The best guessing game in town is who-will-be-allowed-to-do-what for the Walters-Prize at the Auckland Art Gallery. It seems that the AAG continues to insist that the four jury-selected artists should re-present as closely as possible the exhibition they were nominated for or (at least) present something that is closely related to it. As we have mentioned before, this is not part of the written rules (or not the original ones anyway) but has been part of the mix from 2002 when the prize started.
But before you step up to place your bets on who'll get closest to a clone presentation, here’s how we see the odds.
Sriwhana Spong will probably get the closest with her selection based on a film presentation in Melbourne (10-1 for). Simon Denny’s Sydney exhibition can probably be reassembled with some help from his dealer Michael Lett and a few collectors, although knowing Denny straight re-presentation is probably a long-shot, still (7-3 for). Is the AAG going to allow Kate Newby to pour cement on their wooden floor or give her even a third of the space her work originally occupied (unlikely) and how do you replicate a site-specific work anyway? (7-1 against). The biggest odds are against Alicia Frankovich re-presenting her nominated work which was a one time only performance involving an orchestra (10-1 against).
So we’re betting that people who visited the original shows (not you jury members) will find Spong closest to what they saw followed by Denny with Newby and Frankovich probably presenting something completely different.
