Archive: Issue No. 41, January 2001
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Website of the month New listings Institution sites Gallery sites Artist sites General sites Exhibition sites Project sites Zine sites
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http://www.goodman-gallery.com
The Goodman Gallery
Thirty-two years ago, the Goodman Gallery of Johannesburg opened to encourage contemporary South African artists to exhibit, despite apartheid. The policy of the Gallery was to foster the culture of the country under despotic duress. Today, the vision remains the same, but the methodology and philosophy is geared to a new liberated country, which is struggling to emerge into the international arena. In this context the gallery has widened avenues to encourage the participation of artists in exhibitions around the world as well as at home. Under the directorship of founder Linda Givon, The Goodman Gallery continues to be the most important gallery in the country, promoting art through established and new contemporary talent, whilst maintaining quality as the criteria.
On site one can view CVs and examples of work by artists Willie Bester, Norman Catherine, Kendell Geers, Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Zwelethu Mthetwa, Sam Nhlengethwa, Penny Siopis, Sue Williamson, Deborah Bell and Moshekwa Langa.
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SOUTH AFRICA
The Lipschitz Gallery
Sue Lipschitz has been actively involved in the visual arts for many years promoting emerging and established artists nationally and internationally and has curated exhibitions of South African contemporary art in the United States.
This gallery promotes work by established and emerging artists and assists private and corporate buyers in the art of investing in art an important mission as South African contemporary art continues to explode onto the international scene. Corporations and interior designers can find assistance here in the 'art of investing in art'.
Art work and biographies can be viewed on the site - an art talk section publishes a current happening in the South African art world.
The BAT Centre
The BAT Centre is Durban's Art and Culture Experience. The BAT Centre belongs to the BAT Centre Trust, a public body whose trustees are drawn from the educational, business, art and culture sectors of KwaZulu-Natal
To celebrate South African art and culture the centre promotes local talent and skills, celebrating unique cultures, creating jobs for artists by sourcing talent, imparting skills and developing markets. The BAT centre acts as a community cultural centre for the City of Durban and the people of the harbour and Esplanade functioning as a resource to outlaying art and cultural centres and creative people.
It strives to achieve these aims by making spaces, teaching skills, and equipment available. Furthermore it initiates cultural exhibitions and creates markets for artists via the various art shops and music, theatre and dance venues.
Vgallery
This site includes a chronological list of South African artists and interesting articles on some, along with examples of their work. Vgallery promotes visual artists in South Africa with the aim of selling work. There is a list of articles stemming from 1998 on exhibitions, artists, and issues concerning the contemporary art world. Also featured is a newsflash informing the public of a current happening.
This site is simply designed and well organized, very easy to navigate around and includes a good selection of work.
Gallery 111
This site is all over the place and what's a little frustrating is having to scroll to the right in order to read some of the literature. However, it does provide important information and does possess a positive mission that serves the South African contemporary art community. The gallery has made every effort to keep costs low for exhibiting artists. Gallery 111's mission is as follows:
'To encourage innovation, experimentation and provide support in all fine art media, with an emphasis on the developmental and educational aspects of digital and electronic media. Collaboration with creative persons outside the definitions of fine art and thus many of our projects consist of works created between poets, musicians, architects, businessmen, engineers and visual artists. A distribution point for products such as CDs, CDRoms, books and other publications produced by artists, poets and avant gard musicians.
Gallery 111 is small space located in Kensington, Johannesburg.
The NSA Gallery
The Natal Society of Arts (NSA), located in Durban, has been promoting the visual arts in KwaZulu Natat for more than 90 years. It is presently located in a contemporary, custom designed building in a beautiful park setting. This centre is committed to the promotion of contemporary art and holds exhibitions and educational events on an ongoing basis. The organisation has also implemented national and international networking to promote and develop cultural exchange.
The NSA possesses a training arts programme, a nesart kzn magazine, an arts caf�, a shop and an opportunity to become part of their membership. This cleanly designed site contains information on everything that makes up the NSA. Check it out for information on current exhibitions.
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SOUTH AFRICA
Owl House Foundation
This clean and neatly designed website is about the Owl House Foundation, once the home of Helen Martins who died on August 8, 1976. Miss Helen, as she is also known, changed her home in Nieu-Bethesda, set in a fertile valley of the Sneeuberg Mountains, from what she felt was a mundane surrounding into one that plays with reflection and space, light and dark and different hues. After filling the interior of the house that serves as "a luminous backdrop of walls and ceilings coated with elaborate patterns of crushed glass imbedded in bands of brightly coloured paint", the exterior was developed. Images of sun faces, owls and camels, all manner of real and fantastical beings are to be found.
To conserve this beautiful and unique structure the Foundation is researching and employing contemporary materials and methods to combat weaknesses developed because of harsh climatic conditions and the ever-increasing number of visitors. A slow and expensive operation, the process is designed for long-term preservation - each element being returned to its original state. The Foundation receives no support from official sources. They are indebted to the membership base, individual donors and principal patrons, PPC Cement.
Koos Malgas died in December 2000. See Artthrob No 40 for his obituary.
