Archive: Issue No. 98, October 2005

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Guest Editorial
Andrew Lamprecht

Most of us experience art chiefly at second hand. Books, magazines and of course the computer monitor are our primary means of engaging with the world's art production, be it in words or in images. Anyone who hopes to keep abreast of the latest developments in the rapidly changing contemporary art scene is heavily dependent on the literature and imaging of art.

The last five years have seen an enormous upsurge in publishing (but not necessarily serious writing) about art in this country. This issue, which is themed around books and writers, inaugurates a regular book review section on ArtThrob: an acknowledgement of the increasing importance that catalogues, monographic publications and periodicals play in the shaping and contextualising of contemporary South African art.

Such is the interest in this material that one of our major booksellers has launched a site dedicated to this enormous output of images and words, as noted in the website feature this month. While few will look askance at this tremendous increase in publishing activity it is perhaps worth considering exactly what form this material takes. It strikes me that most of it is in the form of visual records: expensively produced advertising and publicity material masquerading as catalogues with or without an inconsequential text appended to it. Not that this is necessarily a terrible thing. Such publications may well have great value in future as documents of a time and archival documentation for the salons of the present day.

I must admit that it would be good to see better writing and more of it. I may well be as guilty as anyone in this regard. In addition it cannot be denied that here in South Africa we are hamstrung by the fact that ours is such a small artworld. Everyone does sort of know everyone else and sometimes sensitivities run high. As a result it often becomes a case that our writers will only critically engage with a show if they actually like it in the first place. More than once I have heard someone say that they would rather not review a show because they did not warm to it. Even more disturbingly I have heard some younger writers expressing reservations at writing critical reviews about important figures or shows that take place in supposedly 'powerful' galleries or institutions.

When you follow the topography of the critical landscape you may notice that some writers tend to favour (or disfavour) certain supposed cliques, certain galleries or certain media. Some critics seem to have biases in terms of race and gender. I have not always succeeded in accurately mapping these contours but it is a project I am currently working on and I hope at some future time to be able to present a theoretical exploration of this strange landscape.

This issue is focussed on writing and writers in a broad sense. There are reviews of works ranging from the academic and theoretical to the coffee-table variety. There is an interesting opinion piece about the state of South African art history as seen through the professional body's annual conference. The artbio unusually does not focus on an artist but a writer, editor and curator.

Editing this issue has reminded me what a privilege it is to be able to write and see published my thoughts and opinions about art. When I think of the expectations that we wordsmiths have of the artists about whom we discourse, I am increasingly coming to realise that sometimes we do not take our responsibilities as seriously. I hope that this issue will give pause for thought about the way that words and text can and do shape our way of seeing and experiencing art.
 


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