Testing Ground, the current exhibition at the Flinders City Gallery, received the Bank SA Award for Best Visual Art and Design at the Adelaide Fringe Awards on Sunday night.
Director of Flinders University Art Museum, Fiona Salmon (pictured), accepted the award on behalf of celebrated Aboriginal artist and curator Julie Gough, who developed the show in 2013.
Ms Salmon said the exhibition was in many ways a perfect fit for the Fringe.
“It’s raw and quirky and packs a solid punch,” she said.
“As Julie Gough writes in the exhibition publicity, the artists ‘refuse to be bound by a single medium, technique or story; they are literally ‘testing’ new ideas, new forms and new methods of working offering unexpected insights into ideas such as inheritance, cultural practice and co-existence’.”
Initiated by Salamanca Arts Centre and toured by Contemporary Art Tasmania, Testing Ground includes South Australian rising star Sue Kneebone along with national and international artists Ólöf Björnsdóttir, Trudi Brinckman, Darren Cook, Rebecca Dagnall, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Jeroen Offerman, Perdita Phillips, r e a, Keren Ruki, Christian Thompson, Martin Walch, Siying Zhou and the YouTube comedy collective, the 1491s.
Testing Ground at Flinders University City Gallery in the State Library of South Australia remains on show until 4 May 2014.
The awards night at the Fringe Club also saw the inaugural presentation of the Behind the Scenes Award, sponsored by Flinders University to acknowledge the backstage work by set and costume designers, stage managers and lighting and sound technicians.
The $500 prize went to the team behind Notoriously Yours, a production that blended film and media with live actors.
five.point.one, the ensemble of performers who appeared in the drama inspired by film nor, was also responsible for the filming, technical design, animation and projection design.
Ensemble member Brad Williams said their intention was to “create a very slick production that integrates technology and media without it being at the expense of a good narrative and story”.
Congratulations City Gallery team!