Archive: Issue No. 35, July 2000

Andrew Verster at João Ferreira

Andrew Verster's latest body of work, entitled 'Indus', was once more inspired by a trip to India. The highly prolific Verster delights as much in the rich and sensuous textures of India as in the colours and qualities of his painting. Verster maintains that his visits to India have profoundly changed the way he sees.

Wednesday August 2 - August 26

João Ferreira Fine Art, 80 Hout Street, Cape Town

Mo Diener and Sergei Nikokoshev at the Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet

Despite the absence of its proprietor, the Cabinet is still functioning to some extent. French artist Mo Diener and Russian Sergei Nikokoshev are holding a show entitled 'Gates 3'. The project comes out of the Artist in Residence programme at Greatmore Studios. Both artists showed work on the recent 'Channel Too' at the AVA.

Wednesday July 26 - August 16

Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet, 120 Bree Street, Cape Town

Panel Discussion - The Politics of Art: Race and Censorship

Artist Peet Pienaar's proposal to be circumcised in October at the Association for Visual Arts, as part of British curator Jeremy Mulvey's exhibition 'Men and Masculinity', has provoked further strong debate around issues of racism and censorship in the South African art world. Chaired by Malcolm Payne, a panel discussion will be held to provide a platform for open debate as well as for artists and the public to express their views. Panelists taking part are Thembinkosi Goniwe, Peet Pienaar, Estelle Jacobs, Sue Williamson and Mgcineni Sobopha. (See 'Cultural Apartheid? Circumcision Proposal Provokes Questions', by Sue Williamson in ArtThrob News).

12.30 - 2pm, Thursday July 27

Michaelis Lecture Theatre, 1st Floor Michaelis Building, 31 - 37 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town

New Shows at the AVA

In his first significant outing for quite some time, and first one-person show in Cape Town, Vuyile Cameron Voyiya shows a selection of linocuts. Voyiya, who has exhibited internationally on such events as the Sydney Biennial of 1992-3, is a curator in the education department of the National Gallery. He shows these works in the Long Gallery.

In the main gallery, Brett Shuman holds a show of multi-media works entitled 'King Size'. Using contemporary popular icons, Shuman examines consumerism.

On the ArtStrip, Antony Cawood also holds his first one-person show in Cape Town. Cawood is a painter who produces abstract works which show a concern with colour, surface and form.

July 24 - August 12

AVA, 35 Church Street, Cape Town

Johnny Foreigner and the Bread Fairy's Soap Opera

In what is touted as "The First Multimedia Serial Shop Window Soap Opera" these two tricksters are putting the soap back into opera. Simple South African icons- a breeze block, institutional crockery and, um, Sunlight Soap- are presented in a fresh, witty way with weekly changes made at the sound of Friday's Noon Gun. Last week simply saw a slowly revolving suspended bar of Sunlight Soap onto the back of which was carved the new South African Flag. That "episode" was called Hope on a Rope. This week's installation, "episode" 6, is entitled Read Between the Lines. The show is being hosted by João Ferreira in the shop window which he rents on Greenmarket Square.

50 / 52 Shortmarket Street (between Benzakien and Primi Piatti), Cape Town

Kevin Brand, Gawie Fagan, David Liknaitzky and Hannes Meiring at the Dorp Street Gallery

Entitled 'Habitable Sculpture, Sculptural Habitat', judging by the invitation, this show is rather light in tone. Noted architects Fagan and Meiring collaborate with artists Liknaitzky and Brand. Meiring shows drawings of his trademark gables, Liknaitzky exhibits constructions in mixed media, and Brand is exhibiting the small bronzes he produced for his recent 'Late Afternoon Show' at the AVA in Durban and Cape Town.

July 1 - July 31

Dorp Street Gallery, 176 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch

Current international resident at the studios, Swiss artist Mo Diener is holding a show at Greatmore Studios with local artist Billy Mandindi. The show is entitled 'Gate 2', and the only clue provided by the artist says, "I always wanted to go to Africa."

July 13 - July 21 (Open to visitors from 9am - 12pm on weekdays)

Greatmore Studios, 47 Greatmore Street, Woodstock, Cape Town

During the month of July, Cape Town artist Bernie Searle will be working at the South African National Gallery as the artist in residence. Her work explores a broad range of gender and racial issues, in particular those peculiar to the Cape and to her own life and identity. Searle has recently held a very successful one person show here and has also been showing in several other countries. She is well represented in numerous public and private collections.

July 4 - July 30

South African National Gallery, Government Avenue, Company Gardens, Cape Town

'Channel Too' is the sequel to 'Channel', an exhibition of video art, which took place at the AVA Gallery in May 1999. This event received acclaim in both local and national press and brought Johannesburg-based Stephen Hobbs and Pretoria-based artist Minnette Vari to the city. This year, 'Channel Too', curated by Robert Weinek and administered by Public Eye, extends the exhibition to include web- and internet-based work too. With the support of the French Institute, who are bringing out artists Valery Grancher and Evelyne Knoeppel, the project begins with an initial phase of internet-based conferences and exchanges, during which artists will discuss their own work, backgrounds and techniques with one another. A hands-on collaborative phase follows at the Michaelis School of Art. Works created at the end of this process will form part of the exhibition.

Participants include:
Valery Grancher (France) http://www.nomemory.org , Evelyne Knoeppel (France) http://www.idiom.com/~ocremel/ekoeppel/video.htm, Mo Diener (Switzerland) and Malcolm Payne, Gregg Smith, Tracy Gander http://www.fur.co.za, FUR, Matt Hindley (transmitting live from Kyoto, Japan) http://www.voodootv.com/plastico , Serguei Nikokochev (Russia) and other as yet un-named special guests.

Web-cast will take place daily from 3 - 6pm at http://worldonline.co.za/channeltoo/ or http://www.nomemory.org,

This project seeks to broaden the video art and new media debate and allow new insight into these mediums.

Official opening: Friday, July 14 at 6 p.m.

July 10 - July 22

See Reviews

Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town

'Under Cover: An Intercultural Collaborative Exhibition by the Ipopeng Project' takes place at the Castle this month. The Ipopeng Project is an artists' co-operative in Pretoria and 'Under Cover' was conceived and realised there. The exhibition is co-ordinated by members Brigitte Hertell and Lambert Moraloki and includes work by South African and overseas artists. These include, among others, Rudolph Tshie of Pretoria, Ioannis Lassithiotakis of Greece and Ivan Sagito of Indonesia. The umbrella is used as a concept in the installations which make up the show. Historically and universally the umbrella is a means of protection and, in Africa in particular, it is an important ceremonial object which conveys status and authority. The various aspects of this symbol have been engaged and transformed to communicate a message of art as dialogue and as a way for cross-cultural interaction.

