The winners are Janine Allen and Rudolph Tshie, who tied and will therefore share the award’s career development grant of R100,000 between them. Janine Allen had two artworks in the Exhibition: The Island (a mixed media installation) and The Incarnation of the Puti (a mixed medium painting). The Exhibition housed three of Rudolph Tshie’s oil paintings, namely Mebarakeng (The Market), Sunsets on Power and Kaalplass Gathering (Waiting).

Vandalizim is a healing ceremony performed by Zim Ngqawana and Kyle Shepherd in the desecrated body of The Zimology Institute. The film of this event, The Exhibition of Vandalism (60 minutes, Sound Recordist, Jabu Mxhaka, Filmed and Edited by Aryan Kaganof) has been edited as a springboard to a further improvisation that will take place live in the City Hall.

The screening of the film will be followed by the duet of Kyle Shepherd (on piano and violin) and Zim Ngqawana (on woodwinds) playing compositions which were inspired by vandalism on The Zimology Institute’s farm earlier this year. Two grand pianos were heavily vandalized and the building was stripped of all electrical connections and was left a shell. Other items broken during the act of vandalism are also incorporated in the composition.

Filmed by Aryan Kaganof from African Noise Foundation, and coordinated by Zaide Harneker, this event is a fundraising effort towards rebuilding The Zimology Institute. The Institute is grateful to all those participating in this fundraising event.

V A N D A L I Z I M featuring ZIM NGQAWANA and KYLE SHEPHERD
Place: Cape Town City Hall, Darling Street (opp. Grand Parade)
Date: Friday, 30 April 2010
Time: 20h00
Cost: R70 (at the door); R50 (pre sold at Africa Centre, 44 Long street)

Please feel free to contact Africa Centre on 021 422 0468, or e-mail matthews@africacentre.net. More information on the musicians and filmmaker are available on request.

Farzanah Badsha – a Spier Contemporary curatorial team member – is conducting free tours at the City Hall every Wednesday at 11am and every Saturday at 2pm until the 14 May 2010.

Live performance art sessions will be held on the following weekends before the Exhibition closes on the 14th May. The performance weekends are:

• 10 and 11 April;
• 24 and 25 April; and
• 8 and 9 May.

Performances will run from 11am to 12pm and 3pm to 4pm on the Saturday, and 3pm to 4pm on the Sunday.

On the 10 & 11 April the performance schedule will include:

• Newspaper Persona by Phillipe Wayumba Wa-Yafolo;
• Shift by Mamela Nyamza;
• Elcarim: Turning Wine Into Water by Nina Liebenberg; and
• Walking Together by Philippe Kayumba Wa- Yafolo.

For more information on the actual performances, click on the links above, or visit the Exhibition page of the Spier Contemporary website.

Spier Contemporary is open from 10am to 6pm every day until the 14th May 2010 (including public holidays). Admission is Free.

The Exhibition comprises 132 artworks from 101 artists. Many of these artworks are performance pieces. Video ‘residue’ of each performance is permanently showing at the Exhibition.

To get the full benefit of each artwork, live performance sessions will take place over four weekends:

• 27 and 28 March;
• 10 and 11 April;
• 24 and 25 April; and
• 8 and 9 May.

Performances will run from 11am to 12pm and 3pm to 4pm on the Saturday, and 3pm to 4pm on the Sunday.

On the 27 and 28 March the session will run in this order:

• Voices by Maurice Mbikayi – outside: meet at the entrance to City Hall
• Newspaper Persona by Phillipe Wayumba Wa-Yafolo – outside: meet at the entrance to City Hall
• Itch by Mxolisi Nkomonde
• Lullaby: A Hair Dance To The Music Of ‘Kalimba Lullaby’ By Mr. Cat And The Jackal by Lean Coetze
• Inferno by Mlu Zondi
• Walking Together by Philippe Kayumba Wa-Yafolo

For more information on the actual performances, click on the links above, or visit the Exhibition page of the Spier Contemporary website.

