The awards received a record number of entries into the competition with 869 registered entries received, exceeding last year’s total of 698 entrants.
The finalists were chosen from the competition’s various categories, namely, film, industrial design, sculpture, fashion and jewellery. (The architecture entries are still in the process of being judged.) The overall winner, category winners and runners-up will be announced on 18 May 2017 at the UJ Art Gallery in Johannesburg. The overall winner will walk away with a total cash prize of R150,000, while category winners and runners-up will each be awarded R50,000 and R15,000 respectively.
The finalists’ submissions were judged by a panel of industry experts, including well-known architect and director of the awards, Daniel van der Merwe, fashion and design consultant Allana Finley and visual artist Stephen Hobbs. Other noteworthy regional judges include fine artist Mary Sibande, filmmaker Wessel van Huyssteen and Gallery MOMO Cape Town director Igsaan Martin.
“There was a noticeable progression of the physical submissions this year,” says Martin. “It is evident that entrants are researching the limitations of concrete and delivering this knowledge within their artworks. The outcome was innovative submissions that are of exceptional quality.”
Finley adds to this, saying: “I was impressed by the inventiveness of works submitted during the awards’ 2016/2017 cycle. It was inspiring to witness the way in which entrants incorporated the medium of concrete into their submissions and were able to do so across PPC Imaginarium’s various categories. I was excited to find that a big portion of the entries were commercially viable and globally relevant, which is an important aspect to consider with a global partner like PPC Ltd.”
A project of the innovation department of PPC, the PPC Imaginarium Awards challenges artists and designers to express their creative abilities using cement as the primary medium. Members of the public will be able to engage with the finalists’ work at a number of galleries and events across the country, including 100% Design South Africa, the Turbine Art Fair and the KZNSA Gallery, in addition to the exhibition at the UJ Art Gallery.
The list of the PPC Imaginarium Awards 2016/2017 finalists, classified per category, is as follows:
For more information on the PPC Imaginarium Awards, go to www.ppcimaginarium.co.za.