July 5 - August 1

Good Hope Gallery, The Castle of Good Hope, Darling Street, Cape Town

Guy Stubbs is a Pretoria based South African whose work has been published internationally and who has been the recipient of a number of awards. 'A Picture of Progress: A Photographic Journey through the European Programme for Reconstruction and Development in South Africa' is the title given to this his latest show. Through his evocative photography, Stubbs celebrates the spirit of optimism which he believes essential for the development of our country. He has been photographing EPRD projects since 1994 and was responsible for the exhibition 'Development in our Time' at the Workers' Museum in Johannesburg in 1997.

More than 1000 of Guy Stubbs' images are now held by the European Union. While aiming to show technically masterful images, the photographer has set himself the task of providing sufficient context and information for viewers to assess the achievements of the ERPD. The ERPD has carried out 57 development programmes in South Africa, including health, education, water and sanitation, local development and the consolidation of democratic institutions. The show will travel to Pretoria and Durban.

July 7 - July 28

B Block, The Castle of Good Hope, Darling Street, Cape Town

A Passion for Pots at The Cultural History Museum

A retrospective of work by Hyme Rabinowitz takes place here. One of South Africa's best-known potters, Hyme Rabinowitz, turns 80 on July 3 and in celebration of this event, the South African Cultural History Museum, together with the Association of Potters of Southern Africa (Western Cape Region), will be hosting a temporary retrospective exhibition of pottery by him.

Rabinowitz qualified as a chartered accountant but decided that this was not really the career for him and he turned instead to the making of pots. He started doing part-time pottery in the early 1950s, but in 1962 he set up his own full-time pottery workshop at Eagle's Nest farm which is situated on the slopes of the Constantiaberg. The Rabinowitz Pottery has since become well known in Cape Town and beyond, with many people owning pots made there. During the recent fires that raged in the area, the pottery was nearly burnt down. Rabinowitz's basic credo has always been "to make solid good pots that can give pleasure in the viewing as well as in the using". He still takes a daily walk through the forest to the workshop where he throws a variety of pots for exactly this reason. Judge Albie Sachs will open the exhibition

July 4 - September 30

Ceramics Gallery at the Slave Lodge, SA Cultural History Museum, 17 Church Square, Cape Town

Tel: 461-8280 (X 136)

Talk by Uwe Pfaff

Artist Uwe Pfaff will host an evening at The 3rd i Gallery, where he is currently holding an exhibition. Starting at 6pm on Thursday July 6, Pfaff will deliver a talk relating to the works on show, followed by open discussion on the topics which inspire and inform him. He seeks to re-evaluate accepted belief structures, including Genesis, the Paradise myth, extra-terrestrial presence and intervention.

6pm, Thursday July 5

95 Waterkant Street (corner Waterkant & Buitengracht) Cape Town

Uwe Pfaff

German born, Cape Town based artist Uwe Pfaff last had a solo show in the city almost 20 years ago, at the now defunct Gallery International. 'Pieces of the My Mind', opening at the 3rd i Gallery on June 27, promises to 'take you on a journey into the third millennium, and introduce you to the artist's fantasies, dreams and creatures of his days and nights!"

To be opened by Rose Korber at 7 p.m. on June 27. Closes August 4.

See Reviews

Mara Verna
Still from the perfomance

Canadian performance artists Mara Verna and Jason St Laurent drew puzzled stares from passersby over the past weekend, as they worked in the tiny on-street rectangular area behind mesh which constitutes Observatory's Museum of Contemporary Art. Their props were a ball and claw legged dining room table, chairs, some junk food and woodworking tools. After enjoying a meal, the pair sanded and then deconstructed the table, eventually using the linenfold 'skirt' to frame a picture of themselves which was put up on the wall. Meantime, round the corner the Rolling Stones pool hall was being held up at knifepoint, the video shop next door to the artists had a fire in the night, and unbeknownst to them, Robert Weinek was streaming live footage of the artists at work sanding onto a porn chat channel under the category 'Woody'. Such is life in Observatory. The final form of 'Restoration' will be on view until July 10.

For more information on the project, check http://mzone.mweb.co.za/residents/intecaf/mara.rm

Lynne Lomofsky
Chemo (C.H.O.P)

New at the classy Brendon Bell-Roberts Gallery is a group exhibition around the theme of 'Emergency' - medical and otherwise - featuring a selection of Cape Town artists. Three of the exhibitors have also acted as curators: John Murray, who paints in the Bitterkomix mode and whose work looked so good at the AVA recently, Doreen Southwood, currently doing her masters at Stellenbosch, and the energetic Julia Clark.

See Reviews

Opening at 6.30 p.m. on June 21. Ends July 29.

Brendan Bell-Roberts Fine Art Gallery
199 Loop St Cape Town 8001

Cecil Skotnes
Captive
Painting on incised panel

This exhibition, drawn from the permanent collection of the SA National Gallery, shows the work of artists who studied at two art centres which have proven to be of great influence on the course of black South African art. The artworks on show will illustrate the many differences between the art centres and focus on work produced during the early years of their existence. Basic differences arise from the fact that Rorke's Drift (formally known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre) in KwaZulu/Natal was rural and more African in context, while Polly Street, situated in downtown Johannesburg, was urban and more Eurocentric in its approach. Other differences were more circumstantial- At Rorke's Drift, women played a central role, while Polly Street was dominated by male artists. Rorke's Drift also had a more diverse cultural influence through its Swedish and American teachers. The exhibition illustrates the different cultures of these art centres and their students' responses to the changing conditions of black experience, with the increase in Christian influence and pressure from a white-controlled economy. The theme of the show is designed to accommodate a specific section of the matric art syllabus and provide access to original artworks for teachers and students.

Artists whose work features on the exhibition include John Muafangejo, Cecil Skotnes, Durant Sihlali, and Azaria and Gordon Mbatha.

The show runs until August 6. For more information contact Zola Mtshiza at (021) 465 1628

Natale Labia Museum, 192 Main Road, Muizenberg.

Gabriel Clark-Brown
White Isles of Albany
Print
Xhosa speakers blood, White puff ink and local dust.

Egazini - the Battle of Grahamstown:Recasting History through Printmaking

Opened as part of the recent festival, this exhibition was conceived as a means of creating contemporary contexts through exploring the terrain of oral history and visual language. The challenge was to harness the artistic energies of a prism of artists, historians and cultural workers with the locus of the project in Grahamstown. Participants were drawn from a wide arena including academic institutions\ions, community centres, schools, research and archival deposits, museums, government departments, private enterprise, professional artist organizations and a women's craft group. The participants understood that in order to break the silence they needed first to travel the path of silence and memory back to the point at which the Egazini (place of bloodshed) battle took place. Their mission was to re-collect, re-interrogate, re-interpret, re-vision and re-cast the silent history in order to establish a context toward a new framing of this heritage. The process of implementation for this journey was intense and energetic as this territory was previously unexplored. A team of oral historians was identified and trained in methods of historical research and oral narrative by Dr Julie Wells of the History Department at Rhodes University. Their function was to uncover silenced narratives by activating memories of events within both the visual artists and residents of the city. The research was captured and documented then workshopped with participant artists. Local museum archivalists and historians were consulted along with heritage experts.