Spier Contemporary is open from 10am to 6pm every day until the 14th May 2010 (including Easter and public holidays). Admission is Free.

www.spiercontemporary2010.co.za • 0860 111 458 • join the facebook group and follow us on twitter.com/spiercontmp2010

This weekend, the Pan African Space Station and Liquid Fridge present ARD-16: crazed sound and light on Saturday night, 20th March, another opportunity to party with the art. Details on facebook here.

On Sunday evening – the 21st March, a Human Rights Day photographic exhibition with live music and DJ’s presented by SWEETHONEYBEAT productions. For more information, check it out online here.

If that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite to get you to Cape Town City Hall, Rotesserie 360 has a cafe serving delicious food, and the Fringe has a pop up store every day of the Exhibition. Details are available here.

And, there’s more to look forward to in the weeks to come, as Cape Mic hosts a series of concerts, the first featuring Dave Ledbetter in Concert with Buddy Wells, Kesivan Naidoo, Andrew Lilley and Lee Thomson on Wednesday the 23rd March. More details for further concerts join the Facebook group here. Here is the line up:

• 23rd March -  in Concert with Buddy Wells, Kesivan Naidoo, Andrew Lilley and Lee Thomson
• 27th March – Gordon Vernick (US) Quartet
• 30 March – Classical night including works by Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Lizt and Milhaud with Reese Barkhuizen (piano), Petra Hofmeyr (violin) and more!
• 6th April – Adrian Mears and Feya Faku with Kesivan Naidoo and Charles Lazar
• 13th April – Rus Nerwich Mantras for Modern Man
• 17th April – Madosini and Derek Gripper
• 20th April – Feya Faku Quintet
• 27th April – Akoustik Knot with Sixteen Reasons String Quartet

Tickets will be sold at R50 per performance. Tickets will be available at the door. (Grand Parade Entrance CIty Hall)

Performances will begin promptly at 8pm. Keep and eye on this website or the twitter feed, to keep up to date with what is going on at Spier Contemporary.co.za
To debate with us visit the blog: http://openforart.blogspot.com

The prizes awarded consist of a combination of five cash prizes, worth R500 000 in total, selected by the judging team and seven international artist-in-residency prizes made by the individual residency programmes.  In addition, a ‘People’s Choice’ Award (based on votes by those visiting the Exhibition) will be given at the end of the Cape Town leg of the Exhibition.

The cash prize winners are (in no particular order):

• Araminta de Clermont – (photography)
• Dave Robertson – (photography)
• Jessica Gregory & Zen Marie – (video installation)
• Christopher Swift - (mixed media)
• Hasan and Husain Essop – (photography)

The Artist-in-Residency Awards were awarded as follows:

• Gyeonggi Creation Center, South Korea (two awards provided): Lindi Arbi and Mohau Modisakeng;
• The Instituto Sacatar and the Sacatar Foundation on the Island of Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil (two awards provided): Sicelo Ziqubu and Jacki McInne;
• 18th Street Arts Centre in Los Angeles, California, USA: Mlu Zondi; and
• Thamdigi Foundation Prize in Arnhem, Netherlands (two awards provided): Angela De Jesus and Johann van der Schijff.

The judges, N’Goné Fall, RoseLee Goldberg and Mark Coetzee, flew in from their respective international bases to deliberate over the work in the week leading up to the launch of the Exhibition. Their choices reflect the high standard of new media works submitted to the 2010 competition. The judges were not given any specific criteria to assist them in their choices.

The artist-in-residency awards were chosen by representatives of the organisations awarding the residencies and their choices are informed by diverse influences. Each award affords the winning artist an excellent opportunity to simply be artists in a new and stimulating environment, whilst also developing invaluable connections.

By nature of its content as a contemporary art exhibition, the Spier Contemporary 2010 reflects South African life in all its forms. Strong themes, which emerged from the work, include a search for identity, examination of the state, lack of faith in our leadership, FIFA World Cup representation and interpretations of urban landscapes.