District Six Museum
"Europeans Only. Slegs Blankes." Introduces you to this website commemorating the area of District 6 and honouring the people who fought against the forced removals and Group Areas Act. On December 10 1994, the District Six Museum opened with its first exhibition "Streets - Retracing the Past".
The mission of the District Six Museum is to ensure that the history and the memory of forced removals in South Africa endures. It aims to foster understanding between communities, isolated by segregation, by focussing on the multicultural nature of District Six. Central to its mission is the documentation and imaginative reconstruction of the history, labouring life and cultural heritage of the District Six community.
MTN Art Institute
The MTN Art Institute is committed to using its fine and expanding art collection and other resources as vehicles of expression to connect people to each other, and to South African and African art, culture and heritage. The institute's vision is to nurture heritage and cultural processes, and in so doing support the mechanisms through which society may be examined and restored. Although the site looks really good there are still problems with some pages. After clicking on some icons an error appears. This especially happens on the map that lists all types of art - metal, wood, mixed media, drawing, painting and all the rest.
Museums Online
South Africa presents all the current activities and exhibitions of local museums. The site includes an events section enabling anyone in the museum of related community to announce relevant activities on the internet, and a by-subscription mailing list which will allow one to be e-mailed regularly on museum activities. Discussion forums also give one the opportunity to voice an opinion on a variety of arts issues.
South African National Gallery
Part of the above site, a very comprehensive site providing information on everything that needs to be known of the South African National Gallery from its collection to the library. All of the SANG's newsletters can also be viewed as well as internet exhibitions.
The South African National Gallery is an art museum which holds in trust an historical and contemporary art collection on behalf of the people of South Africa. The gallery provides a cultural and educational resource, encourages involvement in the visual arts, and nurtures a culturally diverse but shared national identity.
Initially a space of 45 paintings presented in 1871 by Thomas Bayley, the collection of the SANG has grown to a one of international stature, encompassing substantial holdings of South African, African and Western European art. The Annexe building is used for exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and lectures.
This is a site definitely worth visiting... and returning to.
King George VI Art Gallery
This is the website of the King George VI Art Gallery in Port Elizabeth, with news of current exhibitions and activities and a virtual tour of some of the gallery's highlights. The museum serves the public through programmes of art research, conservation, publications, educational and recreational events and exhibitions.
Red Eye
This site provides information on the monthly 'Red Eye' art-for-all event at the Durban Art Gallery, described here as a "kick in the pants art initiative". A sharp design in black and red characterises the site, with some nifty flash animations and sound effects. The site gives the philosophy of 'Red Eye', a history of the multi media event, galleries of past highlights, and tells you how to send in a proposal for a future 'Red Eye'.
INTERNATIONAL
http://alternativemuseum.org/tam_monitor
The Alternative Museum
The Alternative Museum provides a global forum where all nations celebrate and embrace their artistic and cultural differences. This site gives artists opportunities to sharpen their creative imagination while transforming art into new and preciously unimaginable forms. Curators from around the world decide what will be exhibited in the e-museum, which consists of artists working in all types of media, commenting on a variety of social issues. TAM succeeds in its mission to initiate, support, present and preserve interdisciplinary arts and criticism. The alternative edge is refreshing, the design is clean and it's easy to navigate one's way through.
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SOUTH AFRICA
The Art Channel
'Diversity II' is an exhibition of works by 23 Southern African contemporary artists and is presently showing on The Art Channel. Included in this on-line exhibition are paintings, prints, bronzes, ceramics, wood sculpture and mixed media. Also included are Southen African rock art and ceramics from the Barbara Jackson studio of Cape Town.
This site seems to be mainly for promoting artists and selling their work.
Association for the Visual Arts
Cape Town's Association for the Visual Arts is one of the oldest galleries in the city, and under the directorship of Estelle Jacobs, provides space for a continuous round of exhibitions decided upon by a Committee. The AVA also serves as a clearing house for art information and has an outreach programme which benefits less privileged artists. Their website carries news of current shows, and information on previous exhibits.
http://www.bangthegallery.co.za
Bang the Gallery
Bang the Gallery is a creative and energetic South African art gallery. Conceptualised and run by artist Alex Hamilton, it reflects a new and positive energy in the art world of South Africa and provides a platform for contemporary artists - exhibiting work of a variety of local artists, including Alex Hamiliton, Shany van den Berg, Solomon Siko, Andrew Hollis, Karen Jay, Craig Foster and many more. The artwork includes paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewellery and photography.
INTERNATIONAL
Stroom
Stroom is an organisation in Holland which not only has its own gallery but also sponsors numerous public art projects by such artists as Vito Acconci. Their site lists and shows many such projects. At present, the site is in Dutch only, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem for South Africans.
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SOUTH AFRICAN
Alan Alborough
As with all Alborough's work, the site avoids all non-essentials. Alborough is the Standard Bank Young Artist 2000, an award which carries a modest fee for a catalogue. That fee was used to design the website instead, and was launched to coincide with the opening of his award show in Grahamstown. As the show moves from place to place, the website will be expanded, so if you like Alborough's work, put this one on your favourites list.