Artists taking part include:

Giselle Baillie, Dumisani Beyi, Violet Booi, Gabriel Clark-Brown, Christine Dixie, Roxandra Dardagan, Bulelani Fatman, Timothy Foulds, Regina Gongqa, Hilary Graham, Max Kate, Jacobus Kloppers, Vusi Khumalo, Nyaniso Lindi, Annette Loubser, Papama Lubelwana, Simthembile Mamani, Mirriam Mazungula, Akhona Mlisana, Mtuwekhaya Mncongo, Nigel Mullins, Rosie Ngxingo, Otto Ntshebe, Mbulelo Nyumka, Zandisile Sakata, Sandile Saki, Carol Starke, Angeline September, Namathemba Tana, Vukile Teysise, Dominic Thorburn, Zola Toyi, Zweli Vena, Fleur Way-Jones, Julie Wells, Chumani Xhonxa.

The exhibition grew from an initiative between Fine Line Press and the Underpressure Agency in collaboration with members of the History Department of Rhodes University.

Alumni Gallery

One of the new pieces on show

Alan Alborough - Standard Bank Young Artist 2000

Art is often the stepchild at the National Festival of Arts in Grahamstown, condemned as it is to rather conventional and overcrowded venues, but this year at least there is the promise of something totally unexpected from an artist who evoked a 'What's he done lately?' response from many when his name was announced as Standard Bank Young Artist 2000. Alan Alborough is what might be called an artist's artist: greatly respected by his peers, and not widely known outside artistic circles. Festinos might remember his elegant suspended spheres, made of milky plastic and wire clips, which formed part of last year's 'Emergence' exhibition at the Albany.

Whatever Alborough has planned for the Monument Gallery will not be exactly the same at its next appearance: the tradition is that the Standard Bank Young Artist show goes on tour of the major centres following Grahamstown, and Alborough's installations will expand and mutate from venue to venue. Instead of a printed catalogue, there is a website to accompany the exhibition, which will also grow with time. All those who don't make it to Grahamstown can check out Alborough's work at http://www.alanalborough.co.za.

Monument Theatre Gallery

Penny Siopis
Zombie
Mixed media
Installation detail

Hidden in the bowels of the building, under the Monument Theatre is the Gallery-in-the-Round. Here one will find a multi media installation by Penny Siopis "that examines the tense but provocative relationship between 'private belongings' and 'official archives' as sites for the recovery of memory, both personal and collective". In other words, Siopis will have collected a vast accumulation of objects: clothing, domestic objects, decorative figurines, old books, both from her personal possessions and from numerous other sources, and by judicious juxtapositions, will allow viewers to reflect upon the memories and associations these evoke.

Gallery-in-the-Round, Monument Bulding

Hidden in the bowels of the building, under the Monument Theatre is the Gallery-in-the-Round. Here one will find a multi media installation by Penny Siopis "that examines the tense but provocative relationship between 'private belongings' and 'official archives' as sites for the recovery of memory, both personal and collective". In other words, Siopis will have collected a vast accumulation of objects: clothing, domestic objects, decorative figurines, old books, both from her personal possessions and from numerous other sources, and by judicious juxtapositions, will allow viewers to reflect upon the memories and associations these evoke.

Nhlanhla Benjamin Nsusha is a multi talented sculptor and painter who has trained and exhibited overseas, and is now deeply involved in grassroots art projects.

The artists involved in outdoor installations in the second manifestation of !Xoe, a project which emanates from the Ibis Art Gallery of Nieu Bethesda under the curatorship of Mark Wilby (see Nieu Bethesda under listings) are showing related conceptual works in a formal gallery space. Participants include Gavin Younge, Andries Botha, Mark Haywood and the sound installation group RAM.

Rhodes Art School

Ken Godfrey
Madressa Arcade Magic1992
watercolour on paper
96 x 90.4 cm

Curated by Keith Dietrich and Karin Skawran, 'Stained Paper' is a historical overview on South African water-based art, with a wide ranging selection of fine work from many different artists over the centuries. Last seen at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg, where it received an extensive review from ArtThrob.

David Goldblatt
from 'South Africa: The Structure of Things Then'

This remarkable exhibition by one of South Africa's finest and most acute photographers had its first showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and is as pertinent a record as any of the apartheid years. Seen through Goldblatt's lens, the buildings and structures of the country reveal themselves in all their ostentation, bleakness or modesty, depending on whether one is looking at a white suburban palace, an official monument or a shack. Take some money to the exhibition with you: the catalogue is superb.

Using fabric applique, embroidery and paint, the Weya and South African women record their life experiences. Fifty pieces will be on display.

The Caversham Centre for Artists and Writers established a forum entitled 'The Hourglass Project'. From this has emerged 'Past, Present and Future: a Woman's Vision, thirty works by fifteeen women artists from Mexico, U.S.A., Ireland, Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as a book of portraits of the artists. The theme centres around ideas and values about the passing of time.

Six women from four generations of the Everard from 1870 to the present are the artists of this exhibition. The family ran a trading store in Mpumulanga, and most of their art constitutes landscapes depicting this region.

Lisa van Wyk
Dig Deeper
Mixed media print
38 x 28 cm

Also showing in the Albany Museum are Eastern Cape artists painter Greg Schultz and printmaker Lisa van Wyk. Schultz will show a series entitled 'New Landscapes' which says the artist, 'question the distinction between representation and presence. The added natural materials are essentially non-illusionistic and shift the work from the realm of painting into the interface between painting and sculpture'. The artist incoroporates found natural objects like vines and grasses into his work.

'Printed Surfaces' by printmaker Lisa Van Wyk, explores printmaking as a form of mark making. Incorporating a vairiety of printing techniques, the artist works with layered images reflecting her experiences and influences of the past year.

The Albany Museum, Somerset Street

Open House Exhbition

The concept of the Open House Exhibition came about 12 months ago when an exhibitor cancelled and the Gallery space had to be filled at short notice. Epsac decided to have a "free for all" exhibition where all artists were guaranteed exhibition space and were not subjected to any selection process.

This exhibition has since become a bit of an institution and this third Open House is the best ever. All works received are displayed, and as an added benefit to the artists, a critique session is held in order to give constructive advice to artists. Prof. Robert Brooks gave valuable advice to artists who attended this.

Until 22 July
Life, Death and the Great Divide
An exhibition of paintings, structures and a 'live' public art performance will be held at the Epsac Art Gallery from July 24.
Alison Williams� paintings will predominate with additions by Sandon van Wyk and Ric Chamen. Their work will depict their subjective conceptions of life and death. A black zone and a white zone will differentiate the two realities and colour is portrayed for exhibition purposes as the epitome of life and emotion.

The 'live' art (public art display) will involve Sandon and Alison working daily at the Gallery. The general public and aspiring artists are invited to approach the artists or simply to watch them produce their works.

