JOHANNESBURG

With the introduction of computerised transactions, the old trading floor of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has fallen into disuse - a perfect space for artists to move in and set up a series of installations exploring ideas around commerce and exchange. The show has been curated by three of the artists, Marco Cianfanelli, Luan Nel and Andrea Burgener, and will consist of a mix of video and sound projects, sculptures, installations, text and performances. On an L.E.D. screen, instead of the flashing of the latest stockmarket figures from Tokyo, a slow convoy of names will pass in endless procession - Albion, (an old name for England) Avenger, Benbow, Cambrian and on through the alphabet to Zulu. This is British artist Roger Palmer's piece, and the 63 names are those of diesel locomotives named after battleships - a poetic illumination of an almost forgotten detail of the history of commerce. Other participants in the show are Siemon Allen, Johnnie Golightly, whose work 'deals with ideas of both material and emotional sale', Aliza Levi, whose figure sculptures will be placed in critical positions, Kim Lieberman, Farrel Ngilima, Joachim Schonfeldt, Minnette Vari, Brian Webber and Mary Holland. 'Taking Stock' will be open every weekday between 12h00 and 14h00. Outside these hours, the show may be viewed, on request, from an adjacent viewing gallery. Closes December 24.

The implication here seems to be that this is not just a show to satisfy those with ART written in big letters on their Christmas lists, but a look at an interesting selection of current work. Featured are some of the regular Goodman Gallery artists plus first-timer Cape Town photographer Tracey Derrick, who will be showing her powerful Waters of Life series on Zionist baptismal ceremonies off Mnandi Beach, in Cape Town.

'PhotoSynthesis' at the South African National Gallery

This show is all about South African photography in the nineties, with selected work from 34 individuals. This is the decade in which South Africa is struggling to reinvent itself, and the shift from the emphasis on the shocking photographs taken in the heat of apartheid battles to be flashed around the world in previous years to a more considered, mediated image is profound. The variety of issues and approaches in this show reflects that process, from Jean Brundrit's moving Cardiac Arrest, through the cool backlit digital prints of beauty consultants by Minnette Vari to the idosynscratic portraits by self taught KwaZulu street photographers Sipho Khosa and Godfrey Gumede. Tours: Wednesday December 17 at 13:05 and Saturday December 20 at 15:00.

Cape Town's trendiest are busy decking themselves out as sexy boxes of detergent or stuffed chickens for the year's biggest art party to take place at the River Club on Monday December 15 and organised by the Mother City Queer Project. The poster, featuring a flat-chested large-handed Princess Di in a ballgown of plastic Pick 'n Pay packets has apparently upset sponsors radio station KFM sufficiently for them to consider withdrawing sponsorship, but hopefully this won't happen. The MCQP have attended to complaints that last year's party got a bit too crowded for comfort by laying on extra dance tents and relaxation areas. Don't miss this one. The ticket hotline number is (021) 448 7021, or visit their website at www.mcqp.co.za

London photographer Joy Gregory, last seen in this country at the 1st Johannesburg Biennale, presents Auto Portraits, a body of work which 'negotiates a delicate path between the political demands of making the black body visible and desirable (while) subverting the conventions of beauty as expressed by the fashion industry'
- Bonani - the South African National Gallery newsletter.

'Cram' at the Association for Visual Arts

Linda Givon of the Goodman Gallery pays Cape Town a visit with a fine selection of work mainly by Johannesburg artists. Art shopaholic Penny Siopis' obsessive interest in the resonance of the ordinary objects which make up the currency of daily life - ornaments, books, toys, inflatables, mirrors, hairbrushes - expresses itself here in the careful arrangement of three piles of such objects grouped according to colour: military brown, hot magenta/red and shades of white. Gaze at the three and the differences in response generated by the colour become increasingly intense. Related small, heavily impastoed oil paintings hang nearby. William Kentridge, cited by New York critic Lisa Liebmann in Artforum (September 1997) for best-in-show at Documenta X for his video History of the Main Complaint, shows masterly near-to-lifesize pastel drawings of a nude male figure, and the brilliantly chilling video made for Ubu and the TRC. (see Artthrob No 1, August). Good news for Cape Town: the stage production of Ubu will have its first local airing at Spier in January. Others in the strong line-up in 'Cram' include Robert Hodgins, Norman Catherine, Willie Bester, Deborah Bell, Pat Mautloa and David Koloane.

Opening on December 14 - a mixed bag of art from Lisa Brice, Tracy Payne, Bridget Baker, Andrew Putter, Peet Pienaar, Barend de Wet and Stefan Blom.

The invitation promises that this is 'an exhibition that makes possible in the second dimension what is impossible in the third' and the witty reconstruction of images in the painting on the invitation seems to bear this out. Until December 22.

This exhibition of installations in the cramped cubicles where prisoners saw their visitors through tiny glass windows has got off to rather a slow start visitors-wise as changing weather and tourist policies on the Island have hampered potential exhibition goers, but from December 15, a new scheme will come into effect. Would-be visitors will pay R100 for the return ferry ride from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, and will be free to wander round the prison area of the island, including the Visitors' Block which is situated right next to the harbour. The nine Cape Town artists are Willie Bester, Kevin Brand, Lisa Brice, Lionel Davis, Tracey Derrick, Randolph Hartzenberg, Brett Murray, Malcolm Payne and Sue Williamson. For more information on 'Thirty Minutes', check the October and November archives of Artthrob.

In an exhibition which will simultaneously with the Kriterion Gallery in Amsterdam, Gabriel Clark-Brown is showing prints with collaged images in brilliant colours. Until December 21.

The Western Cape region of the Association of Potters (APSA) are celebrating their 25th anniversary by showing works of award winners over the years. There are also ceramic masks by current members. In the Nico Malan Theatre foyer until December 22.