Archive: Issue No. 72, August 2003

16.08.03 Langa, Charles and Ledochowski at Venice Biennale 2003
16.08.03 Fourie, Hindley and Nerf on the road, in Germany
16.08.03 Ndebele, Zulu und Tsonga beadwork in Germany
01.07.03 Searle, Kentridge, Geers and Goodman in Belgium
01.07.03 Frances Goodman in Switzerland
18.06.03 Sue Williamson, Minnette Vari and Tracey Rose, in Brussels
01.06.03 Candice Breitz and Kendell Geers in Göteborg
01.06.03 Frances Goodman on group show in Luxembourg
01.06.03 Kentridge and Oguibe at Casino Luxembourg
01.05.03 Marlene Dumas in Venice
01.10.02 South African Family Stories in Amsterdam

01.08.03 New York show honours music legend Fela Kuti

This is an updated listing: Moshekwa Langa, Clifford Charles and Chris Ledochowski are the three South Africans participating on this year's Venice Bienalle.

Langa and Charles have works on 'Fault Lines: Contemporary Art and Shifting Landscapes'. Curated by Gilane Tawardos, in collaboration with the Forum Africa Contemporary Art, the show brings together contemporary artists from Africa and the African diaspora. The works shown trace the outlines of fault lines that are shaping contemporary experience locally and globally.

Says Tawardos: "These fault lines have been etched into the physical fabric of our world through the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism, of migration and globalisation. Their reverberations echo through contemporary lived experience and in the work of these 14 artists working across a range of media from painting and sculpture through to these 14 artists working across a range of media from painting and sculpture through to architecture, photography and installation. Their works span five decades, four continents and three generations, resisting any notion of an authentic or one-dimensional African experience.

"The nationalist struggles of the first decades of the twentieth century gave rise in the second half of the century to post-colonial independence and a new self-determination in Africa and beyond that articulated itself in a heightened political consciousness but also in new forms of visual and architectural practices. These new practices sought to negotiate the difficult and, as yet, unexplored terrain between tradition and modernity, between formal concerns and political contingencies.

"We have become accustomed to thinking about modernism and modernity in Western terms as a decisive break or rupture with the past and yet it is almost always experienced as an uneven negotiation between past and future that can remain unresolved. This exhibition explores the ambivalent space where tradition and modernity, past histories and future possibilities are mapped out in the work of contemporary artists.

"This exhibition proposes a space where we can engage with these complexities of lived experience through the work of artists who have embraced the ambiguities and inconsistencies of the contemporary world through art works that are by turns witty and serious, monumental and understated," concludes Tawadros.

Langa already a well established personality on the international circuit. Less well known is Clifford Charles, a member of the Magnet collective (that comprises artists drawn from South Africa, Brazil, China, France, Britain, India, Mexico, and Puerto Rico). The first "non-White" student to attend the University of Witwatersrand School of Art in 1987, Charles has been involved in a number of local initiatives aimed at bridging the gap between community arts, practiced in the townships, and the work of professionals well established in existing gallery spaces.

NOTE: Despite being promoted in all the press releases leading up to the opening of this year's 50th Venice Biennale, artists Pitso Chinzima and Veliswa Gwintsa are not participating on Gilane Tawadros's show 'Faultlines'. See NEWS for details.

The photographer Chris Ledochowski shows his studies of the Cape Flats on 'The Structure of Survival', a show focussed on favelas, and curated by Carlos Basualdo.

Opens: June 15
Closes: November 2

Venice Biennale 2003, 50th International Exhibition of Art
Giardini di Castello, Venice Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Tel: +39041 2714747
Website: www.labiennale.org
Hours: Daily 10am - 6pm

Earlier this year German curator Spunk Seipel, in conjunction with Christian Nerf, hosted a group show titled 'Mooimark' in a downtown Johannesburg location. It afforded the young curator an opportunity to become acquainted with a host of emerging local talents.

'On the road again' takes things a step further by affording German audiences the chance to view the output of artists Christian Nerf, Abrie Fourie and Mathew Hindley. The show brings together artists of varying nationalities, all of the selected artists situating their work in the streets.

The street is a political and public space and we could not live without it," says Seipel. "The street stands for communication, joy and fear." Over recent years the street has become a site of increased political tension as issues as diverse as increasing social control and the privatisation of public space redefine our notions of 'the street'.

