ABSA (updated below)

^{Ruth Sacks (image from joaoferreiragallery.com)
Photographic documentation of Don’t Panic, 21 March 2005, Skywrite, Cape Town CBD, approx. 2 X 18 km. Photo: Mario Todeschini}

For those who haven’t heard, last night’s ABSA L’Atelier went to a deserving Ruth Sacks, who showed video documentation of her clever and beautiful piece, Don’t Panic. From joaoferreiragallery.com:

On Human Right’s Day, March 21 (2005), she paid a pilot to write the words ‘Don’t panic’ in the sky over the Cape Town city bowl. The ‘don’t’ blew away long before the ‘panic’ did.

A mostly strong and diverse show, where merit prize winners include Nathani Luneburg (video), Riason Naidoo (video), Anet Norval (mixed media), James Webb (print that doubles as documentation for a site-specific installation) and Nomusa Mary Makhubu (polyptych of four digital prints that took the Gerard Sekoto prize). On the one hand, I think the awards should be applauded for their recognition of conceptual and new media work – both Webb and Sacks exhibited minimalist art that coupled as documentation for (beautifully executed, IMNSHO) larger-scale interventions already accomplished, and there were several video pieces in the top ten finalists. On the other, it was a bit of a coup for the priveleged – ABSA does not provide equipment for its participants, as the Kebbles used to. (My art "career," for example, basically started thanks to the Kebbles’ recognition of work they had provided the necessary gadgets for, and I still only put prints in other competitions, given lack of such support – contrary to popular belief, I can’t afford to buy my own equipment most of the time, and certainly can’t afford to buy it then lose it for ages. Most media art producers are in the same boat.) This means that our video peops had to provide their own projectors, players and / or screens for about 6 months while decisions were being made – not to mention the site-specific pieces’ probable cost and support needed from the artists and/or third parties. From what I can tell, there were less than a dozen video entries in total, so the fact that so many were awarded makes a statement to both sides of this argument – both ABSA’s committment to recognize, and their lack of support for, new media and large-scale work.

I suppose that the awards have erred on the side of rewarding more "continental" (note intentional euphemism, denoted by quotation marks) art, historically (thus their reasoning behind the Gerard Sekoto prize – for a bit of balance). My own tastes are probably in line with theirs, so I won’t go off on destructive tangents, but given their proclamation of being "the oldest and biggest" competition in SA – with the absence of the Kebbles – perhaps it’s time to offer provisions to those working with advanced media?

Update: just had a glance at the catalogue, and they put my work in it upside down, and said I went to ‘Trisch’ School of the Arts for my Masters. I had a good laugh.