My favorite work at the Contemporary art prize was Bindi Cole's work '#18C'. I liked how relevant it was to issues of the time, and I thought the relationship between participating and resisting in an artwork was interesting. By doing nothing you were forced to engage with it. whether they want to or not.

I found Inez De Vega's double channel video instillation quite funny. She was clever in that she talked about meaning and messages of other people's artworks quite deeply, yet still in a ridiculous way, so people  perhaps reviewed it in a less serious way. I'd never thought about that cat so much before. The idea of having an artwork so directly about another artwork is quite bold, I think.

I also liked Phong Ngo's work. Once again, by making people take off their shoes to see it forces people to engage in the artwork before they even view it. I think having it up the top level was a good choice too. the sun came in beautifully and walking up the steps was like walking into the world of the artwork. I also found it interesting how he juxtaposed the money (wealth, something from his culture), iPads (something westernized, everyday, interactive) and another tradition of creating these boats with paper. It was a fascinating collection of ideas and concepts. I also found the choice of either contributing to the artwork or taking your little boat away an interesting concept. You could either take this away and remember the artwork every time you see it, or chose to let go if this thing you have created and contribute to something bigger, and maybe more powerful.

I liked this piece too, it was overflowing with meaningful and recognizable symbols, and said so much at once. It also reminded me of that one piece suit in 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr.Suess that ends up ruining the planet because they just keep making more and more and cutting down trees and making factories to create this ridiculous suit.  Oh and the penis on the floor in the same room was pretty funny.

 

I also liked this work, purely for aesthetics:

And a massive painting of blue tack on the wall. Clever.

That's all for now :)