack Waterford, will be community representatives on the panel. They will join the existing panel members — Cultural Council Chair and poet Paul Hetherington, renowned artist G W Bot, architect Graham Humphries and writer and publisher Ian Templeman, to help oversee the selection of the first major physical legacy to mark Canberra’s Centenary in 2013.
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said he was delighted that the three had agreed to represent their fellow Canberrans in the selection of such a major piece of public art, an iconic work that would belong to all Canberrans and reflect the spirit of the community.
The Government last week called for expressions of interest from artists around the country for the $1 million tender.
The work will be located at the top of Northbourne Avenue, near City Hill.
An exhibition of short-listed designs will be mounted for public comment before a final design is selected and announced next year.
Four of Canberra’s best-known and respected writers — Marion Halligan, Alan Gould, Ken Taylor and Clare Young — have produced specially commissioned texts to reflect their thoughts on the ‘spirit of Canberra’. These texts will help inspire and inform the expressions of interest from artists around the country. The texts, along with further information about the commission, can be found on the artsACT website at www.arts.act.gov.au/majorcanberraartwork.
