For this year’s edition of Spier Light Art 2026, running from 6 March to 6 April 2026 and free to enjoy, curators Vaughn Sadie and Jay Pather.
- They have selected works from 21 South African artists that probe environmental crises, social memory and post-apartheid realities, alongside more abstract explorations of perception, technology and the cosmos.
Unlike a conventional exhibition, visitors navigate the farm at night, encountering artworks along winding paths.
Sadie says there is no fixed route, no prescribed experience.
“The exhibition invites audiences to immerse themselves in the sensual and ephemeral interplay of light and sound, allowing curiosity and intrigue to guide their journey.”
“At its core, light art is more than illumination: it is a lens through which we perceive, reflect and question the world.”
The artists, selected from an open call, were invited to explore light in all its conceptual, socio-political and cultural dimensions.
“It’s often a very intuitive decision to cluster a group of works together in the landscape,” says Sadie.
“Something about their scale or composition sets up an interesting dialogue that speaks back to the curatorial semantics across the whole exhibition. This year, there are the direct and immediate neon text pieces that celebrate the South African vernacular, whilst other works illuminate unexpected intersections between technology, infrastructure and the natural environment.”
“Light determines time. It’s a rare opportunity to step away from the glare of screens and experience light in its most elemental form, allowing visitors to wander freely in the company of strangers, similarly transfixed by the effects of the nocturnal interplay of light and sound,” says Sadie.
While there is no fixed theme, the curators are well-attuned to how the light conditions of everyday life determine human safety, wellbeing, literacy and privilege.
“Shared thematics emerge each year from the artworks shortlisted from the open call. This year, it’s very much a collective kind of exhibition. There’s a shared interest in memory and ways of accessing the past,” says Pather.
“If you look at Kenneth Shandu’s work, with the umbrellas and the soundtrack of the rain, for instance, for me, it’s less about the environment and more about the lack of service delivery. Even though parts of Khayelitsha end up underwater every winter, there is this infuriating lethargy in relation to transformation. And people are starting to realise what’s really up. This is a curatorial framing that has begun to emerge: taking the time to think and reflect on the forms that have brought us to where we are.”
This year the exhibition will continue its international exchange program, welcoming Swiss artists Florian Bach and Kerim Seiler, whose site-specific projects respond to the South African context, creating a dialogue between local and global perspectives on contemporary light art.
Find YOUR light at Spier Light Art 2026 and ENJOY!
WHAT: Spier Light Art 2026
WHERE: Spier Wine Farm, Annandale Road Stellenbosch 7600
WHEN: 6 April 2026 | Daily at dusk
BOOKING: entry and sunset picnics Dineplan | 4 OPTIONS: Entry Ticket only FREE – with Burger R140 – with Vadas Pizza R195 – with Picnic R395
INFO: VISIT
