Cape Town Month of Photography

From: Geoff Grundlingh

Participation is invited in the first ever Cape Town Month of Photography, which will form part of the Cape Town Heritage Festival scheduled for launch on September 24.

The title of this first Month of Photography is a nicely cryptic '100XtheC' (where 100 is the number of events and exhibitions but could also indicate 100 years, etc). "theC" may be read as the sea or to see or Cape Town etc. The title is clearly open to a wide range of diverse interpretations. There will be 100 exhibitions all around the city, from Cape Point to Melkbos, in galleries and other venues which may include laundromats, fish shops, the beachfront, virtual shows on the web, publications, etc, and may consist of multi-media, digital, photo-installations or live exhibitions.

The Month of Photography will be staged every alternate year and will hopefully become the showcase for the best Southern Africa has to offer. The curatorial committee for 1999 consists of Geoff Grundingh, Lien Botha and Berni Searle, who will handle the bulk of the applications.

Please submit:

1) An idea or concept or outline or working prints or slides for an exhibition to be mounted in the greater Cape Town area (it can be either a solo or a group show, and students and staff of photographic institutions are welcome to participate). You can e-mail your proposal to camera@dockside.co.za, or fax it to (021) 480-7108 detailing the number of participants, the physical and conceptual details of the proposed exhibition, including venue, a brief budget and opening date.

2) Potential exhibitors will be expected to find their own exhibition space. The Centre has booked several venues in Cape Town for some events but we would like to encourage potential participants to use alternative venues. We will help non-Capetonians to find suitable spaces and assist where possible with logistical problems.

3) We plan several opening functions around September 24 (Heritage Day) to mark the launch of the Month of Photography. Proposed exhibitions may open as early as September 20 and the support systems will run until October 16. We will print for distribution a map showing every exhibition location and photographer.

Closing date for submissions is June 15. The final list of participants will be announced on July 1. We hope to offer these participants financial support to mount their exhibitions but this will depend on how much we manage to raise for the Month of Photography. Potential sponsors should contact Lien Botha at (021) 447-8518 or Geoff Grundlingh on 082-490-2459. The postal address for submissions is: 100XtheC, Cape Town Month of Photography, South African Centre for Photography, 31-37 Orange Street, Gardens 8001.

Conference on photography

A draft programme has been drawn up for a conference to take place in Cape Town from July 14-17 entitled 'Encounters with Photography: Photographing People in Southern Africa, 1860 to 1999'. The conference will encompass presentations on the subject by more than 20 overseas visitors, and an equal number of South Africans.

Provisional programme

Wednesday, July 14 1999
17:00 - 18:00 Registration
18:00 - 19:00 Keynote Address: Dr Elizabeth Edwards, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
19:00 Reception

