Opening up the floor: write for us
by Robyn Sassen
August saw initiatives to put art writing as a field to be taken seriously, on a local map. The challenge of follow-through and focus remains, but it's in the hands of students, practitioners in the field, and armchair critics out there, to put their money where their mouths are.
An initiative by the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) invited professionals in art fields to talk to third year students. The panel comprised art consultant Les Cohn, multi-media artist and writer, Nathaniel Stern, designer, partner in the funky arts fashion design studio Strangelove, Carlo Gibson, and yours truly, in her capacity as arts writer. While this was essentially an in-house event, it has broader value.
Which brings me to the other initiative. Organised by artist Nicholas Hlobo and facilitated by Gallery Momo, it aimed to bring together arts professionals to debate the dearth of arts writing opportunities in this country. The panel comprised Sipho Mdanda, Pitso Chinzima and Kathryn Smith. About 40 members of the arts community attended.
The focus of the first initiative was a pragmatic one, and the second, considerably
more critical. Chinzima spoke of critical writing and museum collections in
South Africa and abroad. Bringing up the recent Borchum and Dusseldorf exhibitions - 'New
Identities' and 'Africa Remix', respectively - he spoke of government and corporate
sponsorship, quoting the '10 years of Democracy' and the 'Proudly South African' identity
as 'buzzwords'.
Raising the issue of 'the usual suspects' in art initiatives of this nature, Chinzima interrogated the construction of history through curatorial choice in museums, and the distribution of funding, which also facilitates art being made. He questioned the notion of what a 'collectible' artist is, and how this term can be manipulated by the marketing agents behind a work, rather than the integrity of the work itself, juxtaposing the realities of a museum-based collection with work that goes onto an international exhibition showcase.
Mdanda critically dissected contemporary local arts media. He felt that language issues and the dominance of English in art writing was problematic for a mainstream of potential arts writers and readers. He also unequivocally commented that publications like the Unisa-based de Arte were racist in tone and writership. ArtThrob also came under fire from Mdanda. He felt that it is not a properly democratic forum, given its limited accessibility.
Smith summed up the proceedings with a lucid overview of the industry of art writing and its contradictions and complexities on a global level. She spoke of the politicisation of the discipline, mentioning the necessary elastic and symbiotic relationship between making art and writing critically about it, but also the flaws in gallery public relations people in inappropriately serving the industry.
Unlike the performing arts fraternity, the visual arts are fraught with confusion regarding marketing and brand awareness, Smith commented. The development and seduction of established and new audiences should be constantly treated as priority by all involved in making art palatable to a mainstream. She concluded her talk by offering a basic marketing value chain.
Yes, art writing is an exclusive realm: there are not many readily available platforms to publish or develop the skill. Most of them do not pay, or pay poorly. There are not a lot of black art writers active in South Africa at the moment. But it is self-defeating, and decidedly unpolitic to blanketly condemn a potential platform as 'racist' or 'dysfunctional' before one has adequately researched it.
The challenge then becomes tilted toward the armchair critics. Not to split hairs and set up satellite platforms, which are poorly run, badly distributed, and f�ted to last but one or two passionate issues, but to band together, offering a diversity of critical perspectives on a joint platform. The arts fraternity in South Africa is small enough, but diverse enough to use a single incubating platform to grow its confidence, competence and relevance.
The staff complement of ArtThrob comprises an editor-in-chief, a sub-editor, a news editor and various regional editors. There are no specifically dedicated arts writers here. There are no full-timers here either. We do not have an agenda. Admittedly, we have no budget either, but that has never stopped people on soapboxes from making a noise. The TWR panel discussion validated that sparse material gratification is a deterrent for a would-be arts practitionern.
As regional editor for Gauteng, I am happy to stick my neck out and make a general appeal to readers and writers out there. Help us to flesh out this publication, and make it work for everyone. You are our readers, and the site must serve your needs as it serves ours.
Internet access is expensive; maybe it's exclusive. But this is the 21st century. If we sidestep this medium and incur costs which we do not have by going into print and distribution, we immediately lose our critical edge and potential international viability.
There are Internet caf�s. One needs a pen and a piece of paper to write a good story. We cannot pay for published stories, but can provide a platform. Each of us as art practitioners leads complex lives: art and economics are conflicting mistresses. Often an art-talk in real time and space is not viable. ArtThrob is your platform. Use it. Submit material, reviews, comments or criticism to your regional editors. Deadline is the 20th of each month.
Send your Gauteng contributions to info@frodo.co.za
Send your KwaZulu Natal contributions to gabingcobo@webmail.co.za
Send your Western Cape contributions to freelance@telkomsa.net
