Mercedes-Benz
for South African Culture
Introduction
Award
2005 for South African Poetry
Gabeba Baderoon
Award
2005 for South African Choreography
Sbo Ndaba
Exhibition
view Award for South African Architecture 2007
in Daimler Contemporary Berlin
In 1999, Mercedes-Benz initiated the Award for South African Culture, thereby founding the most prestigious cultural award in South Africa to date. The Award has been established to give young people working creatively in the field of culture their first international exposure as well as encouraging substantial presentations in their country. The Award is presented annually, each year in a different category. The categories since 2000 have been Art, Jazz, Sculpture, Choreography, Photography, Poetry, to be supplemented in the future by Art Projects in Public Spaces and Fashion Design.
Nominees must be under the age of 40. Until now, circa 80 nominees reached the selection process. The circa 100 nominees in the various categories foreseen for 2010 will represent the essential core of South African art and culture in the first decade of the 21st century.
Award Ceremony 2003 in Museum Africa, JohannesburgThe procedure until now has been first to convene a preliminary Selection panel composed of ten representatives from each respective discipline, who are working in South Africa, invited (with regard to province of origin, public or academic institution, ethnicity, gender etc) on a quota basis that reflects the social composition of South Africa. This Selection proposes between 8 and 10 nominees (as joint nominations lead to a reduction in the final number).
The next step is to organise a public presentation, after which a second Jury panel, composed of local and international jurors, selects the winner. This procedure assures a high level of interaction and expertise.
Kay Hassan in his studio
In 2000, the first award went to the Johannesburg artist Kay Hassan. The jazz musician Themba Mkhize won the Mercedes-Benz Award in 2001, and the artist Jane Alexander was awarded in the field of South African Sculpture in 2002. Jane Alexander's impressive sculptures and photographs were presented in the public exhibition space Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, as were Kay Hassan's large-format collages, videos and installations.
Award
2000 for South African Art
Kay Hassan
Award
2000 for South African Jazz
Themba
Mkhize
Award
2002 for South African Sculpture, Jane Alexander
Lecture by Marilyn Martin, Director Capetown National Gallery
in the exhbition Daimler Contemporary Berlin
2003 the Mercedes-Benz Award went to the choreographer Sbo Ndaba, and the photographer Guy Tillim won it in 2004, connected with a first solo exhibition of his work at Daimler Contemporary Berlin. Tillim has since then been recognized as one of the leading contemporary photographers, his photos series were shown e.g. at the Sao Paulo Biennale 2006 and documenta Kassel 2007.
Guy Tillim, award winner 2004 with DaimlerCEO Prof. Jürgen E. Schrempp
In 2005 Gabeba Baderoon accepted the Mercedes-Benz Award for South African Poetry, linked with a reading in Berlin and a publication.
The 2007 award in the Architecture field went to the Cape Town-based architect Heinrich Wolff. All the prizewinners 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 award enabled all the winners to take the crucial step into the international art and culture spotlight.The themes "Art Projects for Open Spaces" and fashion design will follow between now and 2010. The project will be rounded off by major presentations (status may 2007, not fixed yet) for all the roughly one hundred artists, nominated since 2000, in Pretoria and Berlin on the occasion of the Football World Cup in South Africa.
Market Place Museum Africa, Johannesburg
The Award is not intended to honour meritorious and completed work. Projects that point the way forward and genuine expressive forms are to be commended, and supported and promoted in this way.
