6 March – 6 April
From 6 March to 6 April 2026, Spier Light Art returns for its eighth edition, transforming the historic Spier Wine Farm into a luminous playground of contemporary creativity. As dusk settles over the vineyards, light becomes both medium and message, guiding visitors through a sensory journey of art, memory and reflection.
Curated by Vaughn Sadie and Jay Pather, this year’s exhibition features works by 21 South African artists, alongside Swiss artists Florian Bach and Kerim Seiler as part of the festival’s international exchange programme. Together, their site-specific installations respond to environmental crises, post-apartheid realities, social memory, technology and the cosmos.
A Journey Without a Map
Unlike traditional gallery exhibitions, Spier Light Art unfolds across winding pathways, riverbanks and open landscapes. There is no prescribed route. Visitors navigate intuitively, guided by curiosity and the shifting glow of installations that shimmer, pulse and flicker against the night sky.
“The exhibition invites audiences to immerse themselves in the sensual and ephemeral interplay of light and sound. At its core, light art is more than illumination: it is a lens through which we perceive, reflect and question the world.”
says Sadie
Pather adds that while there is no fixed theme, shared concerns naturally emerged from the open call selection process.
“This year, it’s very much a collective kind of exhibition. There’s a shared interest in memory and ways of accessing the past.”
Artworks That Illuminate South Africa’s Present
The 2026 edition explores light as metaphor, protest, archive and awakening.
Kenneth Shandu’s When the Sky Falls uses illuminated umbrellas to reflect on recurring floods, climate injustice and the systemic inequalities that leave communities vulnerable. The installation offers a space for remembrance and resilience.
In ‘EISH’, Joe Turpin employs neon text to capture the frustrations and contradictions of post-1994 South Africa, inviting viewers to consider what has prompted their own moments of exasperation.
Thando Mama’s 1994 (I) (Revisited) offers a multimedia meditation on the country’s democratic journey, while Strijdom van der Merwe’s Artifacts reimagines colonial design motifs with indigenous San and Khoe rock art influences, symbolising dual recognition of South Africa’s layered heritage.
At the Eerste River, Stephen van den Heever and Amy Leibbrandt present A Moment of Rest for Those Who Can’t, a semi-circular structure that gently frames the landscape, creating space for stillness in an anxious world.
Light as Surveillance, Sanctuary and Cosmos
International artist Florian Bach’s Spill floods a riverbank with industrial lamps, transforming natural terrain into a zone of surveillance and raising questions about human control over the environment. Meanwhile, Kerim Seiler’s Pneuma, Somnambul forms a dynamic sculpture of illuminated beams that pulse against the landscape, creating an ethereal presence that contrasts natural and urban contexts.
Collectives and interdisciplinary artists further expand the dialogue. Safe in the Shadows by Qondiswa James, Nathalie Ponlot, Themba Stewart and Jonathan O’Hear reclaims darkness as sanctuary, while Kunye Collab’s Lumen Vitae explores the symmetry between the human body and the cosmos through concentric circles of light.
From Mawande ka Zenzile’s neon meditation on “ubugqi” (intuitive knowledge) to Tiago Rodrigues’s intervention responding to Spier’s historic slave bell, light becomes archive, resistance and awakening.
Experiencing Light in Its Elemental Form
Spier Light Art 2026 is not simply an exhibition — it is an invitation to step away from digital glare and experience light in its most elemental form. As visitors wander among strangers equally transfixed by glowing sculptures, flickering projections and immersive soundscapes, the farm transforms into a shared space of contemplation.
Open daily at dusk from 6 March to 6 April 2026, the exhibition continues to position Stellenbosch as a key destination for contemporary art in South Africa. Bookings for entry and sunset picnics are available via Dineplan, with further details accessible through Spier Wine Farm’s official platforms.
In 2026, light does more than illuminate — it questions, remembers and connects.
