Didn't get to Venice this year? In her illuminating
review, Laurie Ann Farrell of the Museum for African Art in New York rates the 51st Biennale an 'experience par excellence'. It was the first time in the 110 history of the event that it was directed by two women, Mar�a de Corral and Rosa Martinez, and by most accounts they have curated intelligently and well. Pity about the performance bloop by legendary feminist activist group, the Guerrilla Girls: their placards announced that Africa (except for Egypt and Morocco) was M.I.A - or Missing in Art. Not so, Guerilla Girls. Actually, artists from Africa were quite well represented this year.
Only 10 years younger than the Venice Biennale, the NSA Gallery in Durban celebrates its centenary this month - which must surely make it the oldest non-museum gallery in the country. Congratulations to the NSA on surviving this long - and going from strength to strength - are definitely in order.
Next update: Friday, August 5
Sue Williamson
FOUNDING EDITOR
CAPE
Claudette Schreuders and John Murray should provide a satisfying viewing at Michael Stevenson Contemporary; Keith Dietrich and Carol-Anne Gainer are at the Bell-Roberts; Dario Matter shows at Erdmann Contemporary and don't miss all the new shows at AVA and DIRT.
GAUTENG
Winners of last year's main prizes at the Brett Kebble Awards show in Cape Town come to Johannesburg: Tanya Poole shows at Franchise, and Phillip Rikhotso at Momo. Elsewhere, the William Kentridge retrospective is on at the JAG and the Absa Atelier winners can be seen at the Absa Gallery.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Hillary Graham and Dineo Seshee Bopape are at the NSA, which turns into the KZNSA on July 12, with a series of special exhibitions to mark their centenary. At ArtSpace, a full programme of exhibitions runs through the month.
INTERNATIONAL
David Goldblatt has a major show at the Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf, 'Looking Both Ways' has moved to Edinburgh, and artists Sonya Rademeyer, Lorna Marsh, Frances Goodman, James Webb and Mandy Lee Jandrell are some of the South African artists on new shows around the globe.
OPINION
'Staying Alive under Water': Andrew Lamprecht reflects on the vicissitudes of curating.
CAPE
Mustafa Maluka has populated the Michael Stevenson Contemporary Gallery with seductive canvases of invented heroes. Kim Gurney reviews the distinctive hiphop and graffiti aesthetic of 'Accented Living (a rough guide)'. At the Bell-Roberts, plastic is put to fascinating use in 'The Ship of Things' by Daniel Blom, but the installation is compromised by its presentation, says Kim Gurney. Sue Williamson pronounces 'printtttt' the Andrew Lamprecht curated show of local contemporary prints, frrrreshhh.
GAUTENG
Robyn Sassen finds that the work of Rosemarie Marriott is not a teddy bear's picnic, and finds it regrettable that in her debut solo show in Gauteng, Carol Nathan Levin's sequinned works are hung in a cluttered gallery.
In the STUDENT REVIEW section, eight young art students cut their online review teeth on eight recent Gauteng shows.
KWAZULU NATAL
Camilla Copley twists and turns through Dineo Seshee Bopape's dense installation 'keep it to yourself' at the NSA
INTERNATIONAL
Laurie Ann Farrell gives an incisive and highly informative review of the 51st Venice Biennale - and sends back an array of stunning pictures.
A contemporary art auction in Cape Town, a dispute over sponsorship money, a young artist selected for an important international show, the death of a well loved artist of a previous generation and the centenary celebrations of a Natal gallery - it's all in NEWS.
In the absence of the chief sub editor, Sue Williamson was too busy to keep up her diary this month, and it will resume in August.
Linda Stupart writes on Julia Rosa Clark,
on her way home from a solo show on Liste, in Basel..
All the links you need to keep in touch.
New media editor Carine Zaayman takes a trip down an old technology lane.
If you want to participate in an international poster project, or submit radical graphics for a new art book - check this page.
Feedback editor Paul Edmunds is in Thailand this month, so this feature will refresh itself in July.
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