Acquisitive Prize Winner

Carla Gottgens

Riot 2023

8mm laser-cut aluminium, automotive paint, mirror treated stainless steel

Seventeen parts; varies between 200 x 38 x 0.8 cm to 158 x 30 x 0.8 cm

Large $1,320 each, Small $880 each

About the Work

Riot encourages the viewer to play within it by mimicking the red-tailed black cockatoos that call The Strand their home. A threatened species in many other places in Australia, the flock that live on The Strand are very much alive and thriving. Their behaviour as they fly with reckless abandon throughout the trees can only be admired and called crazy. The feathers that form Riot allow the visitor to run between them and catch a glimpse of their own behaviour through mirrored discs that adorn the quills. In the same way that groups of visitors to The Strand run, swarm, trip, tumble, gather, laugh and play, so the birds reflect this in their daily demonstration in the tree tops.

About the Artist

Carla Gottgens is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Melbourne (Naarm). She creates site-specific work that encourages interaction and playfulness. Carla has exhibited around Australia and has created permanent public artworks for public collections in regional and metro areas. Her work ranges from sculptural works to murals and surface installations.

Carla recently installed a 15-metre-high soldier on the side of a water tower in regional NSW; a giant walkthrough installation of cut orange quarters for a sporting reserve in Victoria; a tunnel mural in Sydney; and street activations in five separate suburbs in Melbourne and two in Sydney.

Having completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (COFA) and a Master of Fine Arts (RMIT), Carla is increasingly working on community and socially engaged projects.