The 1st Redbull Creativity Contest

Throughout the exhibition in true Red Bull style an exciting fringe program will be provided to create a truly entertaining contemporary art exhibition. This will include live classical musicians, DJ’s and a live radio broadcast on Y-FM.

1st of November will see last day of public viewing. That evening the venue will be transformed into an auction space for the media and invited guests. All artworks will be for sale with 30 of the top pieces put up for a live auction. With the Topsy Foundation as the beneficiary, the 1st Red Bull Creativity Contest will breathe further life into South Africa’s society.

Saturday the 20th of October 2001 was judgment day for the 1st Red Bull Creativity Contest at Spark! Gallery in Norwood, Johannesburg.

Having given up their valuable time, the 7 strong judging panel spent the day viewing, scrutinizing and interpreting the 161 art works chosen to go on final display. The panel was made up of a cross section of people from various creative industries, all of who had an entertaining day in and amongst the artworks.

A big thank you to: Bongani Buthelezi-One of South Africa’s up and coming artists; Stephen Carlton- 5 FM media personality; Richard Gradner- Red Bull Brand Manager; Raina Julies- Editor for Y-Magazine; Nkhenani Manganyi- Trendsetter and TV personality; Donald Paul-Editor of Sa City Life Magazine and TV and Mervilline van der Merver- Award winning photographer.

It was through their insight, experience and knowledge that 3 winning artworks were selected. It must be stated that it proved to be an extremely difficult task. With such a high standard of entries, the deliberation process proved to be pain staking, in the end decisions had to be made.

Red Bull congratulates all those who put in so much time and effort into their creations, in the end: “Flock of Shoes” and incredible creation from the 15 year old Mariske van den Berg scooped 3rd place. The awesome “Pure Energy” sculpture by the architectural student Toby Forbes was placed 2nd. After hours of judging the honour of first place was awarded to Susie Copperthwait for “Light Hands” the brilliant conceptual interpretation of the Red Bull Brand. This and the other artwork are certainly worth viewing at the gallery.

The 3 prizewinners will be flown to Paris for an art experience of a lifetime. Red Bull will ensure that after all the “agony”; there will be plenty of “ecstasy” on hand, in the form of spending money and entertainment for the winning artists.

Should you require any further information, high res pictures of the artworks, interviews with the judges and or winners please contact:

Arun Hozack : Red Bull Communications

021 505 55 34
082 33 77 652