Archive: Issue No. 132, August 2008

9.08.08 'Moveable Art Feast: 8 Galleries, 8 Weekends'
9.08.08 Dee Donaldson, Grace Kotze, Anet Norval and Janet Solomon at artSPACE durban
9.08.08 'Production Marks: Geometry, Psychology and the Electronic Age' at the KZNSA Gallery
9.08.08 Aryan Kaganof at the KZNSA Gallery
9.08.08 Damien Schumann at the KZNSA Gallery
9.08.08 'In Honour of The Artists of Rorke's Drift 1960's to 1970's' at Kizo Gallery
9.08.08 Jacki Bruniquel at artSPACE durban
9.08.08 Anne Cameron at artSPACE durban
9.08.08 Zodwa Maphumolo at the African Art Centre
9.08.08 'Schools' Curriculum Exhibition' at the Durban Art Gallery
9.08.08 'Satyagraha: Contemporary Indian Visual Art' at the Durban Art Gallery
9.08.08 'Fibreworks V' at artSPACE durban
9.08.08 Michelle Silk at artSPACE durban

6.07.08 Greg Streak at Bank Gallery

11.05.08 Leora Farber at the Durban Art Gallery

2.03.08 'Recent Acquisitions' at the Durban Art Gallery

The vision for the duration of the Celebrate Durban season is to make Durban's premier galleries accessible, available and welcoming to both visitors and residents of KZN by offering an 'art gallery trail' every Saturday throughout the eight weekend season beginning in August. Members of the public will be able to hop on a shuttle bus which travels a dedicated circuit to these venues throughout the day.

In anticipation of the additional feet through the galleries, themed events or 'art happenings' will be staged at each venue every Friday evening. Each of the featured galleries will have a turn over the course of the eight weekends.

Participating galleries include the Durban Art Gallery, artSPACE durban, KZNSA Gallery, Kizo Art Gallery, African Art Centre, BAT Centre, Durban University of Technology Art Gallery, and Art for Humanity at DUT.

Entry to these events will be free of charge. There may be a nominal fee charged for the shuttle. For more information contact Liana Turner or Cara Walters on (031) 311 2268.

This exhibition, entitled 'Formation', attempts to give the spectator insights into the psyche of four painters and their thought process in producing a work of art. Participants are Dee Donaldson, Grace Kotze, Anet Norval, and Janet Solomon.

The unique process of the fruition of a painting is often more intriguing and substantial than a finished piece of art. So much editing, judging and refining of ideas and images can produce a work freed of the guttural essence of the initial passion that prompted its creation. The show attempts to present the information and workings that get pared away along the path towards refinement.

Text, photographic documentation, workbooks and sketches are some of the preliminary ideas that will be presented along with the finished paintings, thus enabling the viewer to connect to the workings behind the paintings.

The show, with its varied approaches and presentations, promises to be one of layered substance and complexity.

Opens: August 4
Closes: August 23

Commissioned by and first presented at the National Arts Festival (Grahamstown, 2008), 'Production Marks: Geometry, Psychology and the Electronic Age' examines how artists use the exactitude of mathematics to create chaos and, from that chaos, create new forms. Curator Brenton Maart (KZNSA Gallery, Durban) has selected the work of Zander Blom, Marco Cianfanelli, Paul Edmunds, Retha Erasmus, Stephen Hobbs, Doung Anwar Jahangeer and Andrew Verster to demonstrate that we need not lament the systematic collapse of structure. Instead, the exhibition illustrates that entropy - the physical principle of constant collapse - provides the building blocks for assembly into new forms. It is this celebration of the unstable that ultimately allows for continual and creative construction. In essence, the exhibition is an acknowledgement of inevitable anarchy, and a celebration of the new forms that grow from the rubble.

One way to demonstrate this cycle is to examine the manifestation of thoughts. Plans, drawings on paper, originate in the mind; these plans, in turn, give rise to 3D structures. The artists on exhibition were selected for the way they present the interplay between two and three dimensions; between the workings of the mind and the physical reality. It is this play between dimensions - and its extension into the fourth and fifth dimensions - that allows the exhibition to allude to the fact that it is the systematic restructuring of structure that helps us understand the spiritual structure within the chaotic contemporary world in which we live.

The exhibition is scheduled to travel to the Göethe Institute, Johannesburg in September.

Opens: August 5
Closes: August 24

Aryan Kaganof's film Velvet, which debuted at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, is based on a cut-up prose sequence called April in the Moon-Sun by Gary Cummiskey. Composed in 2002 and originally published on the online literary journal, donga, the piece is characterised by astonishing surreal images that shift between London and Johannesburg. Throughout its hallucinatory pages lurks the whore-spirit, Dirty Girl.

When donga went offline in 2006, Cummiskey published April in the Moon-Sun through his Dye Hard Press. The print run was limited to 100 copies, one of which was sent somewhat belatedly to Kaganof. Towards the end of 2007 Kaganof announced his intention to make a short text film which would be his interpretation of the work. In January this year, Velvet was born.

