Stellenbosch Triennale

18/06/2026

How long should public art last?

Public art is not only valuable when it lasts forever. Some works become landmarks. Others become moments. Both matter.

In Dreamscapes: Form and space through curious eyes, both have a place.

From long-standing SOST works that have become part of Stellenbosch’s public landscape and are being revisited through Dreamscapes, to temporary works that create powerful memories while they are here, this conversation asks us to rethink what makes public art meaningful.

Is it how long it stays?
Or what it changes while it is here?

🔗 Read the full blog here → sost.co.za/post/temporary-vs-permanent
📍 Dreamscapes runs until 30 January 2027.

In partnership with Visit Stellenbosch and proud patron Private Clients by Old Mutual Wealth.

Public art is not only valuable when it lasts forever. Some works become landmarks. Others become moments. Both matter.

16/06/2026

When does a sculpture stop being something we look at and start becoming something we use?

In Dreamscapes: Form and space through curious eyes, some artworks do more than occupy public space. They become part of it.

This is the idea behind functional art – creative works that serve a practical purpose while also inviting curiosity, conversation and delight.
A bicycle rack can become a sculpture.
A bench can become a gathering place.
A familiar object can be transformed into something unexpected.

Functional public art asks us to engage differently with our surroundings. It reminds us that beauty does not have to be separate from everyday life, and that the spaces we share can be both useful and imaginative.

📍 Dreamscapes runs until 30 January 2027
🌍 Learn more at sost.co.za/exhibition/dreamscapes
🔗 View the Digital Exhibition Guide: sost.co.za/dreamscapes-exhibition-guide

In partnership with Visit Stellenbosch and proud patron Private Clients by Old Mutual Wealth.

10/06/2026

PART 4: Strange worlds, familiar streets, and the stories we build between them.

As we conclude our 4-part video series, the artworks begin asking bigger questions about the spaces we share – with nature, with one another, and with the strange contradictions of being human.

In Part 4 of our Dreamscapes video series, we explore ‘Accidental Tourist’ by Strijdom van der Merwe, ‘Carnival’ by Jaco Siebrhagen, and ‘Monkey Business’ by Wilma Cruise. Across these works, humour, satire, and imagination become ways of reflecting on the world around us. Nature wanders city streets, animals mirror human behaviour, and the familiar becomes just unfamiliar enough to make us stop and think again.

Perhaps that is what Dreamscapes leaves us with in the end – the reminder that public art does not always offer answers, but instead invites curiosity, conversation, and new ways of seeing the places we move through every day.

Watch Parts 1–3 of our Dreamscapes series, then follow along for the final part of our journey through the imagination, questions, and public spaces that shaped this outdoor exhibition in Stellenbosch.

📍 Dreamscapes runs until 30 January 2027
🌍 Learn more at sost.co.za/exhibition/dreamscapes
🔗 View the Digital Exhibition Guide: sost.co.za/dreamscapes-exhibition-guide

In partnership with Visit Stellenbosch and proud patron Private Clients by Old Mutual Wealth.

27/05/2026

When does craft become art? And who gets to decide?

In Dreamscapes: Form and space through curious eyes, public space becomes a meeting place for many kinds of making: sculpture, craft, design, skill, play, material experimentation and imagination.

For a long time, art and craft were treated as separate worlds. Art belonged in galleries. Craft belonged in markets, workshops or the street. But in public space, those boundaries begin to soften.

A hand-shaped object can carry deep conceptual meaning.
A functional piece can ask a serious question.
A playful form can hold extraordinary skill.
A crafted object can become something a town gathers around, photographs, touches, remembers and treasures.

That is the beauty of public art. It does not ask creativity to stay neatly in one category. It lets different forms of making meet in the open, where everyone can encounter them.

📍 Dreamscapes runs until 30 January 2027
🌍 Learn more at sost.co.za/exhibition/dreamscapes
🔗 View the Digital Exhibition Guide: sost.co.za/dreamscapes-exhibition-guide

In partnership with Visit Stellenbosch and proud patron Private Clients by Old Mutual Wealth.

07/05/2026

PEDAL POWER by Jaco Sieberhagen
2018 | Epoxy-coated steel | Andringa Street (opposite the entrance to Eikestad Mall)

This bike stand features the artist’s iconic, brightly coloured, laser-cut steel figures. In this work, he depicts the vibrant biking scene in Stellenbosch, people in union, in motion, from young children to professional cyclists.

