2003 in review
by Carine Zaayman
1) Best Show(s): All my choices have a somewhat retrospective gloss to them. Kendell Geers, 'The Prodigal Son' at the Goodman Gallery (10 - 31 May), Jane Alexander, 'DaimlerChrysler Award' at the SANG (26 April - 27 July) and Guy Tillim, 'Departure' at Bell-Roberts (17 June - 12 July).
2) Best individual artwork: Jeff Koons's immaculate appearance at the Michaelis Lunchtime lecture. Why? The smooth salesman banter and faux humanism/ humility has patently been part of his methodology for years. It was great to see it in action, and hear some of his surprising takes on his own work. Ahhh, the art of self-promotion...
3) Most memorable quote: "This review is already well over its word-limit, and we may as well die for a sheep as for a lamb. The sheep is interesting, even if chickens enjoy a sexier reputation in this world" (my emphasis), from Colin Richards's review of Bruce Gordon.
(See Colin Richards' review: www.artthrob.co.za/03june/reviews/sang_gordon.html)
4) Biggest disappointment: That Swiss artist Johannes Gees's Helloworld project failed to be realised due to small-minded provincial bureaucracy that could not just-say-yes. We may live in a relatively enlightened society, but our conception of the social role of art has holes the size of Table Mountain in it. In contrast, it took Rio only 3 days to approve a project that would have cost the city of Cape Town nothing, and would have done a lot for our art/ cultural tourism status, never mind the pleasure of seeing a great project bought to fruition.
(See Ralph Borland's petition: www.artthrob.co.za/03oct/news/helloworld.html and also http://www.helloworld.cc)
5) Best review: Two come to mind, 'Love, jealousy and wanting to be in two places at once: Gregg Smith', by Cameron Platter, and 'Working the White Cube', by Colin Richards.
(See Cameron Platter's review: www.artthrob.co.za/03oct/reviews/labia.html)
6) Artist to watch in 2004: Instead of an artist, I would like to suggest some of the new spaces, galleries, and initiatives; Monna Mokoena's Gallery Momo, Gordon Froud's Gordart, Abrie Fourie's Outlet and Galerie Puta.
7) Additional comments: I would have liked to write the word "insular" three hundred times. For one thing, this year's debate around the representation of black artists in South Africa was deeply disappointing. Somewhere between Voyiya and McGee's The luggage is still labelled, and Thembinkosi Goniwe's seminars and articles, many white, card-carrying members of South African art world lost the map to regions beyond "my ego".
Fact is, a number of artists in South Africa obviously have strong political and cultural concerns. Importantly, these concerns relate to a larger context of neo-colonial, globalist, consumerist realities of our time. However, whenever discussion of such issues surface, it seems to be more important to defend oneself, one's job or reputation, than to understand the reality of someone in a context removed from your own.
And then we wonder why there is so little serious critical writing on South African art. I do not care whether you/ they think that an exhibition is good or bad. I care about the way in which the work and your/ their responses relate to a social context. Now this context can simply be that of art, but it can also be more populist, political, ecological, economic, gendered and so on. Not that such contexts are fixed, but unless we start to expand our understanding of artistic production beyond parochial pissing about, the debates will remain circular and reactionary.
And, there are a number of areas within contemporary culture that are challenging the insularity of the artistic community. To my mind at least, the multi-contextual world of new media offers one such challenge.
So, for me, it is not simply a case of finding issues to question and discuss. Rather, the larger framework within which we locate such discussions needs to come under scrutiny more often. I like to think that I live in the world, and I want to see how other people respond to living in the(ir) world. I cannot see the point of being an artist if you cannot be a human being.
