Van Eck, the 2025 overall winner of the Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition, will return to the Pretoria Art Museum this September with his first major solo exhibition, Die Vallei van Adem.
The exhibition forms part of the opportunity awarded to the competition’s overall winner and will open alongside the 2026 Sasol New Signatures exhibition, continuing the platform’s commitment to giving emerging South African artists the opportunity to develop their practices and present their work on a larger scale.
For Van Eck, Die Vallei van Adem represents the next stage in an artistic journey that has already seen him move from Merit Award recipient in 2024 to overall winner in 2025.
His winning work, Cycles of the Mind, introduced the ideas of breath, water and sound that now form the foundation of his upcoming exhibition.
“Winning Sasol New Signatures has given me the opportunity to push my practice further and realise my ideas on a much larger scale,” says Van Eck.
“Die Vallei van Adem asks people not simply to look at the work, but to activate it.”
That progression is central to what Sasol New Signatures aims to achieve.
Now in its 64th year, the competition is South Africa’s longest-running platform for emerging visual artists, providing artists with exposure, recognition and opportunities to develop their practices.
For Sasol art curator and Sasol New Signatures judge Cate Terblanche, Van Eck’s development demonstrates the value of that continued support.
“Juandré's work demonstrates a remarkable understanding of material, concept and audience engagement,” says Terblanche. “He transforms ceramics into something that is not only visually compelling but also deeply experiential.”
At the centre of Die Vallei van Adem is a collection of ceramic sound vessels, each constructed from two connected chambers. When visitors gently move the sculptures, air is drawn through the vessels and moves through water, producing sound.
Each vessel has its own voice. Smaller works create higher tones, while larger forms produce deeper sounds, allowing the sculptures to come together as something closer to a choir than a collection of individual objects.
It means the exhibition is never entirely fixed. As visitors move through the space and interact with the vessels, they contribute to an evolving soundscape, making the audience an active part of the artwork rather than simply an observer.
“Every interaction gives the sculptures breath and voice, making each visitor part of the artwork itself,” Van Eck explains.
The idea builds directly on Cycles of the Mind, the ceramic work that earned Van Eck the 2025 Sasol New Signatures title. That piece explored the rhythmic patterns of breath, using water and whistles to give the ceramic form a voice.
There is something fitting about an exhibition called The Valley of Breath that depends on its visitors to breathe life into it.
Van Eck’s work turns the usually quiet, contemplative experience of viewing sculpture into something participatory, where movement, sound and touch become part of the artistic process.
It also reflects the evolution of an artist whose work has grown significantly through his involvement with Sasol New Signatures.
Terblanche notes that his journey, from a Merit Award in 2024 to the overall title in 2025 and now a solo exhibition, is a testament to the opportunities created by the competition for emerging artists.
Alongside Van Eck’s exhibition, the 2026 Sasol New Signatures exhibition will showcase 123 selected artworks from this year’s competition, bringing together some of the newest voices in South African visual art.
Together, the two exhibitions offer a snapshot of both emerging talent and the continued development of an artist who has already made his mark on the competition.
Die Vallei van Adem and the 2026 Sasol New Signatures exhibition open to the public at the Pretoria Art Museum on 10 September 2026 and run until 8 November 2026.
