MTN New Contemporaries Award 2006 winner announced
Young artist Mlungisi Zondi from Durban has won the 2006 incarnation of the coveted MTN New Contemporaries Award. Zondi was awarded the prize of R50 000 and a cellphone at an event at the Johannesburg Art Gallery on April 23. Guest speaker Professor Andries Oliphant announced the award. The other finalists were Nandipha Mntambo, James Webb, Julia Rosa Clark and Sharlene Khan. Zondi, whose challenging performance piece deals with gender issues, now takes his place alongside previous winners Usha Seejarim and Thembinkosi Goniwe (joint winners in 2001) and Thando Mama (winner in 2003) as an important new voice in SA contemporary art.
Mlu Zondi, a Drama and Performance studies graduate from Durban Institute of Technology, was named as the winner for his piece Silhouette. Zondi, a Drama and Performance studies graduate from Durban Institute of Technology was the recipient of R50 000 for his efforts. Zondi together with his partner Ntando Cele formed the experimental theatre company 'Sololique Projacts'. Some of his accolades thus far include the performance of Sololique-tohubohu for the South African Ambassador in Switzerland, and a performance of Sololique-Rafiki at the Lausanne International Dance Festival. Together they have also performed on numerous occasions at the Durban Art Gallery's 'Red Eye', and Zondi's next performance is set for 'Red Eye: Access Denied' on May 26.
The MTN New Contemporaries Award is unique in that it is unsolicited by the artists it honours: it evolves from a shortlist of emerging artists drawn up by a curator, a 'specialist in contemporary art'. 2006's curator is Johannesburg Art Gallery Contemporary Collections Curator and art practitioner Khwezi Gule. Over the course of a number of months, Gule visited studios across SA in 'a quest for the best', specifically seeking new talent that would 'jettison old stereotypes'. Gule's shortlist was then submitted to an independent judging committee, which selected the winner. This year's judges were cultural producer and curator Zayd Minty, curator and writer Melissa Mboweni, provincial chairman for the Visual arts Network of South Africa Nathi Gumede, Director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery Clive Kellner, and MTN Art Collection curator Philippa Hobbs.
A combined judges' statement was released: 'The winner and finalists of the MTN New Contemporaries Award have presented works that are interesting and unique in different ways: innovation from tradition, spirituality, labour issues, popular culture, relationships with media, and questioning conventional forms of art'. Speaking on behalf of the MTN Foundation, Dr Meshack Khosa said 'MTN's success "everywhere you go" isn't just about providing networks that enable communications across countries and continents, therefore, but about facilitating change that brings long-term benefits'.
