I would not categorise myself as an art aficionado. However, I do appreciate art and the more I learn, the more appreciative I become. Cape Town is certainly a creative hub in South Africa and we are fortunate to have so much high quality art available to us.
I attended the Design Indaba a short while ago and I was blown away by the creativity and talent that was on display. Cape Town is bidding to become the World Design Capital for 2014, and it would be awesome if we won that.
Right now there are 3 great art exhibitions which you need to visit. The first one is the Spier Contemporary exhibition at the Town Hall. The Spier Contemporary art competition is the biggest art competition in South Africa and takes place every two years. The exhibition consists of the works which were accepted into the competition. The winners have been announced and the exhibition will be at the Town Hall until the 15th of May.
Linked to this is the exhibition at the Waterfront. One of the winners of the Spier Contemporary competition, Chris Swift, has co ordinated an exhibition at the V&A Waterfront using the original fencing from Robben Island. This year is the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela and this exhibition is a commemoration of that starting point of our move to a democratic country. The fencing held Nelson Mandela, Tokyo Sexwale, and many others captive for decades, but now it has been removed from the island and now represents the fall of apartheid just as the Berlin wall represents the fall of communism.
The exhibition, entitled ‘Time on our Hands‘, consists of several art pieces, created by current and past Michaelis students and curated by Justin Brett. Chris Swift has created an installation piece in the courtyard in front of the Robben Island Gateway and the rest of the exhibition is located in the old Mannenberg Jazz Cafe inside the Clocktower mall. You can read more about this exhibition here.
The third exhibition that is worth checking out is the new exhibition at the National Gallery. Entitled ‘1910-2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective‘, the exhibition spans 100 years of South African art and is most fascinating. Read more about it here.
Each of these is well worth a visit, I suggest you diarise to check them out.
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