CAPE
Guy Tillim shows images from the Congo, alongside Churchill Madikida, at
Michael Stevenson Contemporary; Ruth Sacks remembers ten years in 'Democracy X', at The Castle of Good Hope; 'The Milk Can Art Project' is at the AVA;
fresh from the KKNK, Lien Botha's 'Groot Inkleurboek' is at Photographers Gallery ZA; the Bell-Roberts Gallery shows drawings by Michael Croesser and Brendon Bell-Roberts; João Ferreira Tom Cullberg's 'There is so much to
say'; Nicola Grobler and 'The Enigma Machine' are on at Erdmann Contemporary; and Studio One presents 'Straight to Video 2'
GAUTENG
Marcus Neustetter and Nathaniel Stern challenge the suburbanites at Artspace; William Kentridge is at the Community Centre on Glenhove; Given Matubela at Michaelis Art Library; the Market Laboratory plays host to Robyn Orlin; Jo Ractliffe and Sean O'Toole come to terms with contemporary photography at PhotoZA; Diana Kortbeek shows at Momo; Jürgen Schadeberg at Kliptown; the JAG host two prominent shows, a solo outing by Conrad Botes and the group show 'Sted//Place'; Berni Searle and Jill Trappler, Bongi Dhlomo Mautloa and Gail Behrmann are on at Standard Bank Gallery; Gordart showcases experimental music and; Anton Kannemeyer is at Art on Paper; and
Warren Siebrits looks back more than ten years with X.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Carol-anne Gainer, Bronwen Vaughan-Evans, Ed Young and Andrew Lamprecht, and
John Roome are all at the NSA this month. Deryck Healey and Marianne Meijer
are at artSpace Durban, while the Durban Art Gallery shows 'Ties that Bind' and 100 works in the 'Ten Out of Ten Democracy', an exhibition showcasing the richness of South African creativity.
INTERNATIONAL
South Africa is the featured country on the third edition of 'FotoGrafia',
Rome's international photography festival. Abrie Fourie, Andrew Tshabangu,
Zwelethu Mthethwa, Doris Bloom, Guy Tillim and Pieter Hugo are all
exhibiting. 'Insights' features the work of nine contemporary artists from Washington DC's National Museum of African Art's collection. Sue Williamson, Thando Mama, Doreen Southwood, Mgcineni 'Pro' Sobopha and Gregg Smith have
all been invited to Dak'Art 2004. 'Tremor: Contemporary South Africa Art',
in Belgium, is a showcase of painting, photography, video/DVD, sound
installation and sculpture by 12 South African artists. Also on show in
Belgium is Frances Goodman. Kendell Geers is in New York.
Cape Town: 'A Decade of Democracy' sees artists fracture the Rainbow Nation into multiple issues. Kim Gurney finds one common thread: the repeated use
of the figure. Photographs are not a mechanical record but a highly
selective one, as 'Staged Realities' reveals. Kim Gurney is left pondering the stories behind the portraits. Zachary Yorke is impressed by Lizza Littlewort's portraits of young artists.
Johannesburg: Robyn Sassen reviews Thea Soggot's strong drawings, Wendy Anziska's paintings and Ranjith Kally's photographic work. Greg Streak discusses his HIV(E) project and Kresta Tyler looks at Dutch curator Paul Faber's exhibition based upon the family.
Durban: Andrew Nhlangwini's show at the NSA reopens a dialogue on the historical pain of being invaded by focusing on the greatest of all Xhosa historical disasters.
Pallo Jordan is the new Minister of Arts and Culture; the third lecture in the DIVA series took place at WITS with a unique presentation and discussion of the past five years of video installation work by Candice Breitz; a new exhibition at the Castle of Good Hope attempts to take a comprehensive few of South Africa and show what the country is all about today; Substation, a new gallery space at the Wits School of Art was launched with the opening exhibition of Natasha Christopher's large format photographs and a video installation; Sasol has relaunched their 15-year-old New Signatures award with more bells and whistles and groundbreaking possibilities; and on
Sunday, April 25 the fountain in the newly named Nelson Mandela Square turned red. Robyn Sassen was there.
What motivates curators and art buyers to purchase artworks? This simple question is the premise for Gallery Choice, a monthly feature that aims to reveal who (public museums/corporate collections) is buying what (artist), and why.
Sean O'Toole discusses an obscure piece of public 'sculpture' with its originator, Kendell Geers. It is the first time this work from the early 1990s is publicly discussed.
April sees the launch of two major shows celebrating the decade of democracy. Sue Williamson goes to the openings and is impressed.
There is nothing commonplace about 31-year-old Churchill Madikida, an artist whose professional biography requires some digression into his private life.
Sean O'Toole hopes that in recounting this private story, it won't detract from the appreciation of this soft-spoken artist's output, shortly to be shown in Cape Town and New York.
Lev Manovich is one of the seminal voices in the field of new media. Carine Zaayman reveals more.
We highlight the "interactive project" D.I.E.N.S., a grouping of four artists who articulate their concerns as follows: "How can we offer a service to the community? What forms can this service take, and can we offer service through communication?"
A section devoted to calls for submissions and proposals; jobs; invitations to participate; studios to let; art auctions and charity benefits - and more.
Where issues are debated - sometimes.
Send us your commentary on this issue.
Penny Siopis is the latest artist to join our Editions for ArtThrob programme. Her work 'Cultivate Love' was produced in collaboration with Randy Hemminghaus, master printer from New York's Galamander Press, and is a distillation of her most recent work, from her Shame series.
Available now: outstanding prints by William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Hentie van der Merwe, and Tracey Rose.
Browse through past editions of ArtThrob.
Who writes for ArtThrob and other bits of relevant information.
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