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/pedal-power

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.

05/05/2026

COFFEE CUPS by Mandilakhe Belem
2018 | Epoxy-coated steel | Ryneveld Street

This sculpture turns an everyday moment into something playful and shared. Shaped like a row of bright blue coffee cups, the bike stand celebrates two things Stellenbosch loves very much: good coffee and getting around on two wheels. In this town, mornings often begin at a café table and continue along tree-lined streets on a bicycle. The cups in this artwork are larger than life, as if a giant has just set them down for friends to gather around. But instead of holding coffee, they hold bicycles — inviting people to pause, park, chat, and connect. For children, the sculpture feels like stepping into a storybook where ordinary objects grow big and magical. For adults, it’s a gentle reminder that the simple rituals of daily life — meeting for coffee, cycling to work, sharing a conversation — are what give a place its character. By turning a practical bike rack into a cheerful public sculpture, Belem blends art with everyday function. The work suggests that creativity belongs not only in galleries, but in streets, sidewalks, and small daily habits. Like coffee and cycling, it brings people together — one cup, one bike, one moment at a time.

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/coffee-cups

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.

30/04/2026

THE CARNIVAL (NO DOGS ALLOWED) by Jaco Sieberhagen
2013 | Mild steel and paint | Between Bird Street & Mill Street (opposite Checkers)

The first hit song I can remember listening to was the 1968 Four Jacks and a Jill hit “It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack.” For a seven-year-old boy, the world then seemed excitingly strange with so many experiences to discover. Forty-five years later, the carnival seems even more curious with so much more to try and make sense of. My fellow countrymen and women never cease to fill me with wonder as to the extent they would go to entertain us. The Carnival finds form in a satirical procession of animals where the social hierarchies of everyday life, as well as ready-made truths, are profaned and overturned. Consequently, opposites are turned upside down; fools become wise, and kings become beggars. This artwork is my humble effort to give form to what I see, experience, and notice in an effort to comprehend it all. Unfortunately, I must confess that after careful consideration, I am no closer to making any sense of the carnival. I can only join Glenys Lynne in singing: “It’s a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jacob.” - Jaco Sieberhagen

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/the-carnival

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.

23/04/2026

5 THINGS FOUND by Marné Viljoen
2018 | Concrete | 122 Dorp Street (next to Farmer’s Daughter boutique)

"Each concrete shape represents an object that was found while walking through the streets of Stellenbosch. Five Things Found became a way of documenting my days and finding beauty in them. A puzzle piece, a coin, a piece of Lego, a pencil and a dice are beautiful objects for their own sake but also for the stories they tell, even after being transformed into concrete form. There is a magic in their significance and their simplicity. These everyday found objects from these very streets are curated into daily collections, captured on Instagram through a series with the same title." - Marné Viljoen

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/five-things-found

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.

22/04/2026

ACCIDENTAL TOURIST by Strijdom van der Merwe
2012 | Rock & Corten steel | Corner of Church Street & Andringa Street (Next to Romeinabite Restaurant)

In this sculpture, nature takes on the unfamiliar role of a tourist on a visit to Stellenbosch. He has come to see what we have done and accidentally finds himself lost on a street corner in this new world created by man. If we continue to distance ourselves from nature, the artist believes we are in danger of losing our sense of balance and belonging.

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/accidental-tourist

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.

16/04/2026

MONKEY BUSINESS by Wilma Cruise - Wilma Montealto Cruise
2015 | Bronze, stainless steel | Church Street, between Andringa Street and Ryneveld Street, closer to the Dorp Street side.

Monkey Business explores the tensions around habitat and space between humans and animals in the Western Cape. People and Baboons interface in the Cape, where the two species often confront each other across an abyss of incomprehension in a clash of wits and will. It is a meeting of nature and culture — the animal and the human, with outcomes sometimes tragic and often humorous.

Learn more → sost.co.za/artwork/monkey-business

Dreamscapes - Form and space through curious eyes curated by Dr Mike Mavura | 26 February 2026 – 30 January 2027

Presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, Visit Stellenbosch, and proud patron, Private Clients by Old Mutual.