New Gallery in Cape Town: Michael Stevenson Contemporary
The number of art galleries in central Cape Town swells this week with the opening of Michael Stevenson Contemporary. The gallery occupies space in a renovated industrial building in one of Cape Town's most happening areas: De Waterkant. Fast becoming known to residents and visitors alike as 'The Village', De Waterkant is abutted by Greenpoint, the Waterfront and the foreshore. In the last few years it has undergone quite a facelift. Old office blocks and light industrial buildings are getting the old 'loft' treatment and guesthouses, restaurants, caf�s and nightclubs (gay and straight) abound.
The gallery, comprising three inter-leading white cubes, is to be run by Michael Stevenson, Kathy Grundlingh and Andrew da Conceicao. Stevenson currently runs a self-titled operation responsible for a number of exhibitions, collections and catalogues over the last few years. In addition to specialising in African art and artefacts, Stevenson has cultivated an in-depth knowledge of recent South African art. He was charged with assembling the Dimension Data collection, which is now housed in their swanky new offices in Johannesburg. The collection includes South African art from the 1960s right up to the present, most of it abstract in nature.
Kathy Grundlingh is the former curator of photography and new media at the South African National Gallery. Da Conceicao is the former curator of Art b (formerly the Arts Association of Bellville) and is largely responsible for the upsurge in activity and excitement that gallery has seen.
Michael Stevenson Contemporary will be host to both solo exhibitions and curated shows of South African art, focusing on the full range of media. It will also produce catalogues. On the roster of solo shows for this year are photographers Guy Tillim, David Goldblatt and Chris Ledochowski, and artists Sandile Zulu and Willem Boshoff. There are unofficial rumours of a few more exciting prospects.
The gallery's inaugural show, opening on May 7, is titled 'Contact Zones: colonial and contemporary'. This exhibition presents African art that engages with the presence of Europeans in the 'contact zones' and colonial states in sub-Saharan Africa. See Western Cape listings for details.
