Thanks to the Joan Emanuel Trust, the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts (KZNSA)
has for many years awarded generous prizes for an annual exhibition of art
submitted by its members. As the numbers of submissions have increased over the
past few years, KZNSA has decided to take this opportunity to develop the
competition into a nationally recognised group show of exciting KZN work.
The Member Awards are adjudicated by an independent panel of judges and
due to space constraints in the gallery, only selected works will be eligible
for the prizes in 2020.
Submissions that are not selected for judging, but respond to the
criteria, will be installed in the gallery as part of the final exhibition.
Schools are invited to submit the work of Grade 10-12 learners for
selection. Selected works will be exhibited in a schools installation. This
work is not eligible for prizes, but selected young artists may qualify for
school colours.
CRITERIA:
-Artists are members of the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts,
-Medium: Work can be 2D or 3D and any medium, including digital,
performance and sound. The media gallery is available for digital and film submissions.
-Size: Dimensions of work cannot exceed 1.5 m.
-Date of work: Works to be made in 2020 for the KZNSA Members’
exhibition, in response to the theme.
-Rationale/artist statement: Artists to provide a written concept
statement of their interpretation of the theme.
The KZNSA Exhibition sub-committee reserves the right to select work for
the judges’ consideration for prizes, and to decline space for work that does
not meet the criteria.
2020 THEME: X
The antepenultimate letter of the English alphabet, X serves as an
essential representation of variability and the unknown. Used to indicate a
number or name that is not known or stated in maths or legal documents, the
letter was appropriated by civil rights activist Malcolm X to symbolise the
African family name he could never know. X has been recognised as the
non-binary symbol for gender in pronouns and titles, and adopted as a feminist
symbol by many womxn.
“It is the mark we are forced to make when voting, and which illiterate
people were urged to use as a stand-in signature.It stands for affection in our
social media, hidden treasure on a pirate map and the Roman numeral 10, as well
as a mark for something incorrect and a whole lot more. What can it inspire in
art?,” say the exhibition organisers.
AUCTION OF MEMBERS’ WORK
Following on from the success of the 2019 Members’ art auction, the
KZNSA invites participating artists to donate work for auction.
This works as follows:
When you deliver your piece to the gallery you can indicate if it’s
available for donation, whether it’s 100% donation or 50/50 split, and the
reserve price.
If it is unsold at the end of the third week of the Members’ exhibition
it will be on a silent auction in the gallery for the duration of the fourth/last
week of the exhibition. People wishing to acquire the work will fill in their
bids on a piece of paper installed next to the work. The person with the
highest bid at 12h00 on Sunday March 29, 2020, will be notified that it is
theirs.
KZNSA IMPORTANT DATES:
Exhibition: March 6 to 29. 2020
Opening March 5 from 17h30
Delivery dates: February 29 from 09h00 to 16h00 and March 1 from 10h00 to
14h00
Auction week: March 24 to 29, 2020
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