eBusiness Weekly
Arts Correspondent
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe recently held an outreach to Artist Communities to extend a Call to locally-based sculptors, on behalf of the Posts and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).
The leading Telecommunications organisation has shifted into new sleek quarters, and as such, the mise en scene in their new domain will be amplified by an artwork that is expressive of Great Zimbabwean creativity.
At Chitungwiza Art Centre, the Call was launched with the Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Raphael Chikukwa, meeting the artists working at this esteemed location.
The outline of the competition was described exhaustively to the practitioners at the centre, with a Question and Answer session following the brief.
Chikukwa pointed out that in the preliminary stages of the competition; the artists were to execute prototypical models in plaster, clay or stone, which would be submitted to the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in all its locations throughout Zimbabwe, and thereafter go through a strenuous adjudication process.
The Chairman of Chitungwiza Art Centre, Taurayi Tigere, expressed appreciation to POTRAZ for the empowering opportunity that has been offered to Zimbabwean Sculptors.
With the centre hosting over 150 artists, the competitive edge that the POTRAZ has stimulated in the creative sector will go a long way in spurring interest among corporations, particularly in the fostering of arts patronage.
The process of the competition also works in giving the Art Community a better understanding of the Mandate and Vision of POTRAZ; while the execution of the artworks is undoubtedly crucial, the organisation’s circumspection of realising a World Class, fair and competitive regulatory environment, with universal communication services in Zimbabwe by 2020 reaches a newer audience.
The form which it takes is through reflection through this Public Art which shall be highly responsive to these ideals. Chikukwa went on to visit Tsindi Art Community, Friends Forever, Dominic Studios, Tengenenge and Bulawayo in order to touch base with the communities there, in connection to the Call that has been made by POTRAZ.
The emphasis on the need for works which encapsulate Transparency, Responsiveness, Integrity and Teamwork was put across to all local art practitioners and an understanding of consumer rights which POTRAZ stand for, was described to ensure the best work would be executed.
A deadline for execution of works was set at 21 September, 2018, to be followed by jury processes which would culminate in a short-list of sculptors, before the announcement of the National Winner.
