Daimler Contemporary
11 October - 1 March 2009
Forwards
08
Daimler Awards for Contemporary Art in Japan, South Africa and USA
Kevin Brand
Preisträger Mercedes-Benz Award
for South African Culture
Samson Mudzunga
Mercedes-Benz Award for South African Culture
The Daimler Corporate Art Department has been involved in offering and presenting, organizing and defining promotional prizes for contemporary art and culture since the early 1990s, always co-operating with the local Daimler companies in South Africa, Japan and the USA.The Daimler Award for South African Culture, established to give young people working creatively in the field of culture their first international exposure, is being awarded for the seventh time since its founding in 1999.
In 2000, the first award went to the Johannesburg artist Kay Hassan. The jazz musician Themba Mkhize won the Daimler Award in 2001, and the artist Jane Alexander was awarded it as the Daimler Award for South African Sculpture in 2002. Jane Alexander's impressive sculptures and photographs were presented in Berlin in Haus Huth, as were Kay Hassan's large-format collages, videos and installations as well as Guy Tillim's photos.In 2003 the Daimler Award went to the choreographer Sbo Ndaba, and the photographer Guy Tillim won it in 2004, followed in 2005 by Gabeba Baderoon, who accepted the Award for South African Poetry, linked with a reading in Berlin and a publication.
All the prize winners were invited to Germany, and were then involved in appearances or exhibitions in various South African cities. A first large-scale publication or CD is part of the prize.
The eight architects or architecture practices and their major projects from the various South African provinces nominated for the Daimler Award for South African Contemporary Architecture - the Award was given to Heinrich Wolff - have been presented in 2007 in Berlin as well as in Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban and at the Architecture Biennale São Paulo.
The Award for 2009 will be dedicated to Fashion Design. For 2010, the year of the world soccer game in South Africa, an extensive presentation with appr. 80 nominees celebrating '10 years Daimler Award South Africa' is planned.
> more information about
the Mercedes-Benz Award for South African Culture