The exhibiton will be opened at 6:30p.m. on Monday 24 July 2000 by Prof. Bertie Olivier from UPE. Live music. Drinks will be served.

July 24 - July 29.

Please call Alison on 378-1033 or 083 452 7210 or Heidi at Epsac (041)585 3641 or 082 865 2699 for more information

Greg Streak
Hermet
Above:Installation in Nieu Bethesda Below: Rhodes Art Gallery

Helen Weldrick/Freddie Jacobs
Material Represented
Installation in Nieu Bethesda

RAM (James Webb, Mark Coleman, Matthew Kalil)
Traffic - a sound installation

!Xoe goes to Grahamstown

In an interesting double art project, curator Mark Wilby of the Ibis Art Centre invited participants in this year's !Xoe 'Bringing Art to Ground' project to conceive and develop work which would not only be installed in site specific locations in and around Nieu Bethesda, but also to make linked word for the "supposed neutrality" of the gallery. The gallery work is on view in the Rhodes Art Gallery in Grahamstown, part of this year's Festival programme. The !Xoe site-specific project is not only concerned with the development and presentation of contemporary art, but also encompasses matters of tourism and cultural engagement. "The challenge", says Wilby, "is for the artists to assimilate and employ the dynamics of place - actual physical place - into the manifestation of their work".

Participating artists are Wilby himself and Andries Botha, Anton Brink, Mark Haywood, Jacki McInnes-Graham, Georgie Papageorge, RAM - collaboration, Greg Streak, Jeremy Wafer, Helen Weldrick, Mark Wilby, Gavin Younge and collaborative work by students from Natal Technikon.

An artist's statement by Durban's Greg Streak gives a reading into one set of work: 'Driving through the Karoo in late 1997 - having just completed reading Jaques Pauw's 'Into the Heart of Darkness (Confessions of Apartheid Assassins)', this quiet desolate landscape became dark, broody and ominous. This vast expanse of "nothingness", devoid of next to nobody - the chilling accounts became real, even obvious. For myself, attempting to find visual equivalents for my own sense of alienation and dislocation ... this work, disguised in the landscape, a dark comforting space in the middle of no-where becomes the quintessential metaphor for introspection.'

Helen Weldrick writes 'My first impulse when considering the heart of the Karoo as an art-making site was to dig, and discover what lies hidden beneath the vast veneer of soil and arid plant life. That really stimulated the idea of a lost trail of material objects engulfed by the elements to be laid to rest in the epidermal layer of the Karoo earth. The actual site-specific work gained a life of its own and became an activity that the community welcomed and made decisions on from the on-site inception of this work. As artist I was now only the keeper of the concept and local artist, Freddie Jacobs became the on-site artist. Freddie, along with the community, finalised the actual site and the working process.'

The sound artists collective RAM writes: 'The sound-piece installed in Nieu Bethesda looks at the way nature redefines and reworks a space. It speaks of how a site can never be fixed and defined. Four asynchronous CD players generate sound that will never 'meet up' in this lifetime. The pieces randomly meet, collide and occasionally harmonize. For the gallery exhibition, we sampled one second of the combinations that presented themselves in the installation site. We slowed that second down to two minutes, breaking apart the sound, dramatizing that moment, fixing a site, freezing time and putting an 'x' in the ground'

In Nieu Bethesda, !Xoe is open to the public from 24 June to 29 July 2000. The Ibis Gallery serves as an information centre for the exhibition and will provide supporting documentation and provide maps by which to locate the artworks. The !Xoe� National Arts Festival exhibition, presented at the Rhodes Art School Galleries, Somerset St, Grahamstown, runs from 30 June to 29 July 2000.

!Xoe is an Ibis Art Centre project in collaboration with the Department of Fine Art, Rhodes University. We wish to acknowledge the assistance of the Arts and Culture Trust, the National Arts Council and the Standard Bank National Arts Festival.

Isabel Rea and Michael Smith

Isabel Rea and Michael Smith present 'Family Values' at the Bill Ainslie Gallery

An exhibition of drawing comes to the Bill Ainslie. Isabel Rea produces sensitively and exquisitely rendered representations of children that problematise the public criticism and panic that often occurs when "the sanctioned kitsch and sentimental style" of accepted images of children is exceeded. Smith takes on the ideologies of power and our complicity in the production of mass media and consumer economies in multi-layered, large-scale drawings

July 26 - August 23

Terry Kurgan
Family Matters 1999
Digital Prints
40 x 60cm

FNB Vita Awards 2000

This much-anticipated and sought after prize was won by Terry Kurgan. Nominated artists Hentie van der Merwe, Berni Searle, Terry Kurgan, and Claudette Schreuders present their entries at what is one of the finest Vita shows to date.

July 18 - September 2 See News and Reviews

Phillip Hunt
the accidental consequence of a single sound unanswered 1999/2000
Enamel paint on c-print, mounted on foamcore
75 x 100 cm

Phillip Hunt at the Goodman

With what I presume to be a very J.G. Ballard-inspired exhibition title, New York-based Phillip Hunt comes to town with a series of works executed in acrylic, shellac, photographic emulsion, hair and charcoal dust on watercolour paper, and enamel paint on colour photographs. the sexual insinuation of cars abandoned by the side of the road seeks to explore " the duality, the divergent and sublime interpretations of concepts of time; the narrative of a blur of sense - emotional landscapes hinted at through the windows of a speeding vehicle." Sounds delicious.

July 8 - 29

Herve Di Rosa and the Siyanda Wire Weavers
Detail from invitation

Chris Steele-Perkins
Camp for Displaced People, Luanda, Angola
UK, Magnum Photos for Der Spiegel, Germany

World Press Photo 2000 and 'Dirozulu' at the Standard Bank Gallery

The Standard Bank Gallery hosts the annual World Press Photo for the tenth consecutive year. The award is in its 43rd year and is regarded as the press photo award with maximum kudos. Local lensman John Hogg was the only South African to win acclaim, with a second prize in the Arts Singles category for his image Dance Umbrella Festival, Johannesburg. The exhibition is always huge, with an initial submission total of 42 215 images from 3 981 photographers from 122 countries, from which final selections were made. Give yourself a few hours for this show.

Downstairs, roving Frenchman Herve di Rosa, who was a featured artist in the series, presents the fruits of collaborative labour between himself and the Siyanda Telephone Wire Weavers, Vincent Sithole, Alice Gcaba, Zodwa Maphumulo, Elliot Ndwandwe and Simon Mavundla. Brightly coloured baskets up to a metre in diameter, woven from telephone wire, give an added edge to di Rosa's figurative-geometric designs. Di Rosa finds his passion in travelling widely to exchange talents and ideas, and to avoid the routine of his Paris workshop.