Thursday, July 15 1999
8:00 - 8:45 Registration
8:45 - 9:00 Welcome and notices
Colonial encounters
9:00 - 9:20 James Ryan, Oxford, UK: Exploring Darkness: Photography, exploration and the colonial encounter
9:20 - 9:40 Chris Webster, University of Wales: A Woman of Sofala 1845: Thoughts on the earliest extant photograph from Southern Africa
9:40 - 10:00 Chris Morton, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford: 'Interesting and Picturesque': Staging encounters for the British Association in South Africa, 1905
10:00 - 10:20 Discussion
10:20 - 10:40 Tea
10:40 - 11:00 Neal Sobania, Hope College, Michigan: Stereoscopic Imagery and the Colonial Mind, South West Africa, 1905
11:00 - 11:20 Gerald Klinghardt, SA Museum, Cape Town: The Photography of Georg Gustav Klinghardt in German South West Africa, 1896-1915
11:20 - 11:40 Dr Patricia Hayes, History Department, UWC: Immortal Remains: Photographs of the dead king Mundume from the Ovamboland Expedition, 1917
11:40 - 12:00 Dr Jan-Bart Gewald, University of Cologne: Motor-cars, Cameras and the Colonial Encounter: Towards an understanding of the photographic record of the introduction of the motor-car in Namibia, 1905-1945
12:00 - 12:20 Discussion
12:20 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Keynote: Dr Christopher Pinney, University College, London: Title to follow [open to the public]
14:00 - 14:20 Prof Jeff Guy, University of Natal: The Struggle for the Image at Ekukhanyeni - The Place of Light
14:20 - 14:40 Prof Patrick Harries, History Department, UCT: Terrible Truths: photographing the Thonga in the 19th century
14:40 - 15:00 Prof Albert Wirz, Humboldt University at Berlin, and Alan Kirkaldy, University of Venda: Picturing the Soul: Missionary encounters in late 19th and early 20th century South Africa
15:00 - 15:20 Discussion
15:20 - 15:40 Tea
Aesthetic and commercial encounters
15:40 - 16:00 Kathy Grundlingh, SA National Gallery, Cape Town: Pictorialism and the Salon in South Africa
16:00 - 16:20 James McArdle, Latrobe University, Australia: The Paradox of the Photographic Portrait
16:20 - 16:30 Prof James Faris, USA: Photographic Encounters: Leni Riefenstahl in Africa
16:30 - 16:40 Discussion
16:40 - 17:00 Eric Allina-Pisano, Yale University: Filming Authority in Central Mozambique, 1930
17:00 - 17:20 Dr Gordon Bleach, School of Art and Art History, University of Florida: Paradise Lust [Safari movies of the 1920s and 1930s]
17:20 - 17:30 Discussion
18:30 Reception/Exhibition walkabout

Friday, July 16 1999
9:00 - 9:20 Carol Magee-Curtis, University of California, Santa Barbara: Photographic Fantasies: Exoticism in the 1996 'Sports Illustrated' Swimsuit Issue
9:20 - 9:40 Lauri M Firstenberg, Harvard University: The [Black] Body and the Archive
9:40 - 10:00 Jennifer Law, University of London: Photomontage and the New Surrealism: Strategies of projection and metamorphosis in the work of three South African artists
10:00 - 10:20 Hentie van der Merwe and Lisa Allan: The Picture of Health: The photographed male body in the archives of Hugh McFarlane
10:20 - 10:40 Discussion
10:40 - 11:00 Tea
Documentary and curatorial encounters
11:00 - 11:20 Ann Wanless, Randburg: Images of the Khoisan in the Archive of Louis Fourie 1919-1927
11:20 - 11:40 Barbara Buntman, University of the Witwatersrand: Shooting the Hunter-Gatherers: Portraying others and photographing a people
11:40 - 12:00 Giorgio Miescher, Switzerland: Body and Space: Continuities and discontinuities in the pictorial construction of Kaoko (Namibia) and its inhabitants
12:00 - 12:15 Discussion
12:15 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Keynote: Dr Christraud Geary, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC: Title to follow [open to the public]
14:00 - 14:20 Fiona Barbour, Kimberley: The Photography of Duggan-Cronin
14:20 - 14:40 Chandre Carstens, UCT English Department: Photographic Memories: The camera as a tool in identity constructions
14:40 - 15:00 Gary Minkley and Ciraj Rassool, UWC: Photography with a Difference? Leon Levson's camera studies and photographic exhibitions of native life in South Africa, 1947-1950
15:00 - 15:10 Discussion
15:10 - 15:30 Peter James, Birmingham: Rethinking Representations, Revisiting Encounters: Photographs of South Africa by Sir Benjamin Stone and Vanley Burke
15:30 - 15:50 Sally Gaule, University of the Witwatersrand: Juxtaposing Race: Alterity and reflection in South African photography
15:50 - 16:00 Discussion
16:00 - 16:20 Tea
16:20 - 16:40 Karen Harber and Ruth Sack, Johannesburg: Family Portraits: From the private to the public domain
16:40 - 17:00 Kimberly Miller, University of Cape Town: Violent Visions: Representations of mothers and children in South African documentary photography of the 1980s
17:00 - 17:20 Ann M Ciola, Binghamton University: Truth in Photography: Compositional style in Southern African photography 1960s to 1990s
17:20 - 17:30 Discussion
19:30 Conference dinner

