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There was palpable buzz and an air of controversy at the opening night of the 2016 Alice Prize. On the day of opening, the Prize was the subject of a local newspaper story which played up suggestions of financial woes, and by evening a local ABC crew was working the gallery floor for comments on one of the Prize entries deemed illegal.1
As an Alice Prize virgin, I have no idea if this kind of publicity is normal fare, though it does in some ways confirm the exhibition’s local stature. At 39 editions, new angles are needed with local media only too willing to run with them, feeding into heightened anticipation surrounding the Prize, especially now that it is a biennial affair (since 2000).
In my own case, anticipation had been brewing since February with my role as one of three independent pre-selectors for the Prize, along with Edwina Circuitt and Raymond Arnold. Our job was done by the time the exhibition opened in April, making way for guest judge Chris Saines, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. I wanted to attend to see the final display of works and because I had never seen an Alice Prize exhibition, although I was well aware of its standing as perhaps the most all encompassing national contemporary art award exhibition in the Northern Territory. It is not predicated on race as is the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin (entering its 33rd year), nor by medium, as is the annual Alice Springs Beanie Festival, also held at Araluen Art Centre, and also less