Johan Thom

Listings(s)

'becoming, binding & disappearing': Johan Thom's comprehensive solo exhibition in Germany

For the first time Johan Thom will exhibit a comprehensive selection of his video works and video installations in one showing at Iwalewa Haus (The Africa Center of the University of Bayreuth).

Well known for his performances, videos and video installations Thom often subjects the body to extremes in a quest to map its ongoing transformation. His works are both enigmatic and playful, subverting preconceived notions about identity, the body, politics and knowledge.

The exhibition includes a number of large-scale video projections and installations such as Challenging mud - after Kazuo Shiraga (2008), a video projection displayed on a thin layer of flour placed on the floor and showing the artist being buried alive with his body covered in gold leaf; Theory of displacement (2007/8), a massive immersive environment consisting of three video projections in which the artist lies tarred and feathered in a natural spring situated in the area known as the ‘Cradle of Humankind’, South Africa; Terms of endearment (2007) in which the artist made up in ‘skullface’ happily gargles on ordinary washing detergent and champagne. Also included on the exhibition is a new large-scale installation titled Blood Rites (2010) showing the extreme close-up movement of the artist’s face covered in gold leaf as he ritually places 50 individually engraved razor blades in his mouth, chewing and spitting them out - all projected onto a number of thick rope lengths hanging from the ceiling. 

This solo exhibition is supplemented by the screening of Terrorizing the concept of meaning - Conversations with Johan Thom, a 43-minute documentary film produced by Iwalewa Haus & the Federal German Research Council and made by Thorolf Lipp and Tobias Wendl following extensive interaction with the artist over the course of the past two years.

22 April 2010 - 05 September 2010

'Mine'

The first exhibition of contemporary South African art in the UAE, 'Mine' is curated by South African artist, photographer and curator Abrie Fourie, who explains the concept behind the exhibition: 'The title refers not only to the idea of deep level mining, but to the concept of personal ownership. The works featured have been chosen for their diversity, with the common denominator that the artists make reference to themselves in their work, either in person, as actor, model, observer, interviewer or instigator. Mine seeks to explore the myriad ways in which we identify and position our "selves".'

Artists featured in this video exhibition include: Berni Searle, Bridget Baker, Cedric Nunn, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Donna Kukama, Doris Bloom, Dorothee Kreutzfelt, Gregg Smith, Jaques Coetzer, Johan Thom, Lerato Shadi, Michael McCarry, Minette Vari, Nandipha Mntambo, Penny Siopis, Robin Rhode, Simon Gush, Teboho Edkins, William Kentridge, Zanele Muholi

18 January 2012 - 06 February 2012