Saturday July 17 1999
9:00 - 9:20 Robert Papini, Local History Museum, Durban: 'Shining up the rusty idol': Censoring for the Zulu image
9:20 - 9:40 Rory Bester, independent scholar: Raiding the Contemporary in Photographic Practice
9:40 - 10:00 Jeremy Silvester, University of Namibia: New Views of Old Locations
10:00 - 10:20 Discussion
10:20 - 10:40 Tea
10:40 - 11:00 John Stotesbury, University of Joensuu, Finland: Family Albums as Auto/biographical Narrative
11:00 - 11:20 Dr R Rohde, University of Edinburgh and H Rodkin: Family Portraits, Realism, The Everyday: An essay based on the exhibition 'This is My Family' - a group show of photo narratives from Paulshoek, Namaqualand
1:20 - 11:40 Jean Brundrit and Jo Ractliffe: Speaking Without Words: Photography as an agent in communication and self-representation
11:40 - 12:00 Peter McKenzie, Cedric Nunn and Margaret Waller: Current Encounters [Discussion at 14:00]
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Keynote: Prof Martha Rosler, Rutgers University, USA: Title to follow [open to the public]
14:00 - 14:30 Discussion: Current encounters, contemporary issues
14:30 - 15:00 Conclusion

Inquiries can be directed to Geoff Grundlingh at camera@dockside.co.za.

Raiders of the Lost Arts

The South African Network of Arts Therapies Organisations is presenting 'Raiders of the Lost Arts - An Expedition to Recover the Creative Self'. The programme covers a day of experiential workshops led by art, drama, movement and music therapists to be held on Saturday, May 15, and a series of weekly lectures starting on May 20.

'Raiders I', the day of experiential workshops, will begin at 9.30am; the venue is the Annexe, South African National Gallery, Government Avenue, Cape Town, and the cost is R150. The lecture series will be held at the Kenilworth Medi-Centre, Kenilworth Road, Kenilworth, on May 20, 27, June 3 and June 10, starting at 7pm. Donation: R10. More info, call Liz on (021) 448 0743 or Natalie on (021) 448 8795.

Black Arts Collective meets

Meetings of the Black Arts Collective (BLAC) take place on the first Tuesday of the month at 5.30pm at The Granary, Buitenkant Street, Cape Town (opposite Cape College).

BLAC was initiated in late 1998 for the purposes of building discourse around South African art and heritage with particular reference to black people. BLAC encourages networking and the development of projects between people who attend its meetings, but as yet does not have the capacity to initiate, financially support or manage projects.

Meetings are open to all who see themselves as black. For the purposes of the collective and its activities, black refers to people who were marginalised/dispossessed on the basis of race by the apartheid government. Its fundamental reason for being is to aid in the empowerment of black artists, heritage workers, academics and arts administrators towards an African, South African and Cape Town aesthetic. Arts refers broadly to all media: visual, performance, literary, video, fashion etc.

Each session will feature a short 10-minute input by a Capetonian arts/heritage worker, and/or an input by a guest speaker on some topic of interest, followed by a 30-40 minute discussion. Important news will also be shared.

The next meeting will take place at The Granary on Tuesday, June 1 at 5.30pm, and the guest speaker will be Mike van Graan, co-ordinator of the One City Festival (due to open on September 24 1999) Mike is an arts manager of note who has served as advisor to the minister in arts, and has been involved at a senior level in arts programmes in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. He presently runs a consultancy in arts management.

Please diarise the following meeting dates, speakers still to be confirmed: July 6, August 3, September 7, October 5 - Guest: Vusabantu Ngema (dance practitioner), November 2, December 7.

BLAC is managed by ONE. Contact Zayd Minty at 465-4996 or e-mail one@intekom.co.za.