Lasting 11 minutes and 32 seconds and containing electronic music by US experimental duo Matmos and culminating in what Kaganof describes as 'physical poetry' by US porn star Taylor Rain, the film begins in total darkness with background sounds reminiscent of John Cage's work, and which hint at what is to come. 'From darkness - nothingness - is born the word' as the text starts to appear on screen. Matmos' track reflects the cut-up nature of the work. The spirit of Dirty Girl is invoked as she starts to appear in the narrator's brain.

From the word is born the image - the physical manifestation of Dirty Girl, who engages in some naughty, dirty exploration. Dirty Girl's appearance after six minutes of text comes as a shock to our eyes just as her activities may come as a shock to our sensibilities.

Opens: August 5
Closes: August 24

Photographer and artist Damien Schumann has spent the last 18 months investigating the secrets and fears of people one passes on the streets, are friends with and work with, and to whom you are related. He studies issues that always seem to happen to someone else. But, ironically, one would never know, as stigma forces people into secrecy or denial and no assistance is ever granted, or received.

In an attempt to motivate change and create dialogue, people from every corner of society have stepped forward and (many for the first time) have revealed the stigma attached to challenges they face in life. This intimate collection of stories Schumann has gathered is portrayed through books of photography and text, and stories on MP3 players. The project serves as an example that nothing is what is seems, and drives home a strong conclusion that the key stumbling block to positive change is the way we think, and a lack of acceptance of the unknown.

This exhibition was seen earlier this year at the National Arts Festival. It will be shown simultaneously at the KZNSA and the XVIIth International Aids Conference in Mexico City.

Opens: August 5
Closes: August 24

This month the Kizo Gallery hosts a private collection of work from Rorke's Drift artists including works by John Muafangejo, Sandile Zulu, Jacob Matsose, R. Goswana, Vincent Baloyi and others.

Swedish missionaries set up the arts school at Rorke's Drift for black South African artists who could not access universities during apartheid. The works that emanated from this programme have become internationally renowned and are sought after by collectors.

It is hoped that this exhibition adds its weight to the current dialogue around issues of South Africa being at risk of losing many of our most valuable artworks due to the interest from international markets. Schools, universities, artists and collectors are encouraged to visit the exhibition in order to view these works that are of great historical significance to KwaZulu Natal.

Opens: August 4
Closes: August 25

Appalled by the rigorous plans of developers around her hometown Umdloti, and a seemingly inevitable future of less green space, Jacki Bruniquel began to document its cane fields and natural spaces with her camera.

The areas around Umdloti are rich with bird, animal and plant life. A migratory barnyard swallow population of over 1.5 million roosts in the marshes of Mount Moreland, where a new airport is to be built.

Bruniquel feels that the over development of the KwaZulu Natal North Coast will negatively impact the environment and, ultimately, society at large. Yet developers seem unstoppable and have little regard to notions of sustainable development. As she comments, 'By walking through the green spaces with my camera I was in a sense remembering a history, a landscape that will no longer be there in the future.'

Bruniquel uses her photographs as a basis for rich mixed media works.

Opens: August 4
Closes: August 23

An installation of prayer flags by Anne Cameron will be on view in the coffee lounge area at artSPACE durban this month.

Cameron's 947 prayer flags represent the 947 people who die of Aids every day in our country. As the light flags blow in the wind, Cameron proposes, their prayers are carried into the world. In the three minutes it takes to look at these flags, four or five people have died.

Opens: August 4
Closes: August 23

This month at African Art Centre sees the exhibition of works by Zodwa Mapumulo and family. Port Shepstone-born Mapumulo was among the first women to learn telephone wire basket-weaving in KwaZulu-Natal.

She was taught this skill by Bheki and Albert Dlamini and Elliot Mkhize in 1992. Since then she has passed on her skills to members of her family and community. Her daughter Ntombifuthi, was the first of her children to excel with her weaving, but now daughters Hlengiwe, Sanele and Ziningi, and sons Thembinkosi and Sthembiso are developing and they all present their work here .

Mapumulo has developed her own style and excels at a flaring shape for her bowls but also favours very large plate type baskets to give scope to her tremendous design and colour combinations. Her recent baskets are narrative using the forms of women and children, animals and plants, combined with geometric patterns.

Opens: August 15
Closes: September 5

The Durban Art Gallery has collaborated on a project with the Department of Education in making works on the curriculum available for learners to view. The Gallery's collection is seldom seen in its diversity due to space constraints, so this exhibition will not only enhance the learners' appreciation of the works they are studying but also provide a view into the collection's scope for the general public. It will be on semi-permanent display.

Opens: August 16

Forming part of the 'Shared Histories Indian Experience 2008', this exhibition will be on show at the Durban Art Gallery from August 23 to 31.

