Spier Light Art 2025

Don’t Miss Out: Spier Light Art – A Nocturnal Feast for the Senses

WHEN: Until 21 April, from 18:30 nightly
WHERE: Spier Wine Farm, Stellenbosch
COST: Free entry – book via Dineplan for dining options

Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch is currently ablaze with light, story and sensation – but only for a few more nights. Now in its seventh year, the much-loved Spier Light Art exhibition runs until 21 April, offering visitors a final week to bask in the glow of South Africa’s most prominent contemporary light art show.

Each evening from 18:30, Spier’s vast landscape transforms into a luminous playground of discovery. Visitors can roam freely through the farm’s winding paths, encountering over a dozen site-specific installations that explore everything from surveillance and sustainability to joy, labour, memory and the cosmos – all through the powerful and poetic medium of light.

This year’s edition brings together 16 awe-inspiring works crafted by a mix of professional artists, collectives, students and designers who responded to an open call. The artworks, curated by Vaughn Sadie and Jay Pather, are grouped loosely around three themes:

• The farm as a site of memory and transformation,

• Light as infrastructure, and

• Works that evoke playfulness or delight, even while engaging with serious topics.

Among the standout international guests is Swiss artist Sophie Guyot, who collaborated with Spier’s farm workers to create a text-based piece reflecting their visions for the future of agriculture. Fellow Swiss artist Florian Bach uses floodlights in a provocative commentary on social control and surveillance.

While these installations are rooted in very real and local contexts – the working wine farm, South Africa’s energy challenges, questions of access and equity – the experience of walking among them is anything but heavy. Light, after all, has a way of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. As co-curator Jay Pather puts it, “You might encounter something deeply personal, something political, or something cosmic – and how you move through that space shapes your journey.”

A Highlight of Spier’s Artistic Ethos
Spier Light Art is more than an annual event – it’s a vital part of Spier’s deep and longstanding commitment to the arts. With one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the country, Spier champions artistic experimentation as a way to spark insight and catalyse meaningful conversations. Light Art is just one expression of this ethos, paired as always with fine wine, farm-fresh dining, and thoughtful hospitality.

Practical Info – What You Need to Know:

• Entry is free and open to the public.

• The best time to arrive is just before sunset.

• No bookings are required to view the exhibition, but if you’re dining on the farm, reserve a spot on Dineplan.

• Free guided tours run every Tuesday and Thursday at 19:30 – book via spier.co.za.

Whether you’re a longtime art lover or simply looking for an unforgettable evening out, Spier Light Art is not to be missed. But don’t delay – the lights go out on Sunday, 21 April.