Archive: Issue No. 82, June 2004

01.06.04 Jo O'Connor in Berlin
01.06.04 Mandy Lee Jandrell at the Whitechapel Gallery
01.06.04 Mandy Lee Jandrell on 'Sneeze'
01.06.04 Van Den Ende Collection in Holland shows 57 South African artists
01.06.04 Marlene Dumas and Antjie Krog in gallery of ekphrastic poetry
01.06.04 Hentie van der Merwe in Cologne
01.05.04 The tremor of 12 SA artists in Belgium
01.05.04 South African photographers on FotoGrafia
01.05.04 Frances Goodman in Belgium
01.05.04 James Webb in Barcelona

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

01.06.04 Frances Goodman in Minnesota
01.06.04 Robin Rhode's 'The Animators' at Rose Art Museum
01.05.04 Big name South Africans in Washington DC
01.04.04 Claudette Schreuders at Arizona State University Art Museum

AFRICA

01.05.04 Five South Africans on Dak'Art 2004

AUSTRALIA

01.04.04 Candice Breitz at Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane

Jo O'Connor, currently an artist-in-residence at the Karl Hofer Gesellschaft in Berlin (other South Africans guest artists have been Khwezi Gule and Robin Rhode) opens her exhibition, titled 'Suddenly deaf and dumb'. The show takes the form of an installation.

For further information email Jo O'Connor at: jo_oconnor@hotmail.com

Opens: June 3
Closes: June 31

In a survey of the most exciting new trends and talent in London, 22 emerging artists - selected from open submission - present their work in the Whitechapel and on the streets of East London. This focused snapshot provides a glimpse of the immense creative output from Europe's largest cultural quarter.

South African born Mandy Lee Jandrell will be showing her photographs alongside an eclectic bunch of contemporaries. The works on show range from intimately scaled drawings to paintings transformed into room-sized environments. Video by Zatorski & Zatorski includes real-time footage of the last breath of a wasp. Jandrell's quietly observed and seemingly casual photographs contrast with the fantastical paintings of Naomi Bishop, Louise Brierley and David Harrison.

A distinguished panel selected the artists: Chantal Crousel, Director, Chantal Crousel Gallery, Paris; Chris Ofili, artist; and Niru Ratnam, critic and curator. The Whitechapel's East End Academy was first launched in 1932 as an open submission exhibition "for all artists living or working East of the famous Aldgate Pump". The East End Academy is curated by Andrea Tarsia, Head of Exhibitions and Projects, Whitechapel.

Opens: June 11
Closes: August 30

'Sneeze' is a group exhibition that takes its title from a Duchamp readymade Why not sneeze. Curated by Isha B�hling and Heidi Stokes, the premise for the show is simple. A sneeze is like the point at which a happy idea is conceived in that it is spontaneous and unpredictable, much like the creative process in art making. Considering this 'happy idea', the artists in this exhibition have been brought together because they incorporate humour in their art in one form or another.

Mandy Lee Jandrell's photographs of constructed leisure environments certainly don't make one immediately laugh, but they are possessed with a certain dark wit. Jandrell is interested in investigating effects of globalisation, economics and politics on local cultures, particularly spaces of leisure and tourism. Her images question authenticity by examining the points at which the fake and the fantastic collide, sometimes creating humorous juxtapositions.

The Chicago-based comedy writer and improv performer Steve Zimmers will contributes to this exhibition with a written caricature for each artist in the exhibition. Art critic and curator Tom Morton will be contributing a text especially for the 'Sneeze', which will also feature a text by Zimmers.

Other artists participating include Sarah Baker, Jessica Broas, Isha Bøhling, Heidi Stokes and Saskia Wilson-Brown. There will be a private view and catalogue launch on June 2, at 6pm.

Opens: June 3
Closes: July 3

Janine and Joop Van Den Ende of Stageholdings in Holland have put together an impressively large show of South African art entitled 'The ID of South African Art'. The show is informed by issues of identity in South African society and works were purchased from different venues in the country in January 2004. The show will run in conjunction with the musical 'The Lion King'� which will play for approximately two to three years. The show will be on exhibition for the same length of time.

