Armchair art viewing
Although galleries are accessible to most, their operating hours can sometimes collide with our busy lifestyles. No more.
Sasol is celebrating nearly three decades of sponsoring the New Signatures Art Competition.
But one thing this year is completely different: the 360 Virtual Tour is the first of its kind in South Africa and, following in the footsteps of the National Gallery in London which is rumoured to have had the first-ever virtual gallery tour, it’s changing the way that art is viewed.
The Sasol New Signatures Art Competition is currently on at the Pretoria Art Museum until October 9.
And for all those who are not able to get there, there is the virtual tour.
“It has provided art enthusiasts who cannot visit the gallery with an opportunity to experience it” said Sasol Group Online Media Manager MJ Khan.
“For those who have been to visit the gallery, they can relive this special memory.”
The virtual tour is also linked to Google Street View, so when people are searching for the museum they will be able to click and enter it digitally (so that they have a taste of what’s to come).
The virtual tour is worth doing even if you have done the real thing as you are able to view every room in the Pretoria Arts Museum and find out more information about every single piece of art and the artists, including an informative Q&A session with the Winner’s Circle.
Best of all, overseas art collectors are exposed to the cream of South African artistic talent at the click of a button.
With the massive increase in multimedia art submissions this year, last year’s winner Nelmarie du Preez can understand the leap.
“Younger artists are growing up in the digital age and, having travelled the globe for exhibitions since winning the competition last year, I’ve definitely noticed a leaning towards multimedia and digital she said.
With this in mind, the virtual gallery is the ideal way to showcase the winning multimedia art.
This includes the digital video, Delicates, from runner-up Paul Andries Marais, and the solo exhibition from Du Preez – a series of performance-based videos, which centre around society’s love-hate relationship with technology.
Cape Town-based artist 54-year-old Zyma Amien was crowned the winner of the 2016 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition for an incredible mixed media artwork titled Paying Homage, which addresses labour issues, particularly within the garment and textile industry. mediums globally,”
View the virtual tour here: