2017 IAPA Selection panel

The selection panel for the 2017 International Award for Public Art (IAPA) met in Shanghai on 27 and 28 May to review more than 140 case studies of art-led place making. The projects were nominated by the Institute for Public Art network, and presented to the panel by professional researchers. 

The international panel of jurors, invited to contribute their specialist knowledge of the seven regions of the world from which the case studies were drawn, were: 

Prof Derrick Cherrie

Professor Derrick Cherrie commenced with QCA in May 2015. Prior to that, Derrick was Head of the Elam School of Fine Arts, a School of 450 students that sits within the University of Auckland's National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI) and is widely perceived to be the premier school of fine arts in New Zealand. Professor Cherrie is among the leading contemporary artists in New Zealand and has exhibited his work throughout the country. His sculptural work is both imaginative and innovative in its ability to connect the built environment to the human body.

Wang DaWei

Professor, Advisor of Institute for Public Art (IPA), Dean of Fine Arts College, Shanghai University, Chief Editor of Public Art, the Standing Council Member of Chinese artists, Deputy Director of the Arts Council of Graphic Design, member of Chinese Artists Association, Chairman of Shanghai Creative Design Workers Association, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Artists Association, member of Master of Fine Arts Steering Committee of Education Ministry, member of Environmental Art of Shanghai Metro Construction Committee, member of Art Committee of Shanghai Art Fair, Vice Director of Art Committee of Shanghai Art and Design Exhibition. 

Jasmeen Patheja

By drawing attention to sexual harassment on the streets, Jasmeen Patheja transforms attitudes towards an often-trivialized problem known in India as “eve-teasing.” Through her Blank Noise project, Jasmeen employs a variety of strategies—from advocating for effective legal mechanisms, to staging theatrical public protests, to using new technology to publicize offenses—to reach out to victims, perpetrators, and spectators involved in sexual harassment in public spaces.  

Jay Pather

Jay Pather is an Associate Professor at University of Cape Town. Directs the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA). Curates the Infecting the City Public Art Festival; the ICA Live Art Festival and the Afrovibes Festival (Amsterdam and UK). Recently appointed Fellow at University of London and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

Tamsin Dillon

Tamsin Dillon is a Curator. Current projects include Curator, 14-18-NOW and Curator, Kings Cross Partnership. She is committed to an innovative and challenging curatorial practice; developing opportunities for artists to create new work for diverse audiences to experience art both within and beyond the confines of the museum and gallery. She developed Art on the Underground through a series of project strands that has enabled its growth across the network in London, including permanent and temporary projects as well as participatory projects that engage stakeholders, partners and a wide range of publics. Public events, publications as well as on-line and digital platforms ensure that the programme reaches audiences globally. 

Katia Canton

Katia Canton is a writer, artist and curator born in São Paulo, Brazil where she currently lives. She is an Associate Professor of Contemporary Art at University of São Paulo since 1994 and vice-director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, since 2014. She holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts from New York University and a Diplôme of French Literature from Université de Nancy II. She has written around 45 books on art and stories, for adults and children, and won many literary prizes in Brazil and in the U.S.
As a curator, she has worked in many projects in Brazil and internationally Among them, she was guest curator for the 24-São Paulo Bienal in 1998 and curator of the Brazilian artistas for a major international exhibition called L´Art Dans le Monde 2000, in Paris.
As an art critic she has written for many publications worldwide, particularly for Artforum magazine, where she has been guest editor in São Paulo for many years. As an artist, her research on fairy tales and the feminine has been shown in many museums, cultural centers and galleries.

Mary-Jane Jacob

Mary Jane Jacob is a curator who pioneered public, site-specific, and socially engaged art in the US. Her anthologies include Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art and Chicago Social Practice HistorySeries. Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she also directs its Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice.