After boycotting AI art prize, artists return
Some artists rejected the Brisbane prize for accepting AI. Now they are entering again.
In 2024, the Brisbane portrait prize opened to AI-generated entries. Several well-known artists walked out in protest.
Photographer Russell Shakespeare compared it to 'drugs in sport'. Wiradyuri artist Birrunga boycotted in 2024 and again in 2025.
They called AI art 'decoration' that lacks cultural content. Now several artists are entering again.
Artist Jackie Ryan made a finalist work called 'The Catch'. It features a photograph of comedian Alice Fraser surrounded by AI-generated figures in a claw machine.
Ryan spent years using digital tools to blend photos into graphic novels. They see AI as simply the latest creative tool.
The prize opens Friday. The debate over whether AI-generated work counts as legitimate art is still unresolved.
- Friday
- Prize opening
- $50,000
- Lord Mayor's prize
- Krea
- AI software used
- Alice Fraser
- Subject photographed
Why it mattersThe prize highlights an unresolved question. Should AI-generated work compete equally with human-created art?
AustraliaThe Brisbane prize's stance on AI art shapes how Australian artists compete and how the local art world defines legitimate artistic practice.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 7 d ago
