The Thousands

I got to cross the “I AM HAVING A BLAKE PRIZE EMERGENCY!” item off my Arts Bingo Card this morning. One of the reasons for this is that I spent it exchanging theologically-based slut-jokes on Twitter (#AtoningWithFriends, #HereAllWeekExceptForSunday), and now (actual comedian) Brydie and I are an emerging performance duo called ‘The Doctrinal Imports’. This duo will no doubt be awarded the prestigious Blake Prize (for exploring and expressing religion and spirituality in art) next year. The other reason is: some boring things with the internet and whatever.

You, too, can cross off that square because even if you didn’t know it yet, you’re having a Blake Prize Emergency – of the “Hey, I really ought to see that before it closes!” kind. Naqshbondi Greenacre Engagement - a three-channel video work by Khaled Sabisabi in which the viewer enters into engagement with, and participation in, an Islamic Sufi ritual in contemporary Australia – received the prize this year, and while no “Are those rosary beads in your cassock or are you just happy to see me?”, it is really very moving and lovely. This installation and the other works selected as finalists form an exhibition of works of all kinds of media about all kinds of William-Blake-approved-thinking about humanity and eternity. And just remember: “CATHOLIC GIRLS: They like to consume your body.”