All the works shown were purchased for, and form part of the Van Den Ende Collection. There are 57 artists whose works were chosen for this exhibition and over 108 works of South African painting, prints, drawings and sculptures. The accompanying 300-page catalogue has been put together by Sharlene Khan and also features an article by David Koloane and Sharlene Khan.

The exhibitor lists includes: David Koloane, Stephen Maqashela, Colbert Mashile, Bongi Bengu, Paul Blomkamp, Anton Smit, Collen Maswanganyi, Norman Catherine, Sam Nhlengethwa, Robert Hodgins, Tracey Rose, Deborah Bell, Kay Hassan, Dominic Tshabangu, Sotiris Moldovanos, Mmapula Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Velaphi Mzimba, Lucky Sibiya, Amos Letsoalo, Vincent Baloyi, Sharlene Khan, John Baloyi, Gavin Younge, Pippa Skotnes, Jane Alexander, Roderick Sauls, Katherine Bull, Penny Siopis, Phillip Rikhotso, Wayne Barker, Karl Gietl, Sipho Ndlovu, Ricky Dyaloyi, Willie Bester, Xolile Mtakatya, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Beezy Bailey, Lallitha Jawahirilal, George Pemba, William Kentridge, Cecil Skotnes, Walter Battiss, Brett Murray, Philip Barlow, John Murray, Kevin Brand, Wonder Marthinus, James Reed, Jennifer Lovemore-Reed, Nkoali Eausibius Nawa, Gary Frier, Velile Soha, Marlene Dumas, Sandra Kriel, Andries Botha, Stephen Inggs and Fritha Langerman.

All the artists from the show were invited to attend at the expense of the Van Den Endes, although only 40 artists were available to make the opening.

Opens: April 3
Closes: 2005/6 - see above

Marlene Dumas and Antjie Krog are two names that do not readily spring to mind in unison. Then again nor does Vincent Van Gogh make one think of poet Robert Browning. This rather eclectic ensemble does however reveal a little about the juxtaposition of word and image planned by the gallery of ekphrastic poetry, an initiative put together by Dutch Boekgrrls.

Alongside Dumas and Krog, the gallery will showcase works by Joan Miro, Paul Klee, Fra Filippo Lippi, Henri Rousseau, Jacob van Ruisdael and Rembrandt alongside the poetic verse of Joseph Brodsky, Hein de Bruin and others. South African-born Dumas has gained widespread acclaim for her emotionally charged portraits, often monotone watercolours, while Krog is an acclaimed poet and author of Country of my skull.

Hentie van der Merwe, an artist currently based in Belgium, is showing in Cologne, Germany alongside a host of big names including Carl Andre and Andy Warhol. The show is titled 'Is One Thing Better Than Another'.

Van der Merwe, who has appropriated photography as one of his chosen media, is currently also on show at the South African National Gallery. His most recent work has catalogued group identities as manifested in the urban centres of his adopted country, Belgium.

Opens: May 16
Closes: July 17

'Tremor: Contemporary South African Art' is a showcase of painting, photography, video/ DVD, sound installation and sculpture by 12 South African artists. The work on show variously tackles the unstable and fluid expanse that exists between an internalised, personal space and an exterior, outer reality during a time of intense social transformation.

The 12 artists are: Jane Alexander, William Kentridge, Willie Bester, Tracey Rose, Jo Ractliffe, Senzeni Marasela, Robin Rhode, Clive Van Den Berg, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Johannes Phokela, Sandile Zulu and Thando Mama.

The event is complemented by a catalogue, and features a critical text by Nic Dawes. The catalogue, in English and French, is available at a cost of Eu20. The event also features a number of screenings of South African films.

Opens: April 22
Closes: June 20

The third edition of 'FotoGrafia', Rome's international photography festival, is a showcase of over two hundred photographers. It includes over forty exhibitions held in some of the city's most evocative venues. As in the previous editions, the 2004 festival will also focus on a single country. This year it is the turn of South Africa.