July 11 - August 5
'Dirozulu' ends August 19

Lene Smit
Attention
Mixed Media

From 'Two Icons: The Atom, The Body'

A microelectrode penetrating the cell body of a neurone in the retina of a living eye. The electrode is injecting a fluorescent dye (lucifer yellow) into the cell, filling its branch-like dendrites which form connections with other nerve cells. This photograph was taken with a fluorescence microscope. Photo credit: Dr. David Becker

Alexa Wright
LN From the series 'After Image' 1997
digital c-print on foamcore
600 x 800 mm

Leora Farber
Untitled 1998
Wax, Fabric, Found Objects and Metal,br> 1050 X 550 X 550 mm

Full Urban Futures cultural and exhibitions programme

Urban Futures 2000 hits Johannesburg on July 10, and it is the closest we'll get to a Biennale for now. The sheer number of exhibitions defies individual description, so here's a full list of the visual art shows for your diaries. Reviews of selected shows will follow in future editions of ArtThrob. The exhibition programme was co-ordinated by Professor Rory Doepel (Department of Art History, Wits University) on a shoestring budget.

MuseumAfricA: 'Bones and Bytes: Healing and Revealing'

Includes the following exhibitions:

• @idsgauteng' (curated by Chrissie Ray and Mary-Jane Darroll)
  
• Traditional Healing: art and artefacts' (curated by Rayda Becker and Lelong Immelman)
  
• Traditional medicine' (curated by Lelong Immelman and Vivian Williams)
  
• Index of (b)reachings' (Willem Boshoff floor installation)
  
• Throwing the Bones' (Shadu Dludlu and Professor Robert Thornton)
  
• Two Icons: The Atom, The Body' (curated by James Sey and Kathryn Smith)
  
• General Hospital(ity) - Patient(ly)' (Lene Smit)
  
• 36 000 - a child abuse project' (Katinka Harrod)
  
• Art therapy focus' (Hayley Berman)
  
• Informal Ritual Spaces' (Bob Cnoops)
  
• Mathematics and Beadwork'
  

MuseumAfricA :'Urban Excursions'

Includes:

• The Inner City'
  
• Soutra: Images of Refuge'
  
• Document'
  
• The Image of Metropolis' (NEXT Architects, Amsterdam)
  
• Jo'burg Graffiti: a portrait of urban life'
  
• Johannesburg Panorama'
  
• Turf' (Bonita Alice)
  
• Where did the road lead when it lead nowhere?'
  
• The Yard and the Street in an Evolving Johannesburg'

July 10 - August 10

MuseumAfricA: 'blank_Architecture, apartheid and after'

Hilton Judin's seminal and sprawling look at the changing face of South African constructed environments. This exhibition first opened in Rotterdam, Holland, last year where it was extremely well received.

July 10 - January 2001

MuseumAfricA
MuseuMAfricA, Bree St, Newtown, Jhb
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00

Market Theatre Galleries and various sites downtown: Tourguides of the Inner City'

Featuring Marlaine Tosoni dropping postcards from a plane, billboards by Clive van den Berg and Jo Ractliffe, Robin Rhode stealing a car he draws on a wall (performance), Wayne Barker's mobile digital portrait studio, Kathryn Smith's mobile photographic mortuary, videos projected from the Gallery window, Rodney Place's installation in a downtown store and a host of other events. An informational exhibition of Johannesburg anecdotes by artists and public is on

The Market Theatre Gallery, Market Theatre Complex, Wolhunter Street,Newtown
Tel: (011) 832 1641
Fax: (011) 492 1235
Email: hobbs@market.theatre.co.za

At three venues: MTN Electronic/Digital Art Exhibition

Featuring local and international CD ROM and Net-Art, animation and electronic installations, including 'MetaCITY/DATATOWN' (MVRDV, Rotterdam)

July 10 - 28
Gertrude Posel Gallery University of Witwatersrand, Braamfontein.
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10a, to 4pm
Tel:(011) 716-3632
E-mail: gallery@atlas.wits.ac.za

July 10 - 28
Johannesburg Civic Gallery Civic Theatre, Loveday Street, Braamfontein
Tel: (011) 403-3408
Fax: (011) 403-3412
E-mail: civic@theatrekom.co.za
Website: www.artslink.co.za/civic

July 10 - August 10
MuseumAfricA
Bree St, Newtown, Jhb
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00

At two venues: 'downTOWN: MTN/Urban Futures Video Focus'
Short films, documentaries and video art grappling with global urban fantasies and realities. International stars like Bill Viola, Marina Abromovich and Lin Li feature, and well as local heavyweights and emerging talents, including Minnette Vari.

July 10 - August 10
MuseuMAfricA (west wing and auditorium)

July 10 - 28
Johannesburg Civic Gallery

'Face to Face'

Twenty-five minibus taxis covered in giant portraits congregate in Sandton, Rosebank, Soweto and downtown, initiated by French artists Maryvonne Arnaud and Philippe Mouillon. For sites and times, call Maude on (011) 836 - 0561 or check out www.urbanfutures.worldonline.co.za

'Collaborative Mural Prints'

July 10 - 31
Generator Art Space
Newtown Cultural Precinct (next to the Electric Workshop)

'National Paper Prayers Campaign'

July 10 - August 10
Artist Proof Studio and Gallery
1 President Street
Newtown Cultural Precinct
Tel: (011) 492 1278

July 10 - 31 The Bag Factory
10 Minnaar Street, Newtown, Johannesburg
Gallery hours: 10am - 3pm, Saturday 10am - 1pm
Tel/ fax: (011) 834 9181
Email:bagfactory@acenet.co.za

'Jo'Burg Intersections' and 'Mai Mai Market'

July 10 - 31
Carfax

'Landscapes of Despair and Hope'

Opens July 9 at 3.00 p.m. and on view daily at the same time until July 15
Afrika Cultural Centre
52/62 Goch Street, Newtown

Opening event programme

The opening ceremonies will take place on the open square in front of the Electric Workshop, in the Newtown precinct, on Monday, July 10.

6.00 p.m : 'Rhythm Connection: musical dance movement': Dinkies Sithole and the Melodi Ensemble

6.20 p.m.: 'I Have a Drum': Phillipe Monvallier in co-operation with Tama Ensemble and children from White City, Soweto

6.30 p.m.: 'Voices/Mantswe/Amazwi': Dedel'ingoma Music Theatre Company

7.10 p.m.: Official opening of Urban Futures 2000. Speakers include Mayor Isaac Mogase; Councillor Kenny Fihla; University of the Witwatersrand Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Gerrit Olivier; and MTN Art Institute Chairman Dave Beasley

7.30 p.m.: 'His reaction was instantaneous': composer Phillip Miller

7.50 p.m.: Official opening of 'blank_Architecture, apartheid and after', MuseumAfricA

8.15 p.m.: 'Amadlozi Amandiki Amandawe Izizwe (Nguni spirit possession): The Performing Rites Company

9.00 p.m.: 'Abafana Bakwa Zulu': Philemon Zulu and the Jeremy Franklin Band

Santu Mofokeng

Santu Mofokeng's 'Sad Landscapes' at Camouflage

Opening Tuesday June 27 at 6.00 p.m. Santu Mofokeng presents a fresh series of works looking at the evocative and narrative potential of landscapes. Engaging with the thin line between reality and metaphor, and memory and narrative, Mofokeng explores the connections between communities and their environments through the fraught but contemplative landscapes of Vietnam, Holocaust death camps in Poland and Anglo Boer War camps closer to home. Believing that the " saddest places are often the most mundane and ordinary", it's not about beauty, but a different sort of sublime. This is Camouflage's first showing by a solo artist.

