Archive: Issue No. 78, February 2004

15.02.04 Jenny Parsons at Irma Stern
15.02.04 'Koeksisterhood' at 3rd i Gallery
15.02.04 Cobus van Bosch and others at the AVA
15.02.04 Jean Brundrit 'Spaces In Between' at Bell-Roberts Photographic
15.02.04 7th International Design Indaba
15.02.04 Berni Searle and 'Vapour' at Michael Stevenson
15.02.04 Matric Art at Iziko-SANG
15.02.04 Ronnie Levitan at Bell-Roberts Photographic
15.02.04 Sanlam Art Collection Showcases Acquisitions
15.02.04 Ed Young curated video exhibition
03.02.04 10-year democracy exhibition at SANG
03.02.04 Hannes Harrs solo at 3rd i Gallery
03.02.04 James Reed's 'shilly-shally shindy?', at the AVA
03.02.04 The Odd Enginears at Transwerk Industrial Park, Salt River
03.02.04 Bongi Bengu at Bell-Roberts
03.02.04 Mandy Lee Jandrell at João Ferreira
03.02.04 Jeanette Unite at Irma Stern
03.02.04 Deborah Weber and James Hoets at Bell-Roberts
03.02.04 Fritha Langerman and Katherine Bull: Come To Pass
03.02.04 Dorothee Kreutzveldt at João Ferreira
03.02.04 South African Art 1800 to present at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
03.02.04 Koos de Wet at 3rd i Gallery
03.02.04 Pauline Ingle at the National Library
20.12.03 Berni Searle's 'Float' at the SANG

STELLENBOSCH

16.01.04 2nd Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial

Advance Notice: Parsons is a contemporary landscape painter, whose works are described as an intuitive response to Cape Town - the city in which she lives. Her work is a personal interpretation of her environment, described with expressive use of paint and colour, with compositional structure that evokes landscape at once real and imagined. 'Oil on Canvas' is her first solo show in the Mother City.

Opens: 6 April
Closes: 24 April

Advance Notice: Barbara l'Ange pays homage to women in the form of stitched and found objects, sculptures and paintings. They all come together in a rich tapestry of images and colours. Her work is both dark and light-hearted, serious and humorous, connected by the central theme of womanhood.

Opens: April 8
Closes: May 15

Advance Notice: Art critic for Die Burger, Van Bosch switches sides for this sculptural exhibition of works constructed from bone fragments. They depict topographical maps of the sites of important battle fields in the history of South Africa. According to the artist, the exhibition addresses issues like slaughter, war, death, memory, history, place (maps) while also relating to craft (mosaic), pattern and simply visual appeal on a formal level.

Exhibiting alongside in the main gallery is Arlene Amaler-Raviv with recent small works made since her return from the Havana Biennale in November 2003 where she represented South Africa. Upstairs, Gary Frier - an emerging artist on the Cape Town scene - will show new works in mixed media using a range of diverse materials and found objects.

Opens: 8 March
Closes: 27 March

Advance Notice: Brundrit, best known for her pin-hold photographs, has put the lens back onto her camera for an exhibition of black and white photographs. 'Spaces in Between' explores and interrogates aspects of violence and the violation of boundaries, both physical and psychological, in South Africa today. The focus is to offer processed comment, not to image violence.

Opens: 10 March
Closes: 3 April

The world's top designers are once again gathering in Cape Town this month to exchange ideas, inspirations and creative intelligence. Experts include design pioneer Karim Rashid, brand consultant Mary Lewis and magazine designer David Carson. Running alongside the lectures and workshops is Design Indaba Expo, a carefully curated gathering of South African fashion, film, digital media, architecture, d�cor, graphics, advertising and publishing.

Opens: February 25
Closes: February 27

Berni Searle, who lives and works in Cape Town, exhibits a new collection of work including a projection and photographic images in a show called 'Vapour'. Shot on location in the Cape Flats, the work is inspired by the practice of cooking in large pots over open fires. Searle explores the significance of the ritual but also her own memories. Creating vapour, from which the exhibition takes its name, is also a metaphorical process that alludes to events that have shaped the past and continue to inform the present.

Opens: February 18, at 6pm
Closes: March 27

A selection of some of the most outstanding and innovative 2003 Matric art works from the Western Cape schools are showcased at SANG this month. The exhibition demonstrates the different teaching styles at both public and private schools in a dynamic display of creative work by emerging young artists. Media include painting, drawing, design, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and multi-media installations.

Closes: 24 February

Ronnie Levitan exhibits a three-part photographic exhibition called 'Table and Chairs Collection', 'Portraits with Concept' and 'Cape Town, Karoo Town'. Levitan is well known for his architectural photography and the 'Concept' photographs include images of fellow artists including David Goldblatt and William Kentridge. There will be an artist's walkabout on 14 & 21 February at 11am.