'FotoGrafia' represents the highpoint of the encounter between contemporary art and Rome's unmatchable heritage. The exhibitions, which are held in different locations (museums, archaeological sites, international academies and art galleries), are concentrated in two main regions: the Historic Centre and the Flaminio quarter, both areas with high concentrations of public and private museums and galleries.

Kathy Grundlingh, formerly of the South African National Gallery and currently with Michael Stevenson, is curating a group exhibition titled 'Sugar in the Petrol', at the British School at Rome Gallery (April 6 - June 4). The featured artists are Abrie Fourie, Andrew Tshabangu, Zwelethu Mthethwa and Doris Bloom.

Bloom is also holding a solo show, titled 'Sod, Myth of origin and other African stories' at Studio Stefania Miscetti (April 6 - May 8).

DaimlerChrysler award winning photojournalist Guy Tillim will be showing his evocative Angolan colour portraits, 10 photos taken in Kunhinga during the civil war. Tillim's work will be on show at the Sala 1 gallery from April 3 - May 31.

Pieter Hugo, a self-taught Cape Town photographer, is showing an impressive body of images at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (April 15 - May 16). 'Ritratti di Albini' (or 'Portraits of Albinos') has been described as "a thought-provoking reflection on diversity in the South African population". A selection of intimate portraits of people born with a deficiency of photo-protective pigment, or melanin, three of these images were recently shown at Michael Stevenson, on the show 'Staged Realities'. Hugo's transcontinental body of work is soon to be available in book form.

Sally Mann will be showing 'Deep South', a series of anthropomorphic landscapes created by the artist in Mississippi and Louisiana. The exhibition will be held in Palazzo della Calcografia (April 27 - June 6).

The theme of this year's festival is "Dura Bellezza" (or Hard Beauty). The festival is produced by Zone Attive, with the artistic direction of Marco Delogu, who proposes a reflection on the dual nature of photography: hard-hitting testimony and work of art. For further information, in English, visit: www.fotografiafestival.it

Frances Goodman is one of 28 artists appearing on 'Mo(NU)ment@Bornem'. The rather post-modern title refers to the moment of meeting between cultural history, contemporary art and nature. Art asks for time, a moment of attention for what it has to tell. The exhibition will take place along the scenic routes of Bornem, in Belgium, an area eagerly visited by walkers and cyclists the whole summer through.

The event is spread over four locations: the gallery and park of Monumental at Bornem, the gardens of the 15th century Sint-Bernardusabdij at Bornem, the regional museum 'De Zilverreiger', at Weert, and the tourism and recreation information centre of the Scheldt 'De notelaer', at Hingene.

Opens: May 9
Closes: August 29

James Webb exhibits his politically charged "White Noise" on Zèppelin 2004-Festival de Arte Sonor.

This year, Zèppelin2004-Festival de Arte Sonoro is focussing on audio material relating to situations of conflict and consensus in human societies. In this spirit, and specially conscious of the important role played by sound in the mass demonstrations against the pre-emptive attack on Iraq that took place throughout the world in March and April 2003, Z�ppelin have invited artists to create sound pieces expressing a total rejection of armed conflicts of any kind, to be played back on a high-quality, 8-speaker system in the CCCB Hall area during the festival.

The speakers will be arranged around a large semi-circular space and operate continuously between the 19th and the 22nd of May 2004, so that individual pieces will be played various times during the festival.

James Webb's White Noise, a 10 second clip of George W Bush repeating, �Make a weapon� We thought he had weapons... The international community thought he had weapons� But he had the capacity to make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network� is phased over an extended period of time to produce a jumbled rap of words sounding like an ever-changing stuck record. A sculptural installation version of the work can be seen locally on the ABSA L'Atelier show in Johannesburg.

