THE FNB Vita Art Awards has copped out of competition mode. But there’s no need to write an obituary. Vita is definitely not on its way out. In conjunction with the Sandton Civic Art Gallery, it has come up with a new contemporary art prize.
This award, says Vita director Phillip Stein, aims to promote contemporary art and provoke interest and debate around new artistic developments.
This year, for the first time, the public will participate in the selection of artists by nominating those they think put together an outstanding body of work during 1996.
A panel of selectors who themselves have nominated artists will consider all nominations. They include Bongi Dhlomo,director of AICA, Frank Ledimo who lectures in art at the Wits Technikon, art critic Kendell Geers and Okwui Enwezor, director of the 1997 Biennale.
Public nominations close on May 16. Nomination cards are available at galleries and bookshops