This exhibition shows off a host of different artistic positions, Abrie Fourie presenting lightbox photographs of a rainy day in Pretoria. As Seipel concedes: "This is a totally unexpected image of Africa for German people." Christian Nerf will show his Working with Tom project. Shown at the KKNK arts festival two years ago, the project had a homeless person - Tom - document his would be benefactors as they wait a busy intersection en route their destinations.

Mathew Hindley will showcase his much talked about work Allow me to observe, which relays digital images captured from a range of subjects wearing a hidden camera. Hindley was recently a finalist in the MTN New Contemporaries art competition.

Also participating are: Christian Hasucha, Patrick Baum�ller, Barbara Sturm, Yannick Mauny, Kai Zimmer, Manfred Reuter, Michael Wagener, Horst Eschment and Philip Horst. 'On the road again' will be also shown in December in Neue Galerie Landshut in Bavaria. A small catalogue, published in German and English, will be available in September.

Opens: August 15
Closes: September 14

Engler & Piper Projekte
Pfefferberg- Haus 4, Christinenstr. 18-19, Schönhauser Allee 176, 10119 Berlin, Germany
Email: SPUNKSEIPEL@aol.com
Hours: Tues - Sat 1pm - 8 pm

South African curator Nicole Krams, in conjunction with the Berlin-based Galerie Peter Herrmann, presents a retrospective collection of beadwork of Ndebele, Zulu und Tsonga origin. Far from the objects on display being mere craft items for foreign consumption the items presented all possess resonant and layered meanings intimately related to the social conventions of the various ethnic groups represented. The works in the exhibition date from the period 1920 to 1970.

Opens: August 15
Closes: September 13

Galerie Peter Herrmann
Torstr. 218, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 30-88 62 58 46
Fax: +49 (0) 30-88 62 58 47
Email: info@galerie-herrmann.de
Website: www.galerie-herrmann.de
Hours: Tues - Fri 11am - 7pm, Sat 11am - 4pm

'Opzij van het Kijken', the Watou Art and Literature Festival is held annually in the town of Watou, Belgium. Berni Searle, Kendell Geers, William Kentridge and Frances Goodman are the South African artists participating in this, the 23rd instalment.

The exhibition is curated by Jan Hoet.

Opens: July 6
Closes: September 7

Poëziezomers Watou
Gwij Mandelinck, Kapelaanstraat 2, 8978 Watou, Belgium
Tel/Fax: 057 38 80 93
Email: poeziezomers.watou@pandora.be
Website: www.poeziezomerswatou.be (Dutch only!)

Frances Goodman has established a reputation in Europe as an installation artist who works with texts that she writes herself, or which she wrests from others in her surroundings through asking and insisting. To these she adds sound, integrating her voice into art installations or editing them in the form of books.

Christoph Rösch, a Swiss artist, architect and curator based in Nairs, met Goodman at her studio in Antwerp, while on a guest professorship at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts. Fascinated by her work, he asked her to take part in his long-term project titled 'Carte blanche', inviting the artist to realise an exhibition at the Nairs House of Culture in Vulpera Tarasp, in Unterengadin.

Goodman will present her work I Keep Trying, which was self-published in 2002 in a rich and elaborate book form. An extract from the text reads as follows: "Once I tried to get the attention of someone who refused to notice me. I observed his behaviour and discerned his taste and attempted to mirror his choices. In skilfully acting the part I won his interest but lost myself." The exhibition is titled 'Distance of Memory.

Opens: July 26
Closes: August 23

Nairs House of Culture in Vulpera Tarasp
c.p. 71, 7550 Scuol-Nairs, Switzerland
Tel/Fax: (41) 88849802

"Is contemporary art the domain which best reflects the complex relations between Africa and the rest of the world?" In a bid to answer this question, curator Toma Muteba Luntumbue brings together several recognised and emerging visual artists using different medias (installations, sculpture, video, painting and photography) in 'TRANSFER(T)S', Africalia '03.

'TRANSFER(T)S' depicts the permanent flows of people, capital, goods and ideas which characterise our world. Two sub-themes underlie the exhibition, without systematically determining the layout. The first one, "the death of otherness ", is a deliberately provocative thesis, which refers to the discourse on the homogenisation of the world. The second theme tackles the "acceleration of history": disasters, terrorism and wars are given ample media coverage, creating feelings of permanent anxiety and urgency. But do they also influence the course of history?