June 27 - July 25

Kathryn Smith
Situation Scene 1: She's a real looker2000
laminated c-print on aluminium
1m x 1m

Last year's New Signatures winners at the Association of Arts, Pretoria

An exhibition by last year's winners of the Sasol New Signatures competition at the Association of Arts coincides with this year's awards exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum. New work by Kathryn Smith (winner 1999), Renier le Roux, Mark Wilby (judge's award winners) and Jo Nkosi (People's Choice winner) will be showcased to give an overview of their production that extends the ground of competitions that award artists for single works. The winning work by each artist will also be shown. It's refreshing to see concerted effort made for sustainability and prolonged interest.

July 22 - August 10

This year's competition winners will be announced on Wednesday July 26 at the Pretoria Art Museum. Judges includes Clive van den Berg and Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, amongst others. Watch this space for an announcement of the winners.

July 26 - August 17

FNB Vita Craft Now Millennium Awards Exhibition at the African Window Museum

The fourth FNB Vita Craft Now Millennium Awards Exhibition, held in conjunction with the National Crafts Council of South Africa, is currently on show. Crafted objects in materials such as wood, metal, fibre, glass, and recycled materials are in line for prizes totalling R25 000. To book for workshops, call (011) 728 3070.

July 16 - August 25

Dieter Hall
Prayer
Linoprint
57 X 45,5 cm
Courtesy Galerie Schedler, Zurich, Switzerland

Ingrid Winterbach
Invite to her show of recent drawings

Ingrid Winterbach, Dieter Hall and Denise Spalding at the NSA

Ingrid Winterbach - Recent Work, in the Main Gallery

Ingrid Winterbach has always been active as both a writer and a visual artist, and lectured in the Stellenbosch Department of Creative Arts for 13 years. Winterbach�s six novels - five under the pseudonym Lettie Viljoen - have won her major literary awards. Her latest novel, Buller se Plan, has recently been awarded the W.A. Hofmeyr Prize. This is her first one-person exhibition.

Winterbach draws, using pastel on large sheets of paper, often preferring composite sheets for their grid-like effect. Her work is layered, both in mark and image, as if in a palimpsest, providing ambiguous and contradictory readings. Strongly referential, the drawings refer to the work of other artists, other periods (like the Quattrocento), other genres (comics and cartoons), historical photographs, porn. Recurring images include the anamorphic skull from Holbein's Ambassadors; tombs and war memorials; pockmarked rocks from battlefields (Colenso, Spioenkop); ants' nests; the figure of the artist (male and female), the general, the whore, the businessman. Such recurring images contribute to the viewer's sense that the works are in constant dialogue with each other. The individual drawings often read as series, but with the absence of a narrative. This complexity, of both surface and icon, ensure Winterbach's work has energy and visual engagement.

Dieter Hall, Linoleum Cuts for poems by Constantine P.Cavafy, in the Mezzanine Gallery

Another international artist hits the NSA. Dieter Hall (born 1955) is a Swiss artist working since the 1980s in New York. His painting, which he began after completing humanities studies at the University of Zurich in 1983, developed in the discourse on cultural events in New York's Lower East Side during the 1980s and 1990s.

His work has an immediate reference to a living and lively humanity - in its reference to everyday life and daily tasks he embraces both the ordinary and the spiritual - the very natural need for warmth and beauty, the unimportant craziness of eternal repetition, whether a call of nature, sleep, lust, or the terrible pain of death.

In this show, Halls exhibits 21 linoleum cuts set to poems by the Greek lyricist and novelist Constantine Cavafy [1863-1933]. The choice of poems relates to the deeply coded and yet open male erotica in Halls� own work.

Hall's exhibition received funding from Pro-Helvetia (Arts Council of Switzerland).

Denise Spalding - Park Gallery

Denise Spalding is well known in Durban as an art teacher and artist. Her concerns are primarily formal - use of avid colour and abstracted surfaces - although these invoke the lush vegetation of the sub-tropics. These large-scale canvases are bold in execution and foreground the artist's approach to expressive and highly emotive mark making. The exhibition will comprise a selection from a prodigious body of work produced by the artist over the last two years. Spalding has taken part in numerous exhibitions, and is currently teaching art in the UK. Jeff Chandler, senior lecturer at the Technikon Natal Fine Arts Department, will open the exhibition.

All shows open Sunday, July 23 at 4 p.m.and close August 10.

NSA gallery
166 Bulwer Road
Glenwood
Durban 4001

Zamaxolo Daniella Dunywa
"help me/ Yenzela Mina" (detail)
Chalk pastel

Kusempondozankomo -Towards the Light : drawings for the XIII International AIDS Conference

The Alliance Française, a small alternative venue becoming more active on the Durban art scene, hosts another exhibition in conjunction with the XIII International Aids Conference. Kusempondozankomo, (Towards the Light) is a group show of oil pastel drawings. The artists, Bongi Dube, Khwesi Gule, Nkosinathi Jali, Gabi Ngcobo, Wilson Mgobhozi and Zamaxolo Daniella Dunywa have created drawings specifically for the exhibition. Approaching the subject from a positive perspective the exhibition centers on love, compassion and the hope that our society`s experience of AIDS will move towards the " light. "

July 3 -16, 2000

International AIDS Memorial Quilt at the DAG

Visitors to DAG will get the chance to see the celebrated International AIDS Memorial Quilt with its South African component. First conceived in 1986 in San Francisco as a protest against the ignorance and neglect of HIV and AIDS by the media and politicans the project soon spread across the States and has now become an international symbol worked on in over 45 countries worldwide. Constantly being added to the quilt continues to grow and when it was displayed in Washington D.C. in 1996 it covered an area more than a kilometre long. Quilt panels are made in memory of loved ones who have died from AIDS and are a moving testimony to the power of love. The South African AIDS Memorial Quilt Project was set up in association with the Beyond Awareness Campaign of the National Department of Health and is part of the International Names Project.

'Durban Proclaims' AIDS ribbon.
Conceived by Carol Brown and executed by more than 100 artists and organisations.

Art takes an in-depth look at HIV/AIDS

The presence of the XIII International AIDS 2000 Conference, which has over 12,000 delegates arriving in Durban over the next couple of weeks, will be signalled by three huge corrugated iron Aids ribbons created by sculptor Grey Robertson. Three and a half stories high, the outdoor public sculpture will symbolise the focus Durban will become for intense activity around the topic of HIV/AIDS.

