Visual arts
Woordfees auction
The fifth annual Toyota Stellenbosch Word Festival online art auction is once again presented in collaboration with Strauss & Co, whose specialists have selected works by both emerging and established artists. The auction continues to place artistic excellence at the forefront, while emphasizing visibility and recognition of contemporary practices. The aim is to encourage both new and experienced collectors to invest in art, expand the market, and improve access to the work of leading local artists.
How to bid at the auction?
Experience the adrenaline, the fall of the hammer and the excitement of attending a live art auction. Who knows? You might just be swept up in the bidding!
10 October | 11:00 | Town Hall
Purchases can also be made online via the Strauss & Co website or through their mobile app. Avoid being outbid by monitoring your item at least an hour before the closing time and taking the opportunity to place another bid. You can monitor the items you have bid on by clicking the “Auction Favourites” button under “My Account”.
If there is bidding activity within five minutes of an item’s scheduled closing time, a five-minute extension period will be added to that item until only one bidder remains. These extensions will continue indefinitely until there is no bidding activity for a period of five minutes, indicating that there is no further interest.
All prospective bidders must register online even if you have previously participated in a Strauss Co auction.
For more information visit straussart.co.za
Less than R10 000
Less than R30 000
Above R30 000
Supported by
Daniel Naudé
Daniel Naudé studied art at Stellenbosch University, and since then his work as a photographer has taken him all over the world. Driven by a sense of exploration and discovery, what he is best known for capturing are meticulously composed moments of stillness.
As festival artist, Naudé offers visitors a first look at Still LIfe, a microscopic diorama project that he has been working on since 2018. Inspired by his childhood visits to museums, insect specimens from the collection of Stellenbosch University Conservation Ecology and Entomology Department are carefully positioned on sets built from quartz, crystals and corals collected by the artist. Oil-painted backdrops complete the scenes, which are then photographed in astounding detail utilising cutting edge photographic techniques. The results are otherworldly depictions of insects that reanimate the entomologist’s specimens, effectively allowing the viewer to experience the moment of wonderment and discovery for themselves.
The exhibition also brings together work from Naudé’s previous projects, since his first encounter with Africanis dogs: Africanis(2007-2010), Animal Farm(2009-2011), Sightings of the Sacred: Cattle in Uganda, Madagascar and India (2012-2014), Bowers in Australia (2014), Pigeon project (2016), Bovine Prophecy (2018-2019), Cattle of the Ages with President Cyril Ramaphosa (2019) and Malagasy Cockerels of Madagascar (2023). Viewers can trace the development of the artist’s interest and style, culminating in the monumental insects depicted in Still life (2018–2026).