Opens: 31 January
Closes: 25 February

Sanlam is showcasing the artworks it has acquired in its collection during 2003. These works include prominent artists like Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor, Durant Sihlali, Allan Alborough and Wayne Barker. The Sanlam Art Collection as a whole comprises over 2000 works by South African artists from the 19th century to the present.

Opens: 27 January
Closes: 26 March

'Exchange view on.../ Échange vues sur...' is the title of a video exhibition curated by Cape Town-based Ed Young, and France's Sophie Solnychkine. The exhibition will be held and opened simultaneously in Cape Town and Toulouse, France. The format is based on an exchange of short video pieces by young South African and French artists.

The artists include Sandra Vanbremeersch (France), Daniel Halter (South Africa), Cameron Platter (South Africa), Michaël Fournier (France), Ashleigh Mclean (South Africa), Andrew Lamprecht (South Africa), Frédéric Nakache (France), Mark Antonello (South Africa), Zen Marie (South Africa), Sylvain Fogato (France), Jean Meeran (South Africa), Laetitia Bourget (France), Alex Learmont (South Africa), Matt Hindley (South Africa), Sophie Solnychkine (France), Teboho Edkins (South Africa), Emma Coleman (South Africa), Ed Young (South Africa) and pleix (France).

'Exchange view on.../ Échange vues sur...' acknowledge the co-operation of Malcolm Payne (South Africa), Arlette Malié (France) and EDV (France).

For further information, contact Ed Young at babyhasselhof@yahoo.com.

Opens: March 3, at 6pm
Closes: March 8

Advance Notice: In one of a spate of exhibitions to mark our decade of transformation, SANG is hosting a comprehensive show of works of art made and acquired over the past decade. They include major artists like Jane Alexander, Willie Bester, Marlene Dumas, Kendell Geers, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Malcolm Payne, Johannes Phokela, Berni Searle and Tracey Rose.

Emma Bedford, head of SANG art collections, says: "It will be an interesting survey of where contemporary South African art is at the moment and offering insights on the decade." In addition, Sue Williamson is exhibiting a contemporary site-specific work on slavery at the Castle of Good Hope. An accompanying book, with discursive essays by local and international authors is due for publication early March. It is expected the exhibition will open at a similar time.

Opens: March 3

German artist Hannes Harrs has secured a solo exhibition at 3rd i that conveys his love for this continent and the art of its people. Harrs is celebrated internationally for his rich, earthy, textured abstractions that resonate with the strong influence of Africa. His involvement with Africa dates back to his childhood when an uncle - a ship's captain - brought back artefacts from Africa that triggered his imagination.

Opens: February 19
Closes: April 3

James Reed works could notionally be described as conceptual sculptures. This is, however, simply a label for the form his works assume. His sculptural installations are often dense and abstruse, more often than not suggestively titled, and almost always concerned with the process of deterioration. 'shilly-shally shindy?' is the title of his latest show, and offers an interesting insight into this Cape Town based artists work.

For further details, contact James Reed by email: jsquared@ananzi.co.za.

Opens: February 16
Closes: March 6

Friends of the SANG are hosting the performance of this innovative group, who call themselves an African laboratory for unusual site-specific theatre. Their work forms a collage of artistic disciplines, objects, materials, sound and movement as well as interaction with both their surroundings and the audience. Strange and evocative sound machines and visuals replace the spoken word. Mark O' Donovan, the group's founder, is an electrical engineer turned sculpture turned 'odd enginear'. The cost is R30 for members and R35 for non-members.

Performance: February 14, at 3pm

In this series of collages and paintings, Bengu seeks to celebrate female pioneers by presenting them as heroines that history books and the media have made invisible. Bengu attempts to portray an empowered state of black women, using such well-known figures as Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Miriam Makeba, Dolly Rathebe and Esther Mahlangu. They are all clearly located as equal participants and contributors in the progress of South Africa's young and emerging society. This show follows two very successful exhibitions by Bengu in Germany and the Goodman Gallery, in Johannesburg.

Opens: February 12
Closes: March 6

Newly returned from London after completing her MA at Goldsmiths, Jandrell hits Cape Town with a solo of her work. The show comprises 18 large-scale colour photographs shot in several countries, including South Africa, China and the UK. Jandrell is currently photographing constructed leisure environments and is interested in investigating the effects of globalisation on local cultures. She questions notions of truth presented in documentary photography and investigates the point where the fake or fantastical meets the real or actual experience of a place in quite humorous juxtapositions.

