Much is made of the value of corporate and private patronage of art in South Africa, and how this trend has all but usurped government's role as custodian of art and culture since our shift to a democratic dipensation. This factor often functions to placate those amongst the populace who value visual art; this logic operates around a shallow binary understanding, something along the lines of 'if the government won't get involved, at least corporates will fund art'.
Against this backdrop, the value of institutions for SA art is often overshadowed by the more spectacular aspects of the market. However, looking over Clive Kellner's article for ArtThrob this month, in which he details some of the Johannesburg Art Gallery's achievements while he was Director there over the last four years, it is evident that institutions still have a vital role to play in art in this country. What Kelner seemed to understand rather early on in his tenure as JAG Director, helping both him and the JAG operate more effectively, is that within the context of state-owned institutions, strategic partnerships with big business can often be the solution to a dire absence of funds.
In line with our refreshed interest in institutions, this month ArtThrob presents Kellner's article as well as an interview with incumbent JAG Director Antoinette Murdoch, who succeeded Kellner at the beginning of April. Continuing on this theme, we hope to run an interview with new Iziko SANG Chief Curator Riason Naidoo next month.
Michael Smith
MANAGING EDITOR
CAPE
May is apparently the month for young guns in Cape Town, as Thomas Mulcaire brings his mercurial style to Cape Town this month with a solo show at Goodman Gallery Cape while Zander Blom's hard-rocking 'The Travels of Bad' travels to Whatiftheworld. Over at Michael Stevenson stablemates Nicholas Hlobo and Deborah Poynton show inevitably strong bodies of work. Also worth leaving the house for is the Tierney Fellowship exhibition of photography at the Michaelis Gallery.
GAUTENG
The big news in Jozi this month is the opening of the Albert Adams retrospective at the JAG early in May. Group show 'Nation State' also travels up to the Goodman Gallery towards the end of the month, while purveyors of mirth and satire Avant Car Guard burn a few more bridges over at Brodie/Stevenson.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Busy guy Zander Blom's 'Travels of Bad precedes its Cape Town opening with a run at the KZNSA, while at the same venue Peter Rippon's show of paintings 'Morphology' opens. 'Sacred Legacy' at the Durban Art Gallery explores historical photographs of native North American people by photographer ethnographer Edward Curtis.
INTERNATIONAL
Ed Young shows on 'Grin & Bear It' in Ireland, while work by Dinoe Bopape forms part of Younger than Jesus' at the New Museum in New York. Works by Guy Tillim are part of a group show in Luxembourg, while David Goldblatt's 'In the time of Aids' shows in Madrid.
INTERVIEW
This month ArtThrob publishes an interview with Antoinette Murdoch, new director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, in which she discusses her plans for the institution.
OPINION
Clive Kellner, previous JAG director writes about his experiences in the position, and the challenges and rewards for future directors.
FEATURE
Katharine Jacobs takes a look at the preview of a number of projects that form part of CAPE 09, finding the standard of the work high but the effectiveness of the event's marketing and scheduling confusing at best.
Ahead of Cape 09, ArtThrob asked thespian Myer Taub to reflect on the successes and challenges of February's 'Infecting the City' performing arts festival, which likewise strove to take over and 'infect' the city.
CAPE
Katharine Jacobs looks at Avant Car Guard's 'Volume III' at Whatiftheworld and, like Morrisey a few decades ago, seems to think that the joke isn't funny anymore. Fabian Saptouw steps into Goodman Gallery Cape's 'Nation State' making a subtle yet crucial distinction between political work and the works on this show, which he says 'are really about a conversation with the political'. Michaelis Honours student Rozanne Cotton isn't crazy about 'The Tropics' at Iziko SANG, finding that it reinforces rather than challenges key preconceptions of life in exotic climes.
GAUTENG
Cara Snyman is far more sympathetic to the second iteration of 'Self/Not-self' at Brodie/Stevenson, while Michael Smith runs into some fun times in his Short Cuts.
KWAZULU NATAL
Peter Machen looks at Lynette Morris-Hale's 'Targeted' at the Artisan Gallery, and while he is moved by the pathos of the works on show, is less impressed by the rhetoric that frames it. Machen also turns in a round-up review of Siemon Allen's sprawling three shows 'Records', 'Stamps' and 'Newspapers', finding that Allen has carved a niche job description for himself in the productive gap between artist and collector.
In this month's news, the art collection of the late Roger Brett Kebble is auctioned, grossing nearly R5.4M and seeing numerous records for SA modern and contemporary art fall.
Paul Emmanuel scoops a kunst:raum Sylt Quelle Foundation artist's residency for July and August. Elsewhere its a case of swings and roundabouts as two galleries open in Cape Town while the Warren Siebrits gallery in Johannesburg closes.
Sue Williamson writes more about her experiences at the Havana Biennale.
The energetic Katharine Jacobs pens this month's ARTBIO on the stellar Candice Breitz.
Chad Rossouw gets excited about 'Graphics Atlas', firmly believing that its developers created it just for him.
Chad Rossouw considers cyberghost Ron T. Beck's shift from Facebook onto Twitter, and finds that the medium's restrictions suit 'his pithy 140 character statements'.
The Thami Mnyele Award (previously the Ekurhuleni National Fine Art Award) calls for entries this month, as does the 2009 PPC Young Concrete Sculptor.
The Market Photo Workshop invites applications for paid internships. Bus Rapid Transit calls for submissions of artworks in glass and/or steel for installation in BRT stations.
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