Sanlam Private Investments, in collaboration with Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Durbanville, has initiated South Africa's first National Portrait Award. A significant single prize of R100,000 will be awarded for the best portrait. In addition to the prize, the winning portrait along with a selection of approximately 40 entrant works will be exhibited at the Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, after which the exhibition will tour to venues around South Africa in collaboration with the Sanlam Art Collection and VISI magazine. Artists are challenged to enter works which exemplify their ability in the medium of their choice, excl.uding lens-based media . More here

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“Creative Currencies: Accessing Opportunities in an Expanding Marketplace” is die tema vir vanjaar se kunstekonferensie wat in Augustus deur die Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) in Johannesburg aangebied word.Die konferensie word van 6 tot 8 Augustus in die UJ-kunstesentrum op die Kingsway-kampus van die Universiteit van Johannesburg aangebied.Die konferensie sal fokus op die kommersiële en handelsaspekte van kulturele en kunste-aktiwiteite in Suid-Afrika en elders. Vanjaar se konferensie het reeds die deelname en ondersteuning van verskeie praktisyns in .Source

By Theresa Smith. Native Work by Andrew Putter. Nokilunga Memeza and Endinalo Memeza as A Native Mother and Child, 2012.South Africa returns to the contemporary art exhibition, the Venice Biennale, with something of a reintroduction this year, with 17 artists, a long-term commitment from government and an actual curatorial vision, writes Theresa Smith OSTRACISED for decades because of apartheid, we made a return to the Venice Biennale in 1993, but our presence has been spotty and fraught with controversy around choices and intent. Minister of . Source

By Lauren Ross. In the 1990s, a long held suspicion was confirmed: the US Central Intelligence Agency secretly sent Abstract Expressionism and other forms of American art and music abroad in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a propaganda campaign to assert American cultural dominance in the Cold War era. The first chief of the CIA division spearheading that campaign stated why the operation had to be clandestine: “It was very difficult to get Source

From armed robbery, to Mission Impossible -style tactics, thieves have taken much trouble to steal renowned artworks. Nearly a hundred years ago, the Mona Lisa was stolen and while it was recovered two years later, there are a number of stolen masterpieces that remain untraceable. Take a look at the art crimes that have the FBI and international police forces Source

A new music video released by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei mocks state power.Two emotionless prison guards watch Ai Weiwei as he eats, sleeps, paces, showers – and even sits on the toilet – in the Chinese artist's new obscenity-filled, metaphor-rich music video mocking state power. The video accompanying the visual artist's single Dumbass – released Wednesday but blocked online in mainland China – is meant to reconstruct his 81-day detention in 2011, which was part of an overall crackdown on dissent. Source