Spier's Durban leg cancelledby Michael Smith
Despite a hugely successful run in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the
organizers of the Spier Contemporary have been forced to cancel the
traveling competition exhibition's final leg in KZN. The Spier's Durban
appearance was scheduled for opening in mid-August at the Durban Art
Gallery. Yet this is not to be.
New director of the Africa Centre Mike
van Graan has attributed this shock cancellation to 'sponsorship which we
understood to be agreed to originally by a public sector donor' being
'drastically reduced'. Van Graan went on to say, 'At short notice, and as
a Section 21 company with limited resources, we were faced with the option
of a downscaled exhibition or cancellation, and in order to preserve the
brand and integrity of the Spier Contemporary, we elected the latter
option'.
Approached for comment, Spier Contemporary curator Clive van
den Berg voiced his disappointment, saying 'the behaviour of the Durban
sponsor was extremely irresponsible'.
Brenton Maart, curator of Durban's
premier gallery the KZNSA, said, 'I think that it's a serious blow for the
visual arts picture in Durban. As it is, the city is under-resourced and
underfunded, and in terms of callibre of exhibitions that go to other
centers, Durban seems to suffer�. To have missed an opportunity like this,
a show of this callibre, and as a result to jeopardize possible
partnerships between city of Durban and the Africa Center is, worrisome. I
think in future we should do everything within our means to avoid a repeat
of this; one way of doing this would be to increase financial support of
the visual arts. This should also be reflected in the annual city budget,
and shouldn't be on an ad hoc basis.'
As an art competition and
accompanying exhibition, the first Spier Contemporary achieved
unparalleled success in SA: a reported R3 million worth of media exposure
was generated, which saw nearly 20 000 visitors to the Cape Town and
Johannesburg incarnations of the event. Furthermore, the Spier has
resulted in approximately R1.2 million worth of artwork sales, the
proceeds of which have gone, in their entirety, to the artists. The Spier
has also done wonders for many artists' profiles: van den Berg says that
he is contacted virtually on a weekly basis for the contact details of
artists chosen for Spier for some further opportunity.
Despite this sour
note, planning is underway for the 2009 Spier Contemporary, and
announcements regarding the process's details will soon be made public.