The Africa Centre, which developed the Exhibition, is conscious of the need to engage with a wider audience for art. To this end, the Spier Contemporary 2010 is housed at the Cape Town City Hall; close to commuter routes and in the midst of a retail, office and residential mix that is also a primary port of call for tourists. Entrance is free and the Exhibition is open from 10h00 till 18h00 seven days a week (including public holidays). A café and shop will also share the premises. The Spier Contemporary 2010 is also expecting to host 3,500 school learners at the Exhibition in partnership with the Ibhabhathane Project, funded by a grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).

The Spier Contemporary opens to the public at 10h00 on Sunday, 14th March 2010.

Blog – http://openforart.blogspot.com/
Facebook - Spier Contemporary group
Twitter - http://twitter.com/spiercontmp2010
Youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT8t6XuUYI8

Presented by the Africa Centre, the Spier Contemporary 2010 is made possible with the generous funding of Spier.

The exhibition winners will be announced at the Opening Ceremony on Saturday, 13 March 2010. The project will award nearly R 1.8 million directly to the artists. This is apportioned as acknowledgement grants (R4,000 per artist exhibited), five career development grants totalling R500,000, one audience choice award of R100,000 and seven international arts residency awards.

Presented by the Africa Centre (www.africacentre.net), the Spier Contemporary Art Exhibition will showcase the work of 101 artists from across South Africa. (Spier Contemporary comes hot on the heels of another Africa Centre project, the Infecting the City Public Arts Festival that took Cape Town by storm in mid-February 2010.)

If contemporary art is defined as ‘art that is created now’, then the Spier Contemporary is the visual and aural barometre of what it is like to live in South Africa in 2010. Comprising of 132 artworks from 101 artists, distilled from over 2,700 national submissions, the artists have contemplated and exposed every element of the South African condition: our fears, our joys, our humour and our trepidations. It speaks to the past, and imagines the future. It serves up a plethora of views and challenges us to think differently. It gives us a poetic, private moment with our world.

Reflecting something for everyone, the themes in the exhibition range from the struggle for identity to a lack of faith in our leadership, from mediatations on urbanisation to revisiting memories. There is irony, humour, self-reflection and cultural play.

The Spier Contemporary is the largest biennale of South African art staged in the country. This extraordinary show features artists who work across the diversity of media, including sculpture, painting, photography, installation, video and performance art.

The Contemporary 2008 was held on the Spier Estate outside Stellenbosch. Prior to moving on to Johannesburg.  This iteration, the Africa Centre will be launching the Exhibition at Cape Town’s City Hall. The City Hall was chosen based on its position at the heart of the City, allowing it to be easily accessed by all.  Admission to the exhibition is free and it is open seven days a week from 10am till 6pm (public holidays included).

The Spier Contemporary 2010 is expecting to host 3,500 school learners at the exhibition. The educational programme is in partnership with the Ibhabhathane Project, and is funded by  a grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).

The Spier Contemporary 2010 also houses a pop-up café by Rotisserie 360 that will serve light meals and has a fully licensed bar. The Fringe Arts Shop will sell the Spier Contemporary artworks and catalogue. It will also sell other functional art.

Many exciting events have been planned for the two month duration of the exhibition until 14 May 2010. Accompanying the formal weekly artist’s walkabouts are debates and discussions, open mic sessions, poetry readings, wine tasting, live music sessions (both classical and contemporary), Creative Cape Town meetings, radio workshops, and public and private functions. Keep checking back on this website for details.

The Spier Contemporary 2010 is presented by The Africa Centre and is made possible by the generous funding of Spier.

In an exhaustive national curatorial effort, 101 artists have been selected from the 2,700 plus entries submitted. The resultant exhibition of over 132 works will be on display from 14 March – 14 May 2010 at Cape Town’s City Hall (further national exhibits are planned).

