Shortlisted artists vie for R40,000 prize and solo exhibition.

Cape Town based gallery StateoftheART is pleased to announce the ten artists shortlisted for the 2021 StateoftheART Gallery Award.

A panel of five judges oversaw the shortlist selection process and will continue to participate for the final determination round. The finalists were chosen from more than 600 submissions from across South Africa, with the judges scoring the artists on the creativity, originality and technical skill of their entries to this year's Award theme ‘On The Brink, Visualising Climate Change’.

“I would like to thank the jury panel of Strijdom van der Merwe, Ashraf Jamal, Nadja Daehnke and Lucinda Jolly for their dedication to this thoughtful process, and to all of the artists for their participation this year. We look forward to announcing the winner at the opening ceremony of the Finalists Exhibition in October” says Jennifer Reynolds, owner of StateoftheART.

Climate crisis is the defining issue of our lifetimes and has recently come to the fore with the release of the UN's latest IPCC Assessment report earlier this month, which The Daily Maverick describe as a "code red for humanity". 

“Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet. The world’s best scientists have tried to wake-up politicians to the climate crisis, now we’re counting on artists to help.” – Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org

The work of the shortlisted artists will go on show in a special exhibition at StateoftheART’s Cape Town gallery from 16 - 30 October 2021, and the winner announced at the Award Ceremony on 16 October 2021. The winner will receive a R40 000 cash prize and a solo exhibition with the gallery in 2022.

Shortlisted artists:

• Dominic De Villiers
• Given Muronga
• Janet Ormond
• Kristen McClarty
• Liesl Roos
• Mfundo Sizwe Ziphozonke Mngomezulu
• Rozelle Greyling
• Sylvester Mqeku
• Theophelus Rikhotso
• Tumelo Mphela

For further details on the Award, to be invited to Award Ceremony or to arrange a viewing, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Notes to the editors:

The members of the StateoftheART Gallery Award 2021 jury are Strijdom van der Merwe, Ashraf Jamal, Nadja Daehnke, Jennifer Reynolds and Lucinda Jolly.

About the Award: StateoftheART launched the inaugural StateoftheART Gallery Award in February 2018, to unearth undiscovered talent by artists from across South Africa and provide a platform for artists to gain industry recognition and boost their career. The 2019 Award winner Balekane Legoabe held her acclaimed debut solo exhibition ‘What It Feels Like To Be In Water’ in May last year.

About StateoftheART: Established in 2010, StateoftheART is an independent gallery specialising in affordable contemporary art by early and mid career South African artists. The gallery offers an online ‘click-to-buy' service for collectors unable to visit in person.

For further media information/interview opportunities please contact: Andrea Stallbom : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 “Getting recognition in this competitive expo industry is immensely rewarding”

Leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser Spintelligent has won four major awards at the *ROAR Organiser and Exhibitor Awards in Johannesburg which honour excellence in the exhibition and events industry on the continent. The awards were organised jointly by the Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) and the Exhibition & Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA).

*ROAR = Respect, Opportunities, Achievement, Recognition

African Utility Week, Spintelligent’s flagship energy event for the last 17 years, was the joint winner in the Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category, sharing the honours with the World Travel Market.

Agritech Expo Zambia won two awards: for Best Trade & Consumer Exhibition 12000+ sqm and for Distinction in Social Responsibility Award.  The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, which was a launch event for the company in 2016, won the Best Confex category. The DRC Mining Week was also a finalist in the Social Responsibility category.

“It was a clean sweep for Spintelligent and I could not be prouder of our teams”, says an excited Spintelligent MD David Ashdown. “We work incredibly hard to produce successful, relevant and innovative events for our clients in exciting industries such as energy, agriculture and mining. To also get recognition from our peers in this competitive expo industry is immensely rewarding as it inspires us to work even harder and to take things up a notch every year.”

He adds: “the AAXO ROAR Awards honoured both long-standing events such as African Utility Week, to a more recent project such as Agritech Expo as well as a launch show, African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, which is part of our new property portfolio. It shows that we are still on the right track, while also receiving the nod of approval for our newer initiatives.” ROAR Awards

• Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category (joint winner)
  
  The 17th edition of African Utility Week, the flagship pan-African power and water platform, will take place again in Cape Town in May and gather some 7000 attendees from around 80 countries, including many African nations, as well as 250 exhibitors and 299 high-level conference speakers while more than 80 power and water utilities will be represented.
  
  Spintelligent’s Group Director for Power, Energy and Real Estate, Le-Ann Hare Keymer says: “we share Africa’s goals of economic growth and prosperity for all, especially working in the power, energy and real estate sectors. It is a privilege to be part of the continent’s development through our events and particularly to be recognised for excellence and innovation”.
  
  
• Best Trade & Consumer Exhibition +12000 sqm Award and Distinction in Social Responsibility Award
  
  “The Agritech Expo Zambia team is honoured and thankful for the recognition of what they have achieved over the last three years” says Emmanuelle Nicholls, Natural Resources Group Director, “building the event from scratch in a field in the middle of Zambia.” She adds “their commitment, blood, sweat and tears bear testimony to the uniqueness of this event.”
  
  The fourth edition of Agritech Expo Zambia will also return to Chisamba in April – last year the outdoor farming expo attracted a record-breaking attendance of 17 605 visitors. The expo also has an outreach programme at the local Golden Valley Basic School, where, with the assistance of numerous event sponsors, it is assisting the school with much needed infrastructure upgrades, equipment supplies and management of the school’s farm.
  
  
• Best Confex Award
  
  “Winning Africa’s Best Confex for the inaugural African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit is testament to the creativity, innovation, resourcefulness and hard-work that the entire Spintelligent event team contributed to the project” says event director Richard Stubbs. With the support of Wesgro and the Transport Development Agency, we look forward to realising the vision of a continental meeting place for African Built Environment professionals, and hopefully many more awards along the way.”
  
  More than 300 sector experts will gather for the second edition of the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in September in Cape Town this year with interactive sessions that focus on key case studies of visionary city planning, investment opportunities in the commercial and residential real estate sectors across the continent.
  
  
• Distinction in Social Responsibility Award – finalist
  
  DRC Mining Week takes place again in June, hosting more than 1500 visitors in the mining hub of Lubumbashi. The event is also an active supporter of the Kinsevere Community School Project in Lubumbashi, which includes the preparation of hot meals for 500 children on Sundays, access to water through a borehole and the school sponsorship of 25 gifted kids in the community.
  
  The DRC Mining Week team has been working hard to grow within and outside the company” says event director Elodie Delagneau, “and while our big brother event, Agritech Expo, was a well-deserved winner in this category we are incredibly proud to have been a finalist and this just motivates us to up our game!”

Spintelligent is well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include Agritech Expo Tanzania, CBM-TEC, Kenya Mining Forum, Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon), iPAD Nigeria Mining Forum, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.

Website: http://www.spintelligent.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/spintelligent

Media contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3500
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