A number of items were especially designed for this large exhibition, which will cover some 1600 square meters in a dynamic layout that induces visitors to engage in a process of questioning and experimentation. The artists invited to take part include: Brahim Bachiri, Hicham Benohoud, Bili Bidjocka, Sue Williamson, Minnette Vari, Keith Piper, Tracey Rose, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Fatimah Tuggar.

The exhibition, to be accompanied by a catalogue, will also comprise a remarkable video section, shown at the Nova Cinema, focusing on home videos produced in Ghana and Nigeria.

Opens: June 21
Closes: September 14

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (The Centre for Fine Arts)
23 rue Ravenstein, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: 0032 2/ 507 84 45
Fax: 0032 2/ 507 85 15
Email: sophie.lauwers@bozar.be
Website: www.bozar.be

Candice Breitz and Kendell Geers are two of the 27 artists appearing on the second G�teborg International Art Biennial in Sweden. Curated by the Swedish artist and composer Carl Michael von Hausswolff, the G�teborg 2nd International Biennial for Contemporary Art reflects and comments on reality - "that preposterous, inexplicable and occasionally invisible reality we'd most of all like to escape."

According to organisers, the exhibition will achieve this with art that refuses to provide an alibi - "Art not for decorating, apologising or glossing over, but for never giving up hope and never giving in." The two South African artists will be inauspicious company, the Biennial hosting a range of well-known avant-garde musicians, including Kim Gordon (USA), Russell Haswell (United Kingdom), Phill Niblock (USA), Ryoji Ikeda (Japan) and Pita (United Kingdom/Austria), as well as bad boy porn auteur Richard Kern (USA).

The exhibition comprises shows at G�teborg's Konsthall, Konstmuseet, the Hasselblad Center, and at Konsthallen, part of the Museum of Bohusl�n in Uddevalla. Additionally, there will be a number of outdoor works in central of Göteborg. The exhibition is entitled 'Against All Evens'.

Opens: May 24
Closes: August 24

Göteborg 2nd International Biennial for Contemporary Art
Norra Hamngatan 8, SE-411 14 Göteborg
Tel: +46 31 611039/615035
Email: asa.nohlstrom@kultur.goteborg.se
Website: www.biennal.goteborg.se

'Something About Love' is the title to a group show opening at the Casino Luxembourg. Quite literally themes around the subject of love, exhibitors Sue Webster and Tim Noble, as well as former Wits graduate Frances Goodman. Currently on a residency in Antwerp, her Luxembourg outing offers a good opportunity to become acquainted with the artist's emotionally vexed and highly personal work.

Its curator, Enrico Lunghi, capably describes the context of this show. All the participating artists talk about love. They may be the implementation of feelings and situations lived or imagined by the artist. There are also those that show, in a more indirect and abstract manner, the complexity of human relations, as soon as love, the desire to be loved and the quest for a life in which love would occupy a central place are involved. 'Something About Love' offers narrations, mises-en-sc�ne, allusions and metaphors, in the form of photographs, videos and installations, all variously serving to express and project sentiments of love.

Opens: July 4
Closes: September 21

Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain
41, rue Notre-Dame - B.P. 345 - L-2013 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 22 50 45
Fax: (+352) 22 95 95
Email: casino-luxembourg@ci.culture.lu
Website: www.casino-luxembourg.lu
Hours: Wed - Mon 11am - 6pm, Thursday 11am - 8pm

William Kentridge and Nigerian artist Olu Oguibe are currently participating in this two-person show in Luxembourg. Oguibe is a prolific talent, currently also showing at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York, on a show titled 'Black President: the Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti'. His like Kentridge, Oguibe's work is marked by its heightened political consciousness.

Aside from his artistic practice Oguibe ranks alongside Okwui Enwezor as one of Africa's foremost commentators on African art practice. Oguibe, in conjunction with Enwezor, co-edited Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace. His essay 'Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art' deconstructed a text by Thomas McEvilley on African artists at the Venice Biennale in 1993, exposing the peculiar attitudes and assumptions of critics towards African art and artists. Oguibe is also a prominent force behind Africa's foremost visual arts publication, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art.

Opens: July 3
Closes: September 20

Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain
41, rue Notre-Dame - B.P. 345 - L-2013 Luxembourg
Tel: (+352) 22 50 45
Fax: (+352) 22 95 95
Email: casino-luxembourg@ci.culture.lu
Website: www.casino-luxembourg.lu
Hours: Wed - Mon 11am - 6pm, Thursday 11am - 8pm

Cape Town born Marlene Dumas has never held a solo exhibition in an Italian museum. 'Suspect' is therefore an important show by one of the most acclaimed painters of recent times.