Opens: February 5
Closes: February 21

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'Earthscars: Earthwounds' are the result of Jeanette Unite's own excavation of images and ideas, prompted by diamond mining on South Africa's west coast. In the early 1960s, with few regulations, mining took its toll on the environment. Unite began this project by using the scars suffered by the earth as a metaphor for wounds that don't heal. But now she is embracing the materials, minerals and metals for their qualities and metaphysical properties and significance in themselves.

Her use of glass echoes fragility and fragmentation, which she fuses with diamondiferous substances. Graphite and heavy minerals feature in the mixed media composite paintings. This exhibition will travel around South Africa to 'map' areas affected or impacted historically by mining or migrant labour, before visiting Mozambique and London.

Opens: February 3
Closes: February 28

This event features the video and installation work of young contemporary artists Deborah Weber and James Hoets. It has been created as an experiential endeavour between the work, the viewer and the event itself, promising "to cater for all your senses". It also features Soul'd vocalists Lisa Bauer and Melanie Scholtz with Heather from African Dope. RSVP essential for entrance.

Performance date: February 2, at 7pm

This long-awaited public sculpture by Langerman and Bull is now unveiled for public inspection and trampling underfoot. The sculpture is informed by "a visual investigation of the construction of history through different models: the official record � the oral record � and history as an invention". It takes the form of a compass and clock and is composed of two sets of six units (glass and bronze discs that echo each other formally), which intersect to form a cross.

It also includes composite portraits and the names and occupations of 24 women interviewed at the site intersection last year. The sculpture memorialises the incidental and non-heroic, and foregrounds the role of artists in the construction of history.

The sculpture was officially opened on January 30.

In this exhibition of paintings - 'Tigers Don't Cry' - Dorothee Kreutzfeldt takes as her starting point material and images from the city of Johannesburg, drawing on its disparate and energetic spaces, as well as the hand-painted signs of the inner city and townships.

Explains the artist: "They add to the city's density and personalize its face. Similar to anonymous writings on the wall, they add something peculiar, an off-balance aesthetic and distinct sense of humour and identity."

The paintings take the city's aspirations, secret messages, and makeshift spaces as their starting point. Instead of seeking to make a statement, Kreutzfeldt says they offer a window into the world, references to themes and processes that have intrigued her for some time.

Opens: January 30
Closes: February 28

Michael Stevenson continues his annual exhibition of South African art in an exhibition of works from 1800 to the present. It includes one of Deborah Poynton's largest works, measuring two by three metres. Poynton will have a solo show at the this space late February.

Opens: January 28
Closes: February 14

Powerful canvases depicting scenes now expunged from our landscape comprise this solo exhibition of paintings by Koos de Wet, titled 'Memory Blocks'. He uses District Six as the subject of his work to explore concepts of transience, memory, nostalgia and history.

Opens: December 18

Closes: February 14

This exhibition, 'Images of the Transkei/ ImiFanekiso yaPesha kweNciba', shows Ingle's photographs of this region between 1949 and 1976 - a time when she was stationed as a mission hospital doctor in the Eastern Cape. (Some of the images were recently profiled in the Sunday Times Lifestyle supplement.)

The photographs record a lifestyle fast disappearing, and reveal the photographer's unique intimacy with her subjects. Running parallel is a second exhibition called 'Urban Counterpoint', comprising images from the National Library's collection covering the same time frame as Ingle's photos. Together, the works form an interesting juxtaposition.

Opens: December 4
Closes: February 28

Advance Notice: The South African National Gallery is hosting the travelling exhibition of the 2003 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, Berni Searle. A Capetonian artist with an international profile, Searle has exhibited her video and lens-based media installations in South Africa, the USA, Europe and Australia as well as at the 7th Cairo Biennale, Dakart and on 'Authentic/Ex-centric', at the 49th Venice Biennale.

The recipient of several international awards, she has most recently been short listed for the Artes Mundi or Arts of the World visual arts prize. The Standard Bank exhibition will coincide with that of the ten candidates for this prize in Wales, which will be judged in March by a panel including another international artist originating from Cape Town, Marlene Dumas.

Berni Searle is a conceptual artist who uses her own body to explore issues relating to personal and collective identity, aspects of South African history and her placement within it. 'Float' includes a commission for the Berkley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the video installation A Matter of Time (2003), and Home and Away (2003), produced for the NMAC Montenmedio Arte Contemporaneo in Vejer de la Fronterra, Spain, as well as an earlier video installation, Snow White (2001). The exhibition also includes related two-dimensional works.

Opens: February 3, 2004, at 6pm
Closes: February 29

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The 2nd Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial opens at the Spier estate, outside Stellenbosch. The works at this year's event are all in the environs of the Eerste River, stretching from the vehicular bridge near the lake to the outdoor amphitheatre. Public Eye and the Spier Arts Trust once again jointly present the event.

The opening includes a walkabout at which many of the artists will be in attendance.

Opens: January 15, at 6.30pm
Closes: March 15