Archive: Issue No. 49, September 2001

Based in New York and Milan, Brigata Italia is a site with a mission and a manifesto: to re-inject content and social consciousness into design. It presents itself as a centre of digital gravity for people interested in design and communication, a place where the industrial world meets the digital forum. And it's refreshingly militant, ready and willing to fight in support of its cause - that high style isn't highbrow and beautiful things should be everywhere, for everyone. Brigata Italia is divided into three sections: the magazine, a quarterly showcase of provocative and innovative projects; the archive, where information is accumulated and shared; and La Palestra, a gym for people to exercise their minds and initiate critical dialogue. Issue 00, the preview edition which is now online, has an infectious sense of excitement about its own ideas. Projects include Logo-n, in which well-known brand logos are dematerialised in a cloud of pixels; a fashion shoot for a Brigata Italia uniform; and 3D (QTVR) "illegal aliens" offered up for adoption. In La Palestra, visitors are invited to make "thought-provoking wallpaper" by downloading a Photoshop template, and to contribute answers to questions such as "Does it still make sense to talk about design as a way of creating a better world?" It's fresh, fun and - needless to say - impeccably styled and designed.

NY Arts the print magazine may not be as luscious as Artforum or Frieze but it's packed with interesting articles, many of which make their way onto the relatively new website. This month the site features an image by William Kentridge on the home page, accompanying an article on the artist's touring retrospective in the US. Other highlights include extensive comment on the 49th Venice Biennale.

One of the oldest galleries in Cape Town, the AVA provides space for a continuous round of exhibitions decided upon by a committee.

An energetic Cape Town gallery run by artist Alex Hamilton, exhibiting paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewellery and photography.

Durban's Bartel Arts Trust acts as a community cultural centre on the harbour, with exhibitions, art shops and music, theatre and dance venues.

Small, functional site of a gallery located in Cape Town's picturesque Wynberg. Current exhibitions are listed and work by gallery artists can be referenced.

Website commemorating the area of District Six and honouring the people who fought against the forced removals and Group Areas Act.

Home of South Africa's top art dealer, Linda Givon, whose artists include Kendell Geers, William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Sue Williamson and Moshekwa Langa.

Cape Town dealer João Ferreira's gallery in Hout Street showcases work by top South African artists.

Home of the Port Elizabeth gallery, with news of current exhibitions and activities and a virtual tour of some highlights.

Information about MTN's corporate art collection, gallery and educational institute.

A portal offering access to most of South Africa's national and regional museums.

Comprehensive site with info about the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, library and newsletters.

The website of Durban's top gallery, run by the Natal Society of Arts.

Helen Martins' home and sculpture garden in Nieu-Bethesda are beautifully documented, alongside info about the Owl House Foundation's conservation efforts.

This site brings together the collection of Fernand Haenggi, comprising mainly 1960s works by artists including Norman Catherine, Lucas Sithole, Judith Mason and Lucas Seage.

The Cape Town based centre co-ordinates activities aimed at fostering the development of the practice, teaching, scholarship and criticism of photography.

One of Cape Town's more enduring art institutions, housed in a historic farmhouse once owned by artist Ruth Prowse.

This online gallery promotes visual artists in South Africa with the aim of selling work, and includes articles, news and profiles.

The London counterpart of Jo'burg's Bag Factory and Cape Town's Greatmore Studios, with an international residency programme.

Dutch organisation with its own gallery, which also sponsors public art projects by such artists as Vito Acconci.

The Thami Mnyele Studio in Amsterdam offers residencies for two visiting artists a year.

Alan Alborough was Standard Bank Young Artist for 2000 and his website documets the touring show as well as past bodies of work.

This site offers visual artists a home on the web, without the costs of registering domains or employing web designers. Artists include Wilma Cruise, Willem Boshoff and Diane Victor.

"Kendell Geers - the black hole in the rainbow nation in a fucked up world." This site consists of articles and reviews of Geers' works and writings by the artist.

This independently funded directory lists over a thousand South African artists and is geared specifically towards online sales.

Performance artist Steven Cohen's wicked attires and writings can be scrutinised at leisure on his site.

A virtual exhibition of the works of Mozambican painter Kheto Lualuali, who has lived and worked in Amsterdam since 1998.

Rob Moonen is a Dutch conceptual artist known to many South Africans after he participated in a Cape Town workshop in 1996.

Information on the monthly Red Eye art-for-all event founded by Suzy Bell at Durban Art Gallery.

Artists' repsonse to apartheid is explored through the work of Jane Alexander, Willie Bester, Jonathan Comerford and Helen Sebidi.

This virtual tour from Universes in Universe concentrates on participants from Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America.

Universes in Universe takes a virtual tour of Okwui Enwezor's ambitious exhibition that "redefines Africa's place in the annals of 20th century history".

The HSAL Project was designed specifically to have dialogue and communication between seven Dutch and seven South African artists as its primary objective.

This site shows a number of works by each of the artists on New York's Museum for African Art show of work created between 1994 and 1999.

This site becomes more and more useful, with its e-mailing of arts-related press releases available to anyone through its Acemail programme.

Online version of Clive Kellner and Fernando Alvim's occasional print publication on southern African arts.

Devin Purvis runs this Durban based e-zine devoted to experiments in design, art, music, photography and the internet.

Dutch-based site with a particular emphasis on the arts and culture of this continent.

This slick site is a natural translation of the print look and feel, offering art world news, critics' picks and selected articles from the magazine.

A New York-based website, this is one of the best and biggest, offering excellent reviews and magazine coverage.

E-flux bills itself as the "the first electronic mailing company devoted exclusively to serving the international art world".

UK e-zine looking at "critical thought around the whole subject of how culture and technology are interweaving at the end of this century".

The gorgeous online version of a biannual global ideas magazine published in India and addressing issues that are of universal concern.

New York artist and critic Joy Garnett's site with images and prose and poetry and articles of interest to artists.

Sensorium is a site of truly wondrous projects involving, for example, the number of earthquakes that have happened worldwide in the past 14 days, and the sounds of the web itself.

Plexus is one of the best - great artist projects, articles, news.

Home of a loose network of artists, academics, journalists and cultural workers, with updates on activities and events happening in Cape Town.

Ambitious Cape Town-based venture pitched as the artist's "International Internet Career Tool".

A not-for-profit educational forum for the display and discussion of queer art and culture.