Arts in the Valley is extremely pleased to announce that Sophie O’Brien, the new Curator and

Director of Education, Bundanon Art Museum and Trust, has accepted our invitation to be a

prizes judge.

Sophie O’Brien is an internationally experienced and recognised art curator, director and writer.

Before Bundanon, she previously held senior curatorial roles at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery,

New Zealand, Curator for Contemporary and British Art at the Tate Britain in London, then

Senior Exhibitions Curator for Serpentine Galleries London, where she oversaw the opening of

the second Serpentine space and curated the inaugural exhibition for the building, Adrián Villar

Rojas: Today We Reboot The Planet. She has curated exhibitions and visual arts programs for

Artspace Sydney and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, where she delivered numerous

exhibitions and publications and curated the visual arts program for the Perth Festival 1999-

2001. She has also worked for the Australia Council.

Sophie works on projects that are part installation, part improvisation, part theatre, part

performance art, including many large-scale commissions with internationally-noted artists and

architects. She lead the exhibition teams for the Australian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale

and Biennale of Sydney.

At Bundanon, she oversees their $43 million art collection, delivers an exciting roster of

contemporary and international exhibitions and directs their Artist-in-Residency program of

artists, thinkers, researchers and writers. She sees Bundanon as a gift of having space and

time to think new thoughts, have new experiences and be transformed.

We are absolutely delighted and honoured to welcome Sophie O’Brien to our senior team and

judge for the $22,000 in prizes at Visual Arts in the Valley 2022.