Mark Amery
Critic and Commentator on the visual and performing arts, Dramaturg, Curator and Arts Developer, Member of the Telecom Prospect 2004 Curatorial Advisory Panel

First there is something that stops you in your tracks. Something funny, something sexy, something odd, something magnificent, something ludicrous, something twee or something just plain beautiful.

Then there's something else. Something that hooks you in. Some kind of mystery that won't let you be. Something that continues to live with you long after you've discovered it. Something you realise you've carried away with you. Something you would go back again and again to regain. Something that comes to you when you're washing and drying the dishes. Something that rings and then resonates for you. Something that leaves some people leaning up against pillars and walls, away in a dream.

It's something you own for as long as it has the life to smoulder or shudder. It's something that reaffirms the value of living. Something that reminds you that some of the sweetest rewards come when you take the time to stop, to think, to feel and to savour.