Spier Contemporary Opens

Spier Contemporary 2010, the country's most lavishly funded exhibition, opened  at the Cape Town City Hall on Saturday night March 13, with a gala event which started on the pavement outside, where the crowd was treated to a sung performance. At 8pm, the doors were opened and guests flowed inside to view the work of 101 artists in all media. It was the first time such an event has been held in the City Hall, and the plans are for the City Hall to become a new cultural centre for the city,...

Spier Contemporary Opens

Spier Contemporary 2010, the country's most lavishly funded exhibition, opened  at the Cape Town City Hall on Saturday night March 13, with a gala event which started on the pavement outside, where the crowd was treated to a sung performance. At 8pm, the doors were opened and guests flowed inside to view the work of 101 artists in all media. It was the first time such an event has been held in the City Hall, and the plans are for the City Hall to become a new cultural centre for the city, according to Andrew Boraine, chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership, and one of the opening speakers.  The evening ended with a free flowing dance party.

The most eagerly awaited moment of the evening came with the announcement of the winners. 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: Araminta de Clermont (photography); Dave Robertson (photography); Jessica Gregory and Zen Marie  (video installation); Christopher Swift (mixed media); and Hasan and Husain Essop (photography).

The Artist-in-Residencies were awarded as follows: Gyeonggi Creation Center, South Korea (two awards provided) - Lindi Arbi and Mohau Modisakeng; The Instituto Sacatar and the Sacatar Foundation, Bahia, Brazil (two awards provided) - Sicelo Ziqubu and Jacki McInnes; 18th Street Arts Centre in Los Angeles, California, USA - Mlu Zondi; Thamdigi Foundation Prize in Arnhem, Netherlands (two awards provided) - Angela De Jesus and Johann van der Schijff.

The judges were curator N’Goné Fall, from Senegal, New York based RoseLee Goldberg director of Performa, and Mark Coetzee, Programme Director of Puma.