Melvyn Minnaar: A reawakening for Stellenbosch – wine, culture, and the Triennale

In a different era, there would have been cheer, perhaps some pleasant collegial backslapping, but certainly a limited-release wine with a special (arty) label. If it was still alive, SFW would have had a feast of a centenary celebration this year. And you bet, some grand art and cultural event would have happened.

Records show that on a late-harvest Wednesday, April 1, 1925, Dr William Charles Winshaw and Mrs Susanna Elizabeth Krige signed a partnership agreement to finance a winery and distillery on the Krige’s family farm Oude Libertas.

If the history of South African wine was as important as its politics, we may have had a public (braai) holiday to commemorate the founding of The Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, a company that by many ways and means directed the arch of local wine production, marketing and consumption – and then what we’ll call ‘wine culture’. (The ‘the” was always important in SFW name, a sign of honour, until it got lost in marketing bumf.)

Something nostalgically lost seemed ghostly present as patrons negotiated some of the art at what was the “sacred space” of SFW’s glory days: the Oude Libertas centre. This is where the enterprising organisers of the second Stellenbosch Triennale based some of the most remarkable works. It has just concluded to fine reviews and Stellenbosch will not be the same. And Oude Libertas will forever be remembered for what it was.

Conceived in 1976 as a stately presence and centre of SFW’s commitment to people, culture and the finest experiences on the historic Mon Repos farm on the slopes of Papegaaiberg, the SFW Centre includes the brilliantly practical open-air Oude Libertas amphitheatre and some exhibition spaces. This year’s ST2025 had a splendid presence here, especially in the surroundings.

There was deep irony at play as one criss-crossed the spaces to view the artworks. The theatre that once not only served charged-up culture audiences but offered young talent such super exposure is a relic. The audacity of locating the ST2025 here, while the rich decades of ambience and experience past lay waste, was a marker of how fragile cultural life is. Beer people don’t seem to be really interested.

The brilliant patronage of that era – no capitalist will build a theatre in the style of the Greeks! – was awesome.

Much of what the organisers of the triennale, the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust (SOST), does and did with this project (and the street art projects they arrange in town) pays homage to the original SFW verve as expressed by Romi van der Merwe in a book of SFW record: “a leap of faith (…) a reminder of the close bonds that exist between the vineyard, its products and the gracious things in life,”

In a rather remarkable twist to the now disbanded cultural ambience of the Oude Libertas environment (yes, name of the farm where that SFW agreement was signed a century ago), many of the artworks delved consciously into that legacy. When chief curator Khanyisile Mbongwa formulated her vision, a central call was for working with the local and what is at hand. This in itself was a message of sustainability and the natural.

It was also a rebuke of preconceptions of what art should be. For those who think artworks hang on white gallery walls and is sold at art fairs for vast sums of money, this fun in the field here was an eye-opener. Stellenbosch, which is sometimes held to be an cultural ivory tower, has had to face – like the many enchanted and perhaps puzzled tourists – that art can come from wherever you find it. And it need not be permanent, which adds to the charm.

One of the visiting artists is from Benin, Thierry Oussou, emerged himself in the wine country he founded here, and built a little “shrine” to the glory of the vine and its products. In the old vineyard of Mon Repos he planted a flag to the workers he encountered, noted their names, recorded their sounds and brought to his installation the smells of the cellar.

All simple, all playfully pleasing, and memorable – to remind visitors, wine and art lovers of the basics at play in creativity. There’s much more to the founding story of SFW, but there clearly was some very creative thinking a hundred years ago too. Oussou’s installation easily evokes such spirits from the past. Wonder what Bill and Susan would have thought?

• Melvyn Minnaar has written about art and wine for various local and international publications over the years. The creativity that underpins these subjects is an enduring personal passion. He has served on a few “cultural committees”.