Opens: May, 2004

'Your Heart is No Match for My Love' is a group show reflecting the emotionally disarming process of falling in love. The perspectives on love presented by the artists range from the romantic to the pathetic, from the poetic to the aggressive. The exhibition with complimentary tango lessons, love song mix tape as exhibition catalogue, and temporary tattoo as exhibit invite �all coincide to create an adventurous and inclusive aesthetic experience.

This exhibition is the result of a curatorial discussion between Rob Blackson and Bree Edwards that began with the Chris Isaak song 'Wicked Game'. Since May of 2003 the two continued this visual conversation, swapping artists' works back and forth in an ongoing process to develop a clarified visual statement.

Exhibiting are Bas Jan Ader, Robert Beck, Heather Colvin's mixed tapes, Karen Finlay, Frances Goodman, Rob Halverson, Libby Hartle, Rama Hoffpauir, Alexa Horochowski, Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July, amongst others. Goodman's narrative-based sound work is well suited to the show's theme, and often describes charged emotional scenarios.

Opens: May 8
Closes: June 20

Robin Rhode showcases a collection of five animated movies. Rhode's works are a combination of drawings and performance, many often located in the public spaces of his hometown in Johannesburg, as well as cities in the United States and Europe. The collected material has been edited into animated movies.

Included in the show is SEE/SAW, which Rhode told a Boston-based newspaper has become a very important piece for him. "The work was created on a street corner in Johannesburg, a charged space in a South African context," he said. The corner sits opposite a playground destroyed by vandalism. "A dysfunctional site now becomes a starting point for the work. . . . I've recreated the past memory of a space," commented Rhode. "When I created the piece, I had almost the whole neighborhood watching in amusement, that this object could once again exist, as a drawing, on a paved sidewalk, filled with pieces of dried bubblegum that now almost function as stars in the animation."

Robin Rhode currently lives in Berlin.

Opens: May 28
Closes: July 25

Advance Notice: How does a work of art work on us? Henry Art Gallery Chief Curator Elizabeth Brown has been developing a concept of 'The Work of the Work' (WOW) over the last two years to probe the way certain works of art actively engage the viewer. Our connection to artwork might be intellectual or visceral or kinaesthetic; it is often multiple, involving some change in bodily sensation at the same time it provokes emotions or mental associations. Such responses are critical to the effectiveness of most, if not all, works of art.

'WOW' presents a selection of works by a small group of international and multi-ethnic artists. By featuring more than a single work by these artists, the exhibition increases audience attention. Viewers are encouraged to focus and therefore more productively engage with the works. Aside from Candice Breitz, the artist line-up includes Catherine Yass, Anne Appleby, Hannah Villiger, Callum Innes, Steve McQueen, Kim Sooja, Gary Hill, and Olafur Eliasson.

'WOW' is curated for the Henry Art Gallery by Chief Curator Elizabeth A. Brown.

The show opens in three parts:

Gary Hill: Tall Ships: August 13, 2004 - February 13, 2005
WOW Stroum Gallery: September 18, 2004 - February 13, 2005
WOW North Galleries: November 6, 2004 - April, 2005

The show 'Insights' features the work of nine contemporary artists from the National Museum of African Art's collection. These artists are: Sokari Douglas Camp, William Kentridge, Jeremy Wafer, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Georgia Papageorge, Ezrom Legae, Iba N'Diaye, Gavin Jantjes and Sue Williamson.

By displaying ensembles rather than individual works, the exhibition reveals the artistic process and play of experimentation, continuity and change in each artist's chosen subjects and materials. The artwork on exhibit reflects the collection's strength in contemporary South African art. As artist Sue Williamson suggests, "Art has several lives - it has one life when you are actually making it, and that process is important for the artist� Then when that's finished, the art begins the second phase of its life, where people react to it in a particular space - in a gallery."

Artists' insights are presented in quotes that illuminate and personalise the works on display, while the curators' comments impart the broader cultural and political themes that inform each artist's work. Together, these insights reveal the artists' varied use of visual metaphor, allegory, myth and even movement to evoke a range of experiences - the joy of masquerade, the resiliency of community, pride of place and the physical and psychic violence of political oppression.

