The highly awaited biennial Spier Contemporary is drawing near to its 2010 season opening, with the announcement of the selection of 100 finalists from a pool of 2,700 entries submitted nationally.

Starting on Sunday 14 March at the Cape Town City Hall, the Spier Contemporary will host the top 100 art works, with final winners to be selected from each of the genres exhibited. Digital art and photography emerged as the popular mediums for this year's competition, including strong sculptural and performance art dimensions.

Jay Pather, once again on the curatorial team, spoke of the angst apparent in the submissions this year. "Contemporary art is a measure of our society. A lot of the work reflects the search for identity – it suggests that we are a nation in crisis."

"We did not seek to narrate or shape this reflection", Pather says. "It is what it is and often art speaks to us because it echoes our truth."

Many moments of wry humour, playfulness and musings penetrate the sobriety of the chosen works. A total prize pool of R 1.2 million and six international artist-in-residency programs will be awarded to the winners, due to be announced on Saturday 13 March.

< GO BACK