Presented at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, and curated by Gianni Romano, 'Suspect' includes recent works as well as some new paintings realised specifically for this Venetian venue. The Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa is situated in the fascinating ambience of Palazzetto Tito, located in the historic artists' quarter called Dorsuduro. It is one of the liveliest areas in town, and quite close to the Art Academy, the Pinacoteca, the University of Venice and campo Santa Margherita.

Despite being heralded as an artist who anticipated the figurative trend, which has characterised so much painting and photography of the last decade, Dumas's images, as well as the texts she writes, refuse easy interpretation. The models in her paintings and drawings seem to refuse their traditional passive role by fostering a sort of role-playing with their audience. In her 'Suspect' works everything becomes suspicious, from the painted models to our own attitude as visitors.

Opens: June 12
Closes: September 25

Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa
Palazzetto Tito, Dorsoduro 2826, 30123 Venice, Italy
Tel. +39 041.5207797
Fax +39 041.5208955
Email: info@bevilacqualamasa.it

The rich narrative history of nine South African families is revealed in a significant exhibition opening at the KIT Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.

'South African Family Stories: A Group Portrait' describes the origins of South Africa through the experiences of nine individual families. Each family story unfolds across four or five generations, with one or two persons representing each generation. Some of the families selected for the exhibition include well-known public figures, such as Sol Plaatje, Marthinus Steyn and Dolly Rathebe, but in general most of the families claim no special public significance. The exhibition is presented as a multimedia presentation, using artwork, photography, film, sound, original documents and objects. A different team of South African artists, photographers, writers and designers was employed to produce each of the nine family stories.

Penny Siopis and photographer Ruth Motau worked on the Plaatje family, while Sam Nhlengethwa and photographer Mothlalefi Mahlabe present the family story of the singer Dolly Rathebe. David Goldblatt paired-up with Claudette Schreuder to profile the Steyn family, Berni Searle interpreting the experiences of the Manuel family from Simonstown. Andrew Verster worked on the Juggernath family from India, while photographer Paul Weinberg and artist Langa Magwa focussed on the family of Zonkezizwe Mthethwa, a respected sangoma living near Ngudwini. The overall composition of the families selected aims to be representative of the social, cultural and geographical variety of people in South Africa.

The exhibition is complemented by a 240-page publication featuring the output of nine writers-researchers interpreting the major moments in the respective families' lives. Each contribution is illustrated with the individual artworks and photographs commissioned for the project. The book also features an introductory essay by Cape Town University's Njabulo Ndebele.

In an effort to offer audiences as comprehensive a portrait as possible of South Africa, the exhibition includes an independent exhibit known as 'the archive'. The installation, supervised by Penny Siopis, offers visitors a chance to browse through a variety of books, magazines and audio-visual material, the hope being that the archive will offer a contemplative space for visitors wishing to answer questions raised during the exhibition. South African Family Stories: A Group Portrait appears at KIT Tropenmuseum from October 4, 2002. After is closure in September 2003, the show will travel to South Africa where it will run at Johannesburg's Museum Africa from January 2004.

Opens: October 4, 2002
Closes: September 21, 2003

KIT Tropenmuseum, Linnaeusstraat 2, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Website: www.zuidafrika.tropenmuseum.nl
Hours: Daily from 10a.m - 5p.m

'Black President: the Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti', currently running at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, is a critical multimedia exploration of the life, music and influence of the legendary Nigerian, arguably Africa's most powerful musician, and would-be presidential candidate. Kuti (1938-97) was a musical revolutionary who achieved a level of stardom in his native Nigeria barely imaginable before his time. A charismatic and controversial bandleader, inventing a new musical genre entitled Afrobeat, Kuti was also a committed activist. Championing the rights of the oppressed against the military regime in Nigeria, Kuti was constantly harassed by the state, and once jailed for 18 months on an alleged currency smuggling charge. His charisma extended to an overwhelming sexual magnetism, and an integral part of his legend was his 27 wives.

The exhibition at the New Museum includes documentary film and photography, and work by 34 artists, including Yinka Shonibare, Pascale Marthine Tayou, the American artist at this year's Venice Biennale Fred Wilson, Olu Oguibe and South Africans Kendell Geers and Moshekwa Langa.

More information, www.newmuseum.org.

Opening: July 11
Closing: September 28

The New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York