'Satyagraha' means 'imaging truth', and is a contemporary collection of work inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and curated by Dr. Alka Pande. For more information contact Ms. Kalpita Sen (Librarian) Indian Culture Centre, Consulate General of India Durban on (031) 3064221 or on icc2@cgidbn.com

Opens: August 23
Closes: August 31

Formed in 1997, the Fibreworks group comprises about 50 members nationwide who work in a fibre/textile medium.

Africa has a history of textile-making and within this rich tradition, 'Fibreworks' reflects contemporary African creativity in both membership and work. 'Fibreworks V' is the fifth national showing of the group and will display a variety of media, colours and techniques such as layering, weaving, dyeing, printing and embellishing with beads and found objects.

The exhibition will be opened by Durban-based artist Andrew Verster.

Opens: August 25
Closes: September 13

In Michele Silk's new works, a combination of different line, colour and textures is used to define both form and the absence of form with particular reference to the female body. Using images of sections of the body as object and the use of discordant lines and grids, Silk's aim is to convey a sense of vulnerability and tension.

This exhibition is the second part of Silk's body of work exhibited earlier this year at the gallery.

Opens: August 25
Closes: September 13

Bank Gallery presents 'Accumulative Disintegration' a solo show by Greg Streak. Streak looks at our need and at times failure to control the chaos of our everyday lives in this his much anticipated mixed media show.

Says the artist: 'Sometimes things fall apart. Sometimes things go wrong. I think we are living in particularly fragmented times and in many ways this body of work explores this. A consequence of this lack of cohesion is the inability to place oneself - both physically and emotionally. Sometimes we blame ourselves for this dissolution, sometimes with just cause but at other times it is more than just a consequence of the displacement. When things begin to unravel it is human instinct to attempt to hold them all together. The title of this body of work, "Accumulative Disintegration", attempts to sum up the ambiguity of this contradiction: trying to pull things towards a whole whilst they disperse around us.'

Streak is an interdisciplinary practitioner working in sculpture, video, installation and documentary filmmaking. His cool, even minimalist aesthetic is characterised by formalistic concerns and a preoccupation with the materiality of substance and things, but also space, both physical and psychological.

He has exhibited nationally and internationally, amongst others on 'World Tune' KAVC , Tokyo; 'Video Brazil - Single Channel', São Paulo; 'Drift' 1708 Gallery, Washington; 'De Grote Oversteek', Stedilijk Museum, Zwolle; 'Shared Histories/Decolonising the Image', Arti De Amiticae, Amsterdam; and 'Nie Meer', De Warende Turnhout, Belgium. Streak's first full feature documentary film Beauty and the Beasts won a special mention jury award at the 21st Durban International Film Festival. He was the recent winner of the prestigious Ampersand Fellowship awarded on merit to a South African artist.

Opens: July 24
Closes: August 21

Produced by Leora Farber, in collaboration with the South African design team Strangelove, Carlo Gibson and Ziemek Pater, 'Dis-Location / Re-Location', is a travelling exhibition touring seven South African Museums from June 2007 to May 2008.

The premise of this multi-media, multi-disciplinary exhibition is how cultural identities are formed, re-defined and become 'hybridised', according to Farber. The body of artwork challenges common assumptions that exist regarding cultural purity - one such assumption being that identity is static. Debate around identity construction, an issue particularly relevant in contemporary South Africa - at a time when this society finds itself in a process of redefining and building a new integrated South Africa from the diverse amalgam of cultures that coexist here. 'This exploration extends into the questioning of what constitutes South African identity, in relation to South Africa's place within the post-colonial African continent,' says Farber.

These conceptual underpinnings are explored through Farber's interrogation of her Jewish immigrant cultural background, in relation to Bertha Guttman, the colonial English wife of immigrant entrepreneur and maverick personality Sammy Marks. The link between Farber's post-colonial experiences of living in South Africa with that of Guttman's colonial one provides a rich source for the exploration of her own identity. Farber says, 'Marks' immigrant status draws parallels with postcolonial concerns of diasporic, immigrant and migrant communities that form part of the broader Pan African, Polyglot South African society'.

Opens: May 15
Closes: July 27

The Durban Art Gallery will be opening an exhibition of 'Recent Acquisitions' on March 20 in the circular gallery. As acquiring new artworks is one of the core functions of any art museum, this installation will feature all donations and acquisitions made over the last three years.

The DAG has an acquisitions committee made up of visual artists, educators and key representatives from the Durban art world who select according to a laid down DAG policy which considers conceptual, aesthetic, social, historical issues among others and how the particular work will fit into the existing collection. The DAG accepts donations and these are also vetted by the same committee with the same criteria.

The installation will show a variety of media, which include works by Langa Magwa, Johannes Phokela, Duke Ketye to name a few. Within the holdings is a growing collection of works around HIV/AIDS and included on the exhibition is a recent donation by Bernice Stott titled Femidoms and Traditional Herbs, which centres around women's choices through developments such as the femidom and the juxtaposition thereof against traditional medicine in women's health.

For more information contact gallery curator Jenny Stretton on (031) 3112262.

Opens: March 20
Closes: April 20