The exhibition, co-curated by Kinsey Katchka and Allyson Purpura, reflects museum director Sharon F. Patton's interest in fostering inventive approaches to exhibiting the museum's collection by including newer staff members in the curatorial process.

Closes: November 28

The Arizona State University Art Museum presents an exhibition of sculpture and prints by Claudette Schreuders. Entitled 'The Long Day', the show features 11 new sculptures, lithographs and drawings. Schreuders is best known for her autobiographical figurative sculpture inspired by family photographs and memories and by the specific social experience of growing up white, female and Afrikaans in the broader political context of South Africa.

Assembled from carved and painted wood, the works often include other materials such as iron, leather, nails and found objects, reflecting the influence of African sculpture. Schreuders' accessible but moody works convey the revolutionary changes in South Africa and of individuals grappling with the country's inscrutable past.

In her artist's statement, published in the catalogue Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa, she remarks: "(The) sense of (my) dislocation was not only the result of a European heritage within an African context, but also the marginalisation that formed part of a restrictive society that set limits and threatened to reject those who did not conform."

Her new work reflects on the burden of representing contemporary South African political and social realities. Her allegorical figures range from works inspired by family history to anonymous figures observed in private moments that become political in a public space - like reading the newspaper about Rwanda in a park.. Schreuders draws inspiration from the iconography and style of African tribal art, the Colon figures of West Africa, and Western traditions of religious woodcarving, particularly Northern and Spanish baroque sources.

Claudette Schreuders received a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Cape Town in 1997. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in South Africa, Japan, Germany, Great Britain and the United States, and in solo exhibitions at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.

Opens: March 20
Closes: June 19, 2004

   SEE REVIEWS

Since it was first hosted in 1992, the Dak'Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art has become the foremost destination for viewers interested in cutting-edge contemporary African art. Held every two years in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, this year's event will showcase 33 artists and five designers from 16 countries, exhibiting 94 works.

The only pan-African art event of its sort, Dak'Art offers a critical platform for artists and thinkers from across Africa to meet and engage one another. As Sue Williamson, another participant on this year's event has said: "Dak'Art aspires to be part of the international circuit of biennales� while at the same time attempting to hold onto its African identity, and maintain for its artists the right to make work on their own terms."

Sue Williamson is one of the five South Africans artists selected, and will be presenting her 'Better Lives' series. The other four include two recent local competition winners. Thando Mama last year won the MTN New Contemporaries for his video installations, while Doreen Southwood clinched top honours at the Brett Kebble Art Awards for her beautifully distraught sculptural evocation of a woman on the edge, titled The Swimmer. The other two artists are Mgcineni 'Pro' Sobopha and Gregg Smith.

Aside from the various art exhibitions scheduled, this year's biennial also features a design show, film festival and digital arts forum.

Opens: May 7
Closes: June 7

   SEE REVIEW

'Video Hits: Art and Music Video Exhibition' brings together works by music video directors and visual artists - several of whom have never before exhibited in Australia. It focuses on the dialogue between art and music video and offers an original and challenging framework for the MTV generation to engage with a form of popular culture that has defined a new aesthetic.

The first stage of the exhibition features large-scale projections of clips by leading international directors. The second stage, scheduled to coincide with 'Prime 04: Art+Music+Video', presents video works that were made for or influenced by music television.

Anyone familiar with Candice Breitz's recent output will know that this is intimately her territory. An artist who utilises video with fluent ease, and sometimes to achingly beautiful effect, her most recent videos presented Breitz painstakingly miming popular songs. Karaoke it isn't.

Breitz will show her works alongside Sadie Benning (Chicago), Tony Cokes (Rhode Island), Dick Donkeys Dawn (London), Art Jones (New York), Liisa Lounilla (Helsinki), Pipilotti Rist (Zurich/Los Angeles) and Annika Str�m (Stockholm/Berlin).

Opens: March 27
Closes: June 14