MELBOURNE.- The inaugural Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, valued at $100,000, has been awarded to Australian video artist Angelica Mesiti. Angelica’s project is the first to be selected for this prestigious visual art commissioning series, an initiative of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).

In making their decision the judges commented on the wide range and high standard of submissions, a reflection of the vitality, diversity and strength of Australian moving image culture.

Angelica’s project The Calling will be the first of five $100,000 commissions to be awarded biennially over the next decade. Each commission aims to support the creation of a major moving-image artwork, providing financial support, curatorial and production expertise to help bring the artists’ concepts to fruition. The commission series also aims to cultivate greater appreciation of moving image art among Australian audiences.

The inaugural winner, Angelica Mesiti, will receive $100,000 to develop her immersive, multi-channel video installation over the next year. The Calling focuses on whistling languages, ancient forms of non-verbal communication which are still used today to communicate in isolated and difficult landscapes. Angelica’s work, which she proposes to shoot in three communities in Greece, Turkey and the Canary Islands, was described by the panel as “sophisticated and compelling.”

“I’m absolutely thrilled my proposal has been chosen for the inaugural Ian Potter Moving Image Commission. It’s a generous commission that has pushed me to think about expanding the possibilities of my work. I can’t wait to begin the project with the team at ACMI, and am very excited about presenting the work there in 2014”, said Angelica.

ACMI Director and Chair of the IPMIC Judging Panel Tony Sweeney said: “We are very excited to award Angelica the commission. The Calling promises to be an enthralling work that continues Angelica’s interests in performed cultural heritage, and its adaptation and survival within contemporary culture. Angelica’s sensibility is poetic, lively and immediate, attuned to subtle relationships between performance, musicality and the visual image. This opportunity will allow her to explore the nuances of her subject-matter in a work of great beauty, which will speak to a broad range of contemporary audiences.”

Trustee of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Lady Potter AC, echoed Tony Sweeney’s sentiments saying: “This has been an exciting process to be involved with. The moving image is a big part of the future of Australian visual art, bringing together many creative disciplines, and providing a rich form of expression for ideas to be presented. This work by Angelica will be an exciting installation that draws on her multidisciplinary background and skills, and I look forward to seeing its realisation.”

The Calling will be presented in early 2014 in ACMI’s Gallery 2. An edition of the work will enter the ACMI Collection and will sit alongside works by renowned Australian and international artists including Johan Grimonprez, Mona Hatoum, Anthony McCall, Bill Viola, and most recently new commissions by Candice Breitz, Ian Burns and Warwick Thornton.

Angelica Mesiti is a video artist currently based in Sydney and Paris. With a substantial Australian exhibition history and a growing international profile, Angelica’s work is currently being shown in the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s new international platform for contemporary art. In 2012 she was included in NEW12 at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, as well as the TarraWarra Biennial: Sonic Spheres. In 2011 she was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and Hurstville City Council to create The Begin-Again. This same year she exhibited in several international group shows, including the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival in Sao Paolo; The Barbican, London; Kunstmuseum, Bonn; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; and Aram Art Gallery, Seoul. Angelica was awarded a grant from The Ian Potter Cultural Trust in December 2008 to undertake a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.