In the coming weeks almost every single exhibition venue in Durban will be taken over by the 'Amasiko' (IsiXhosa/IsiZulu: Cultures, traditions and social values) cultural programme for the AIDS 2000 conference. 'Amasiko' hopes to provide a platform for the expression of issues relating to HIV/AIDS with a particular emphasis on the theme 'Break the Silence'. It hopes, through a series of cultural events that also include the performing arts and South Africa's first ever HIV/AIDS Film Festival (8-12 July), to give voice to many previously unheard and to educate whilst entertaining.

Further information on the XIII International AIDS Conference 2000 can be found at www.aids2000.com

For more information on any of the events contact: Bren Brophy
Visual Arts Curator
The XIII Internternational AIDS Conference
Tel: 27 31 301 0400
Fax: 27 31 301 0191
Cell: 27 82 795 3903

Events round-up by venue:

Trevor Makoba
HIV/AIDS Print Portfolio
Linocut

Rural Women's Craft Development Project
Telephone wire basket

Durban Art Gallery

Durban Art Gallery in particular has given over just about every space it has for different sections of the Amasiko programme and July's 'Red Eye' will also take AIDS/HIV as its theme (more to follow on this next week).

In the foyer visitors will be met with the Artists for Human Rights HIV/AIDS Print Portfolio co-ordinated by Jan Jordaan (Technikon Natal Fine Arts Department). The portfolio, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Print Portfolio that was successfully launched last year with the blessing of the Dalai Lama, will consist of a collection of original prints based on the theme of AIDS, compiled in a portfolio box. The portfolio is seen as a collective object and conveys a message of hope to the world. In conjunction with this project some of the prints will be enlarged onto billboards around the country taking the message outside of the confines of the gallery into the public arena. The first three will be sited in Umlazi (work by Gabi Nkosi), Edendale (Mduduzi Xakaza) and Kwa Mashu (Stembiso Sibisi). Envisaged as an ongoing and national project billboards with new images will keep appearing well into next year. Artwork is from Britain (Deryk Healey), Bolivia (Carmen Perrin) and Ghana (Daniel A Ohene-Adu) and South African artists include, amongst others, Diane Victor, Kim Berman, David Koloane, Judith Mason, Dominic Thorburn, Sue Williamson, Chris Diedericks and Wonderboy Nxumalo.

In Gallery 2 Fiona Kirkwood will exhibit 'Pandemic Patient' - originally conceived as part of a solo show in 1998 the work has expanded into a self-contained installation. Depicting a terminally ill, gender-neutral patient it is composed of symbols and shapes derived from the medical world (such as the virus as seen through a microscope) as well as newspaper articles directly related to the reportage of the pandemic. Completing the piece is a quilted bed comprised of over 1000 condoms stitched together. The work attempts to engage with an ongoing need for the dissemination of information re prevention and care of HIV/AIDS patients.

In the south gallery there is an exhibition of works by children who are affected by HIV/AIDS either by being directly infected or orphaned. Created through workshops the presentation will feature a collaborative 'curtain' of inscribed/imprinted glaxed ceramic tiles. Entitled 'Postcards from the Edge' the work refers to messages, identity and experience from the margins.

In Gallery 4 (Print Gallery) there will be another collaborative project that expands the function of artmaking in terms of its relation to community. The Rural Women's Craft Development Project, run under the guidance of Kate Wells in collaboration with the design students at ML Sultan, is exhibiting telephone wire baskets, jewellry and beaded cloth dolls/tableaus. Traditional crafts are here garnered together in expression of contemporary issues. Created with the participation of over 100 rural women and with the assistance of the Durban City Environmental Health Department and the National Association of people Living with AIDS the show aims to impart critical information and practical awareness on HIV/AIDS.

In the Circular Gallery, complete with its bizarre dinosaur head that peers over the edge of the balcony from the adjacent Natural History museum, is the 'Positive Lives' exhibition. Strictly speaking a socio-documentary piece, but bearing a great resemblence to much contemporary art, it shares the human story of people living with AIDS. Sponsored by the Trevor Higgins Trust it includes work from India, the USA, Britain, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Australia and South Africa.

Probably the most visible event of the month though will be the 'Durban Proclaims' AIDS ribbon which has been produced by over 100 artists and organisations. Conceived by Carol Brown of the Durban Art Gallery and fabricated out of 2 x 4 metre pieces of red cloth that were distributed by the gallery staff it will finally be seen wrapping its way round the Durban City Hall. Unveiling will be on July 12 at noon. One of Durban's largest, albeit temporary, public outdoor installations it aims to create a public awareness of the AIDS 2000 conference and the issues of HIV/AIDS.

July 10 -27, 2000

Redeye@rt will take place at the Gallery on July 14 instead of July 7 this month, to allow visiting delegates to participate in the highly popular monthly art and performance event.

Durban Art Gallery, 2nd Floor, City Hall, Smith Street
Tel: (031) 300-6234/5/8
Gallery hours from 09:00 to 12:00

Albert Winn From "Jewish Summer Camp" series 1997 Gelatin Silver Print

'Bodies of Resistance'

"Bodies of Resistance' , curated by Barabara Hunt (U.S.A.) is the first major contemporary art exhibition in ten years to reconsider the AIDS pandemic in the United States. More importantly, it is the first significant art initiative to question the global impact of the disease, and the complex relationships between the West and the developing world regarding AIDS. Fifteen new works have been produced specifically for the exhibition by artists based in South Africa, the UK and the USA, and originally from Canada, Cuba, Hong Kong, India, and Nigeria.

The exhibition takes as its starting point the influence of visual artists on representations of the body in popular culture, and the undisputed impact of AIDS on their work. It addresses the ways in which perceptions of health, sexuality and desire have changed dramatically around the world as a result of the virus.

As the title suggests, all of the work, whether video projection, digital photography, installation, sculpture or painting, considers the body as a potential site of resistance - to disease, desire, death, societal prejudice or technology. Directly and indirectly, the works reflect concerns about global issues such as the wide scale spread of the virus across Africa and Asia, policies of medical research, developments in genetic engineering, inequalities in the global distribution of wealth and technology, the availability of medication world-wide and differing cultural perspectives on dying.

Exhibiting artists include: Aziz + Cucher, Olad�l� Ajiboy� Bamgboy�, Rina Banerjee, Barton Lidice Benes, Ken Chu, Kendell Geers, Sunil Gupta, Skowmon Hastanan, Charles LeDray, Frank Moore, Chuck Nanney, Ernesto Pujol, Nancy Spero, Steed Taylor, Albert J. Winn, Thomas Woodruff.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an 80-page color catalogue with essays by Lisa Forman (South Africa), Simon Watney (UK), Richard Meyer (USA), co-editors Barbara Hunt and Julia Bryan Wilson

Barbara Hunt is an independent curator, lecturer and arts administrator. and has been the Executive Director of Visual AIDS for the past two and a half years.