The competition is marked by its lack of criteria for entry. The Spier Contemporary 2010 asked only that the artists live in South Africa.

The selection of works comprises a cross section of mediums and inspiration.

Exploration and searching for identity is a core element of the work. Cultural and race issues are still being unearthed and reviewed in a post-apartheid coming-of-age. Artists grappled with the “State” as a reflection of failed expectations, lack of leadership and disappointment. Soccer commentary also emerged as a strong theme, with many artists questioning the absence of real community benefits surrounding the forthcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup. Humour and self-deprecation ensure that the lighter moments of life are included in the show.

Digital art and photography emerged very clearly as popular mediums for this year’s competition, which also includes a strong sculptural showing and performance art dimensions.

At the heart of the project; producers, The Africa Centre, have a vision to create and support artistic initiatives that centralise the African perspective and approach. The Spier Contemporary arose in part from a need to find a national voice for South African art, but also to reflect South African contemporary art within the definition of an African Contemporary Art framework. Says Africa Centre director, Tanner Methvin, “Perceptions of African Art are often connected to the historic, we wanted to provide a platform for art that defies this limited perspective and transcend African art out of its box into what it is – contemporary art.”

A total prize money of R1.2 million and seven artist in residency programmes worth over R600 000 (to places as far afield as South Korea and Brazil) will be awarded to the finalists and winning artists. Winners will be announced on the 13 March 2010.

A printed catalogue of the exhibition can be ordered directly from The Africa Centre by emailing spiercontemporary@africacentre.net

One of the Africa Centre’s primary objectives in attracting audiences to the Spier Contemporary 2010, is to communicate the message that art is open for all.

Everyday ordinary people of different backgrounds, education, geographical and social groups are encouraged to see the Spier Contemporary 2010. Being both free of entry and centrally located at the Cape Town City Hall, the Spier Contemporary 2010 has a real shot at making that happen.

With over 134 artworks, by 101 artists, selected from over 2700 submissions; the exhibition is a mirror for South African society right now. It’s also an opportunity to change public perceptions of art; making it free to access, open to anyone to view and representative of a cross-section of age, race, gender, medium and subject matter.

The Art Activism Project

In conjunction with Word of Art, The Spier Contemporary has launched an art activism project to generate debate, awareness and enthusiasm for contemporary art – hoping also to create new audiences for art.

Art Ambassadors

Through a network of emails, Facebook, blog, internet and direct conversations a core group of ‘art ambassadors’ was harvested to ensure that Spier Contemporary’s Open for Art message was effectively communicated to a greater audience.

A workshop at the City Hall raised interesting debate about who has access to art and how we can change perceptions around art as a ‘closed shop’. The ambassadors have gone forth to spread the message that art is open and that people need to open up to it.

Wrap Day – Activism in Motion

A call to action was issued to all those who love art – and want others to love it – to participate in a virtual flash mob activity on Friday, 5 March, 2010. Using paper or fabric, sheets, table cloths, scarves or bin liners the Spier Contemporary challenged participants to wrap something – it could be anything – and leave it wrapped for someone to find. See the results on Spier Contemporary’s group on Facebook.

Behind the idea was the notion that things, when wrapped, are differentiated. A wrapped object is set apart by being mysterious. Why is it wrapped, what is underneath? It’s a thinking that is informed by the eye of the beholder. Once unwrapped, The Spier Contemporary Exhibition hopes to do just that – change people’s perspectives by having us look at our everyday environment differently – through the eyes of our artists.

WHAT CAN PEOPLE DO?

• Come to the Spier Contemporary 2010, seven days a week between 10am and 6pm
• Tell your friends and family to do the same
• Join the conversation on Facebook :: Spier Contemporary
• Watch our blog http://openforart.blogspot.com
• Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/spiercontemp2010

Further art activism stunts are planned for the duration of the Spier Contemporary exhibition 14 March – 14 May 2010.