City Hall
Art lovers will be treated to a feast of artworks from March through to May when the Spier Contemporary 2010 exhibition opens at the City Hall.
March 14 will see the launch of Spier Contemporary 2010, the largest biennale art exhibition in South Africa. The exhibition, which is presented by the Africa Centre, provides local artists with an open platform to create and show new work which reflects the breadth and depth of South Africa. The exhibition promises to be Cape Town’s biggest temporary attraction in the lead up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Following a national selection process after nearly 3000 entries were received, a total of 101 artists and 132 artworks were chosen. The exhibition comprises an exciting mix of art, including performance art, visual art, video and sound installations. Robin Jutzen, one of the three project managers, said a key focus of the exhibition is to entice artists to push boundaries in self-expression and contemporary art practice.
“The Spier Contemporary wants to create an exhibition space for audience dialogue and reflection. With this open approach, they hope to end up with art that is a reflection of the state of our nation. And the team hope that, with this approach they can also grow South Africa’s art audience by enticing new art viewers into their space.”
The pieces were chosen from a national call for submissions, with artworks collected at thirteen selection centres throught South Africa. This represents an increase of 10 percent on the submissions received for the last Spier Contemporary exhibition. This year, the organising team made it easy and practical for artists to enter – they could deliver their work to one of 14 selection centres across the country or via post or email by end October last year. From the work submitted, the curatorial team selected 103 artists. Each finalist will receive R4 000. From this pool, seven awards will be made – the total amount in fees and awards paid out to artists adds up to R1.2 million.
The Spier Contemporary team’s decision to move the exhibition to City Hall in Cape Town was made mainly to allow more people access to the artworks. “We believe in creating new audiences, and we know that there are socio-economic factors that can hamper people’s access to the arts,” said Robin.
In this context, the chosen venue is perfect. There’s a bus terminal, a taxi rank and a train station within walking distance of City Hall. And to make it even more “open”, there will be no entry fee. “We want everybody, from the rich businessman to the street vendor and anyone in between, to see it.” The urban environment in which the exhibition will take place is also in quirky juxtaposition with the countryside setting of the 2007 Spier Contemporary event, which happened at the Spier estate itself. For those who want to relax in between viewing the art on offer, there will be a deli which will serve reasonably priced food, a bar, and coffee, as well as offering free internet access.
The Spier Contemporary has partnered with popular Cape Town café, Rotisserie 360 to provide the refreshments which will include free-range roast chicken, homemade sandwiches and salads, as well as cakes and pastries. These will include tours of the exhibition, debates on the state of the arts, music events, dinner evenings and tours of the exhibition with a group of artists.
The art shop will be curated by Chantal Louw and Thessa Bos of The Fringe Arts. They commissioned pieces from South African emerging and established artists, designers and illustrators. Participants include furniture re-inventor Recreate, jewellery designer Philippa Green and surface designer Skinny Laminx. The store will also feature art from Spier Contemporary finalists and fine art prints published and printed by Warren Editions.
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