AAAA 2011 and the State Theatre Centre

I have to admit I did not find the awards ceremony particularly inspiring, but I think this was largely because I was mostly unfamiliar with the people being awarded prizes.

The winners that I was most excited by were:

Janet Holmes à Court, who received the National President's Prize. Originally an organic chemist, nowadays she contributes in many ways to Australian culture and society, including being the commissioner for the Venice Architecture Biennale (in 2010, and to be in 2012).

Graeme Gunn, who received the 2011 Gold Medal. A youthful old man, he has created a ploy to make us follow him! Each talk he gives around Australia will be on a different area of his work. In Perth, the theme was 'courtyards'. I was fondly reminded of Beijing, where he too was inspired by the siheyuan (courtyard houses).

The ceremony itself was excellently put together. I was amused by the pre-movie-like-adverts, but the background digital displays were flawless, and this is such a rare thing to occur that I greatly admire whichever technician was in charge of this! Simon Pendal was the Master of Ceremonies.

The State Theatre Centre was also a wonderful venue, and I think perhaps in many cases, half the reason we wanted to go to the awards!