MELBOURNE.- The $100,000 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission (IPMIC) for new moving image works by Australian artists has been awarded to video and performance artist Gabriella Hirst.

Gabriella Hirst has been awarded the prize from a field of impressive candidates vying for the prestigious visual art commission – an initiative of The Ian Potter Cultural Trust and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

The commission will make possible a new work, Darling Darling (working title), which will have its world premiere at ACMI in 2020. The proposed work parallels the precise and elaborate care taken to preserve colonial paintings of the Australian landscape with the real-world preservation of the Murray Darling Basin.

Darling Darling follows on from the success of previous Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, The Calling, by Angelica Mesiti who will represent Australia at this year’s Venice Biennale, and Daniel Crooks’ Phantom Ride. Both artists have gone on to enjoy critical and popular success upon premiering at ACMI.

In announcing Gabriella Hirst as the winning recipient, IPMIC Panel Chair and ACMI Director & CEO, Katrina Sedgwick, praised her innovative work in the rapidly expanding field of moving image art.

“We are thrilled to award Gabriella the 2020 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission. Her practice and her proposed work stood out amongst an incredibly competitive field of applicants. ACMI is proud, as the national museum of film, television, videogames and digital art and culture, to be partnering with The Ian Potter Cultural Trust to present the world premiere of Hirst’s commission Darling Darling as one of the first exhibitions following our reopening in 2020.”

Today Gabriella Hirst spoke about her excitement in receiving the commission: “Thank you to ACMI and The Ian Potter Cultural Trust for selecting my proposal for the IPMIC, I’m beyond thrilled. It's a huge opportunity for me to develop a work at this scale and with such incredible support. I’m very grateful for the confidence in my practice as a young Australian moving image artist. I’m looking forward to developing the project and beginning production alongside the team at ACMI.”

Lady Potter AC, Trustee of The Ian Potter Cultural Trust, commended Gabriella Hirst on being awarded the 2020 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission. “The Ian Potter Cultural Trust is delighted to be supporting an exciting and dedicated young artist. Gabriella Hirst’s work promises to be a timely exploration of the connection between the romanticism of the Western art tradition, and the realities of the Australian landscape.”

2020 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, Darling Darling (working title) will premiere at the newly reopened and revitalised ACMI in 2020.

Gabriella Hirst is a video and performance artist based in Sydney and London. She recently completed an MFA in Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Art (London), prior to which she studied at IUAV, the College of Fine Art, and the National Art School. She is a recipient of the 2013 Martin Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the 2016 John Crampton Postgraduate Award, and was recently shortlisted for the 2018 Ivan Jurtiz Prize at Kings College, selected by Turner Prize winning artist Gillian Wearing. She has undertaken residencies at The Cite Internationale des Arts (Paris), Cove Park (Scotland) and the ZKU (Berlin). Hirst has exhibited widely, recently as part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 17 in London and Newcastle, the Courtauld East Wing Biennale at Somerset House, Video Contemporary at Carriageworks and, NEW16 at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art.