Listing(s)

'Where are we exactly – are we near the island? The “island” – is that what you call it?'

Robyn Nesbitt and Nina Barnett at VANSA

Robyn Nesbitt and Nina Barnett began working in a shared studio in Johannesburg six years ago, based on their mutual desire for a competitive and empathetic ‘co-existence’. This existential bond is born from dependence and affirmation, culminating in connections based on a history of dialogues, questioning the relationship’s facets and boundaries. Such parallelisms and dualisms have generated a shared global identity, outside the boundaries of space and time, documenting the remnants of their intuitive and residual process through dialogue on their blog [www.coexistent.net] where they have combined ideas, communicated events, recalled dreams and memories, and created networked islands.

The blog consists of a virtual performance of thoughts and memories sent in pieces that are mailed back and forth, along with ideas that evolve during residencies where they meet periodically. Loosely based on the exploitation of the now traditional virtual realm, where corporeal concerns fall into secondary critical roles, the artists live out an ‘ideal’ existence – or rather, practice – that corresponds to the mundane state of day-to-day life. In a sense, this ensemble of sporadic information is akin to a curiosity box, in which one attempts to open Ali Baba’s treasure cave by looking at the world from an alternate perspective, much like Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.

Taking their title from J.G. Ballard's Concrete Island, Nesbitt and Barnett show a diverse collection of images, notes, writings and communication.

24 October 2011 - 25 November 2011

'Part 1: The Drawing Room'

Various Artists at VANSA

Vansa's recently revamped Spin Space hosts Part 1: The Drawing Room - a work-in-progress style project initiated by a group of students and recent graduates including Grace Cross, Jared Ginsburg, Jessie Hammond, Rodan Kane Hart, Io Makandal, and Samantha McCulloch

"Drawing is the means by which we understand and map, decipher, and come to terms with our surroundings as we leave marks, tracks, or shadows to mark our passing." - Emma Dexter (2005)
...

The project is a collaboration of artists each exploring the language of drawing. The show navigates different modes of drawing; employing techniques of gesture, elements of chance, examining the transformation of matrix to print, and constructing line beyond the page. The marked edges of the studio/project space is a generator fueled by its surroundings. Part 1: The Drawing Room has been an active studio for the last four weeks. The one night closing event culminates and displays the drawing activities that have occurred in the space.

For more information visit:  (http://theopendrawerproject.blogspot.com/)

Event starts at 18:30

21 September 2011 - 21 September 2011

Proof of Life

Unknown Artist at VANSA

The Visual Arts Network of South Africa - VANSA - is showing a lively
selection of prints, paintings, sculptures and mixed media works by undergraduates of the Michaelis School of Fine Art. The curator is  Natasha Norman.

05 October 2009 - 16 October 2009