Countdown to 2010

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe has for the last six months worked tirelessly towards the launch of the 2010 flagship show Live ‘n’ Direct which is designed to inspire the artists to produce their best work. The artists have been challenged to reflect deeply and produce cutting edge work that speaks on being proudly Zimbabwean within the global context.

The show will run throughout the duration of the 2010 World Cup and will certainly tell the Zimbabwean story with pride and excellence to all the visitors that may care to engage. Foremost though, the show is an engagement with ourselves and the Gallery hopes to inspire the group of high flying local business people that it has already approached to begin their own private collections from the Live ‘n’ Direct offering.

Africa Day is the day set aside for the actual opening of Live ‘n’ Direct, but it also celebrates the annual Culture Week. The opening event is a collaborative affair created by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the National Arts Council, the Spanish Embassy, Culture Fund Trust of Zimbabwe, Greenwood Park Eye Centre and Kingdom Financial Holdings Bank. Live ‘n’ Direct exhibition seeks to uplift the visual arts sector’s status which has been declining due to lack of patronage, the economic decline and absence of hosting major exhibitions in the country.

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe has played an influential role in sustaining the legacy of local art and Zimbabwean art demonstrates diverse and quality talent in the form of its sculptures, paintings, print works, drawings and installations all of which have a bearing on our cultural and social backgrounds. The show is inspired by the grand opportunity the World Cup has presented to Africa. As the National Gallery makes its countdown to the flagship exhibition it aspires to attract art collectors and tourists to the home of diverse Zimbabwean artworks to witness the new cutting edge works.

In a bid to expand the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s Sculpture Garden, an area for sculptures will be created on one section of the garden to accommodate sculptures from the Live ‘n’ Direct exhibition. This exercise will make visible the comparison and transition of works by old master sculptors and the new masters. In addition, this distinguished show will be adjudicated by a panel consisting of local and international jurists. One of the international jury members, Dario Basso of Spain, will be in attendance courtesy of the Spanish Embassy in Zimbabwe.

As well as being a panelist, the artist will also present an installation of his own under the title “Húmedo”. This show is also currently on display to the public in our North Gallery. Other adjudicators include local artists Taylor Nkomo, Andrew Madzivanzira, Heeten Bhagat, Calvin Dondo and Thakor Patel, as well as Zimbabwe born Professor of Art at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Chido Johnson and Polly Savage from the United Kingdom.

Over a hundred works of art are on exhibition and the Gallery has been set abuzz with new ideas, new forms, experimental works and installations.