Torika Bolatagici awarded the 2018 Carstairs Prize
Torika Bolatagici receives the Carstairs Prize.
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is pleased to announce Torika Bolatagici as the 2018 recipient of the $3000 Carstairs Prize.
The Carstairs Prize aims to support socially engaged art projects that embrace participatory and collaborative experiences, bring participants into active dialogue with the artist in order to involve audiences beyond the art community. The annual prize is intended to contribute to artwork production costs to assist the successful applicant(s) to develop and present new work.
This is the second year of the new program supported by the donor of the previous Carstairs Residency Prize. Named after the Carstairs, the prize drew its name from an intriguing and eccentric blend of writers, poets, painters, pianists, and illustrators who immigrated to Australia from Fife, Scotland in the 19th century.
This year, the Prize was awarded to Torika Bolatagici who is using the money to fund “Black Tourmaline” presented by The Community Reading Room.
Bolatagici has been running The Community Reading Room for the past five years as a discursive project that generates discussion about the inclusivity of creative arts education and specifically how our institutions of knowledge privilege particular methodologies and ways of knowing. The Carstairs Prize funding will contribute to “Black Tourmaline” at Testing Grounds in Melbourne.
On receiving the prize Bolatagici said “It is an absolute honour to receive the 2018 Carstairs Prize. This funding will enable the extension of the Community Reading Room project in 2019. Specifically the presentation of ‘Black Tourmaline’ at Testing Grounds - a site-specific installation and participatory project that invites the public to contribute to an archive of lived-experiences of education over a period of 24-days. A collaborative curated program of workshops and panel discussions will unpack ideas around self-determined spaces for learning, healing and knowledge-sharing outside the academy. Thank you to the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and Carstairs Prize donor for this wonderful opportunity.”
We look forward to seeing “Black Tourmaline” unfold in 2019.
Image courtesy the artist.
