Spier Light Art 2024: Call For Proposals

Spier is proud to announce the sixth edition of Spier Light Art, which will be exhibited throughout the historical wine farm from 1 March to 1 April 2024. The success of previous years highlights the event’s significance in the cultural landscape of the Western Cape and shows the potential of this unique art form to encourage viewers to reflect on contemporary South Africa.

Artists and designers (professionals, students, and institutions) are invited to submit expressions of interest for projects and video-based artworks that engage all age groups.

The call for submissions is open to all performance and visual artists, designers, and architects working with light, sound and/or video.

The Spier Arts Trust will completely or partially fund installations chosen by the Selection Committee, headed by curators Jay Pather and Vaughn Sadie. The selection is not confined to a theme but themes that artists may use as a prompt include the ethereal and the whimsical; artworks that speak to technology, issues that affect South Africa, resilience, enchantment and exuberance, and the working wine farm.

Categories of work may include:

• Site-specific work (designed for specific places on Spier Wine Farm)
• Sculptural, object-based work
• Interactive art
• Digital works that foreground technology
• Video art

Online briefing

The curatorial team will hold an online briefing on Friday, 15 September 2023, at 17:30. Please RSVP to lightart@spier.co.za before 13 September 2023.

Submission requirements and process

Expressions of interest must include:

• Artist/collective/studio biographies of all involved (200 words);
• A short overview of the conceptual interests of the work and specify which category the submission falls under (300 words);
• A concise description of the work, including concept sketches (300 words);
• A description of the audience interaction/engagement with the work if not a video (300 words);
• A provisional but realistic and well-considered budget indicating whether it is to be funded entirely or in part by the Spier Arts Trust; and
• Web links to and/or images of the proposed work or, if not already developed, examples of previous work.

Email your expression of interest to the Project Manager at lightart@spier.co.za before 27 September 2023. A more thorough proposal may be requested after the shortlist is announced.

Spier Light Art 2023

The fifth edition of the exhibition took place in March and April 2023, and showcased an array of light, sound and video artworks throughout the farm. Over 6 000 people viewed the artworks, ranging from interactive installations to pieces that invited the visitor to pause and reflect. Previously showcased artworks will offer ideas for the kinds of works the Selection Committee is interested in featuring. Refer to last year’s programme for inspiration:

The community and national media praised the Spier Light Art exhibition for its safe and beautiful environment, child-friendliness and for providing a profound and poignant opportunity to play, interact and reflect.

Art, like food and wine, is best shared, which is why Spier is such an enthusiastic supporter of African artists and their creations. Housing one of the largest contemporary art collections in the country, Spier believes in the power of the visual arts to teach and inspire, encouraging us all to engage openly with our world and each other. With such a thriving local artistic community and rich cultural heritage, Spier is excited about the future of South African art.