'Bodies of Resistance' is funded in part by: the British Council, the Debs Foundation, the Mary J. Hutchins Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Robert D. Farber Foundation and the Kettering Family Foundation Website: www.thebody.com/visualaids/web_gallery/index.html

Opening Sunday, July 2 at 4 p.m. Closes July 20.

NSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, Durban 4001
TEL/FAX: +27-31-202-2293
EMAIL: iartnsa@mweb.co.za

Bruce Radebe from Living Openly - Diagnosed 1995. Disclosed 1998 Photographic credit: Gisele Wulfsohn

'Body Works' by Alex Flett

Alex Flett, a former post-graduate from the London Slade School of Art, now residing in Scotland, heard about the XIII International AIDS 2000 Conference and made contact with the organisers becoming a member of the Amasiko Working Group. He was asked to create a contextual exhibition and workshop for the Cultural Programme. Suffering from a severe bout of sciatica he was sent by his GP for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of his lower spine. Inspired by the images he decided to use the MRI as a sketching tool. The resulting 20 image exhibition; the MRI Suite, will be published as a signed and numbered limited edition of 15 sets.

This 'medicine to art' concept took on the generic title 'Body Works' and has continued to develop utilising a more accessible scanning mechanism; the photocopy machine. Workshops will be held during this period where participants will photocopy parts of their bodies and arrange them in the form of the Celtic wheel cross.

June 26 - July 13

BAT Centre: Menzie Mchunu Gallery

'Living Openly'

The BAT Centre supports an exhibition commissioned by the Beyond Awareness Campaign HIV/AIDS and STD Directorate of the Department of Health. Comprised of black and white photographic portraits the 'Living Openly' project presents those individuals brave enough to openly disclose their HIV status. The project was born out of discussions around media portrayals of people living with HIV/AIDS and the understanding that so often these images were harsh and stereotyped. Created through the photography of Gisele Wulfsohn with narratives by Susan Fox the stories told both visually and verbally give insight into the courage and strength required to be open about one's infection. This exhibition gives the 'Break the Silence' theme a very particular voice and face.

July 9 -27, 2000

BAT Centre: Dance Studio

Mary-Ann 'Nonjabulo' Orr
Charcoal drawing

'Celebrating the art of Living with HIV not Dying from AIDS' - Mary-Ann 'Nonjabulo' Orr

At the BAT Centre, in a little reported gallery called Bayside, normally known for its pleasant ceramics and reliably accessible artworks, is a show by Mary-Ann 'Nonjabulo' (Happiness) Orr. A graduate of Michaelis, Orr now lives in the seclusion of a remote, previously abandoned, Lutheran mission deep in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal near the Ongoye forest. Involved in the lives of the rural women there, she helps promote local ceramicists, basket weavers and beadworkers by contemporizing their designs whilst preserving traditional crafts. Leaving her urban life to fully integrate with the people she found that no electricity, no running water, no sanitation and no vegetable garden changed her life as did the knowlege that she was HIV positive. Guided by the belief that a greater universal life force together with the giving of abundant love holds the key to healing, she set about adjusting her life to live within her new community.

The exhibition of large drawings depicts real life; sharing, simple daily tasks such as harvesting the grass, ceramic pit firing and female companionship. Orr's message is not the negative one of dying with AIDS but Living with HIV - the emphasis is on life and its abundance. The proceeds from the sale of artwork are to be put into a registered trust to establish a centre for care-giving in its numerous forms from health education to vegetable growing.

June 28 - July 16 2000

Paper Prayers Campaign
Aids Awareness through the Visual Arts and Crafts

'Senzenjani Ngengculazi? (What are we going to do about AIDS?)

Spurred by the theme 'Break the Silence' Anthea Martin, Director of the African Art Centre has curated this exhibiton of contemporary mixed media artworks around the topic of HIV/AIDS. Sponsored by the British Council items sold will go to the AIDS AWARENESS CRAFT WORKSHOPS held in conjunction with Kate Wells of the ML Sultan Technikon Design Department.

July 5 - 22, 2000

Zwelethu Mthethwa
Open letter to God
Gicl�e on canvas
116 x 135 cm

As their contribution to the AIDS conference, the pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers invited Marilyn Martin and Linda Givon of the Goodman Gallery to coordinate a show of specially commissioned work from invited South African artists under the title 'Artworks for AIDS'. Participants include Zwelethu Mthethwa, David Goldblatt, Bernie Searle, Lisa Brice, Willie Bester, Sue Williamson and Jane Alexander. The emphasis was to be on the way the pandemic is affecting women and children. The exhibition will be mounted in the Durban Exhibition Centre during the conference from July 9 to 14, and after that will travel to Brussels, Washington, and finally Boston, where it will be auctioned to raise funds for AIDS initiatives. A full colour catalogue printed by Cape Town's The Scan Shop will be available.

Opening at 1 p.m. on July 9. Closing July 14.

Invitation to the show opening June 29

Jill Trappler at the Tatham Art Gallery

Well known Cape Town abstract artist Jill Trappler will be showing her paintings in a solo exhibition at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg which opens at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 29.

Until July 23.

Tatham Art Gallery, Cnr Longmarket St and Commercial Rd, Pietermaritzburg

Tel: (033) 342 1801

Ina van Zyl
Vader met kind en lollie 1999
Oil on canvas
100x100cm

Continental Shift

Taking place in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, Continental Shift focuses on art as a blueprint for co-operation between diverse cultures. The exhibition takes place in four different venues from May 21 to September 10. As a reaction to the fundamental social and political changes within Europe, the exhibition aims to create an image of artistic relationships between Europe and other continents. In particular, the emphasis has been placed upon the cultural spheres of Japan/ Korea, the Near East, Africa and Latin America.

Continetal Shift will bring together over 100 artists from these areas, all of whom have lived in Europe or have dealt with European cultural influences in their work. Participating artists from South Africa are Ina van Zyl, Andries Botha and Kendell Geers.

More information on this project can be found at http://continentalshift.org

Claudette Schreuders

'Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa', the group show which opened at the Museum for African Art in New York last September, is now at the Austin Museum of Art in Texas. The show features 11 artists, ranging from those who were politically active in the early eighties, like Paul Stopforth and David Koloane, through Penny Siopis, Brett Murray and Zwelethu Mthethwa to the post apartheid generation of Claudette Schreuders and Samson Mncisi.

The Austin Museum reports: 'Our public opening on Saturday, May 13 was very successful. Penny Siopis gave a wonderful, well-attended gallery tour, which was followed by a concert by Inkululeko, an amazing local women's acapella group who sang songs from South Africa and other African countries. We're really excited about all of our other upcoming programs, which will include a visit from Samson Mncisi in June.'

In another of the attendant programmes, the Museum has set up a question and answer section on their website, www.amoa.org, on which Austin gallery goers can post inquiries to the South African participating artists.

The show, which received an extremely positive review from the influential Holland Cotter of the New York Times when it opened in New York, was reviewed for ArtThrob by curator Tumelo Mosaka. .

May 13 to August 13.