Gaving Younge and Wilma Cruise selected for 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Designs Contest in Beijing
Sculptors Gavin Younge and Wilma Cruise have been selected as finalists for the 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Designs Contest in Beijing. An international panel of experts reviewed about 2500 entries from 82 countries and regions around the world to draw up a shortlist of 277 works, models of which are touring Chinese cities until November.
Their collaborative work, Umoya Inkululeko (Spirit of Freedom), depicts a generic fingerprint of an unborn child. It would stand 16 metres high in realised form, created from laser-cut aluminium. Younge and Cruise submitted their collaborative entry electronically in February this year and, after shortlisting, had a month to submit the maquette.
The sculpture contest is one of the many public cultural activities associated with the 29th Olympic Games and is organised by The China Artists' Association Sculptures Art Committee together with the Beijing Jin Tai Art Museum. Younge said the contest had no particular theme other than the spirit of the Olympics.
Following the domestic travelling exhibition, 110 of the artworks will be selected for an international tour that will continue until June next year. Between October and December 2007, 29 awards of gold, silver and bronze will be made according to the verdicts of a panel complemented by public voting. The plan is to then erect the winning sculptures in various Chinese cities, which can apply to host particular works.
The Beijing accolade is one in a series for Younge and Cruise, the most recent being their successful entry in a national art competition organised by the Department of Science and Technology for its new Pretoria premises.
The duo's successful working relationship began during 2004 when Cruise was completing a residency in Grahamstown and Younge was installing a three-panel work for the Rhodes University Centenary celebrations. Their first collaboration was for a Port Elizabeth sculpture competition, in which they were among eight shortlisted entries.
