Tapestry Design Prize for Architects 2018 winners announced

A provocative work by Pop Architecture + Hotham Street Ladies – Chaos and Fertility has been awarded first prize in the Tapestry Design Prize for Architects 2018.

The winners were announced by MONA Founder, David Walsh AO at the Australian Tapestry Workshop on Thursday 15 August 2018.

Second Prize has been awarded to Arturo Muela, Paola Ibarra + Daniela Gutiérrez for Colliding Universes in Saint Peter’s Four Meter Woolen Eye and Third Prize to Kevin Liu for After Turrell, Backside of the Moon.

“The first prize-winning entrants, Pop Architecture + Hotham Street Ladies’ respond provocatively to the brief for a tapestry in the Pharos wing of MONA. Their tapestry design Chaos and Fertility, rejects the absence of ornament in Boullée’s practice as well as his ideals of enlightenment and ‘male reason’. Their design playfully responds to Walsh’s brief through their subversion of the western canon, with a focus on transgressive textiles, female history and subjectivity,” said Emeritus Professor Kay Lawrence AM, TDPA 2018 Judging Panel Chair.

The TDPA 2018 attracted a record number of 98 national and international entries, from this 15 finalists have been selected.

“It was fascinating to see how architects worldwide responded to David Walsh’s challenging brief to design a tapestry for the hypothetical site of Étienne-Louis Boullée’s ‘Cenotaph for Isaac Newton’ – this mooted building was the inspiration for the Fender Katsalidis Architects’ Pharos Wing, MONA. In his brief Walsh invites architects to create a design that considers both geometry and chaos and is not constrained by the logistics of design,” said Alice Hampson, TDPA 2018 Judging Panel.

The judging panel for the TDPA 2018 are Professor Kay Lawrence AM (Chair); Timothy Hill; Andrew Burges; Alice Hampson; and Dimmity Walker.

Established in 2015, the TDPA was the initiative of former Chair of the ATW Board Peter Williams, based on the longstanding historical connection between architectural space and tapestry design. The award seeks to foster new creative dialogues between architects and contemporary weavers and offers architects an unparalleled opportunity to consider the capacity by which tapestries can articulate, transform and enrich public and private space.

Two winning designs have been created as tapestries at ATW. One of the 2015 joint award winners, John Wardle Architect’s Design Perspectives on a Flat Surface was commissioned by Judith Neilson AM in 2016. TDPA 2016 winner Justin Hill’s design 22 Temenggong Road, Twilight is currently on the loom and being woven by ATW Weaver Interns under the guidance of master weavers Sue Batten and Cheryl Thornton and in close collaboration with Justin Hill.

The TDPA 2018 is a partnership between the Australian Tapestry Workshop, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and Architecture Media.

Tapestry Design Prize for Architects 2018 exhibition of finalists’ work will be exhibited at the Australian Tapestry Workshop until 26 October 2018.

Australian Tapestry Workshop 262-266 Park Street, South Melbourne. tapestrydesignprize.org