John Hodgkiss
During the Grahamstown Festival, well-known performance photographer John Hodgkiss showed a collection of evocative and visceral images under the title 'Negative' at the Dakawa Art and Craft Community Centre, where he shares the space with Mark Hipper. The title describes the process, whereby the images, be they X rays, colour prints or black and white photographs are printed as negatives. Subjects are skulls which turn black, x rays in which the human form becomes more tangible, and cuts of meat in eerie blue tones. The site features Hodgkiss' own work, with photo-related literature. Contributing artists are also included.
INTERNATIONAL
http://www.africaserver.nl/kheto/index.html
Virtuele Expositie: Kheto Lualuali
Mozambican painter Kheto Lualuali has lived and worked in Amsterdam since 1998 and is a member of the Associaton Nucleo de Arte in Maputo, Mozambique. This virtual exhibition contains 18 paintings divided in seven different phases. Each phase represents his 'archives', made of different artistic forms and styles, or techniques that the artist tries to develop continuously.
Rob Moonen
This artist's website is that of Rob Moonen, a Dutch conceptual artist known to many South Africans after he participated in a Cape Town workshop in 1996. He is currently working with Kevin Brand on a collaborative textile piece to be made up at the Textile Museum in Tilburg, Holland. But his website is listed here because of its good design and the insight given into the artist's fine work.
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SOUTH AFRICAN
Black Arts Collective
Black Arts Collective (BLAC) is a loose network of artists (from poets to playwrights, film makers to fashion designers, amongst others), academics, journalists and cultural workers. Since 1998 BLAC has been meeting regularly to discuss issues of arts, culture, race and identity in Cape Town (and South Africa) and to develop new discourse, especially around arts practise. The project consists of the BLAC seminar Series running successfully since 1999 and this website, Blaconline.
BLAC has recently changed the look of their site. Check out articles written by local artists and writers.
http://library.thinkquest.org/18799/index.html
sara: South African Resistance Art, Art and the journey to freedom in South Africa
How did artists respond to apartheid? How did the international art world react to South Africa's political situation? These questions and more are answered on this site.
It is at this point that we begin our journey exploring South Africa over the last 22 years. South African artists respond to the political situation through their talented and impassioned eyes, and their works mirror the journey to freedom in this country. The focus is on four top contemporary artists, each one depicting the struggle to free the country of apartheid through artistic expressions in a different way. They are Jane Alexander, Willie Bester, Jonathan Comerford and Helen Sebidi. Their personal backgrounds are explored, as well as their general artistic characteristics and examples of the works they produced specifically related to the apartheid government and its activities. The development of each artist since 1994 is viewed as well as some of their most recent works.
South African Artists
This independently funded directory of South African art, galleries and artists was sparked by the evident lack of marketing and publicity opportunities and techniques for artists and galleries in the region. The initiators of South African Artists claim that they are the leading source of info for anyone interested in South African art but there is little commentary on art. The site was specifically created to sell art.
South African Centre for Photography
This is the website of Cape Town's South African Centre for Photography, and gives images and information about current photographic events. The Centre "endeavours to promote a broader understanding of the medium of photography in all its forms, and to foster the development of its practice, teaching, scholarship and criticism through the establishment of sustainable ongoing programmes".
Artslink
Every artist deserves a business card on the net, the Artslink webmaster TJ de Klerk believes. And galleries can have a whole page, free. This local site becomes more and more useful, with its e-mailing of arts-related press releases available to anyone through its Acemail programme. Won the Arts and Culture award for best art site in the country in 1998.
INTERNATIONAL
Queer Arts Resource
Queer Arts Resource is a not-for-profit educational forum for the display and discussion of queer art and culture. Until the recent advent of Queer Studies, the history of art has omitted most material of direct relevance to lesbians and gays. Much has been suppressed, much has been lost due to neglect or censorship, and a great deal has simply been overlooked. QAR is expanding the range and depth of knowledge about contemporary and historical queer art, and making this information freely available on this website. Check out 'AIDS: Making Art and Raising Hell" in the archive section for a unique perspective on the AIDS crises and its effect on the art community.
Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall
In many places, painting graffiti is illegal. Although Art Crimes does not advocate breaking the law they believe that art belongs in public spaces and that more legal walls should be made available for this fascinating art form. The work on the site has been created by artists who call themselves "writers", their works are their writings. Here, attempts are made to dispel the negative stereotypes about people who produce graffiti art and their affiliation with gangs. There are many featured artists from all over the world along with examples of their work. Art Crimes is huge, containing hundreds of featured artists and thousands of works as well as links to artists' sites. There are links to HipHop sites, art sites, media and other graffiti sites. Interviews and articles are also included and a catalogue can be bought.
The Thami Mnyele studio
The Thami Mnyele studio in Amsterdam, established in 1993, is a home from home for two visiting artists a year, providing an air ticket and living and working space. The foundation is also considering artists from other African countries. The website tells how to apply for a fellowship and the conditions.
E-flux
E-flux bills itself as the "the first electronic mailing company devoted exclusively to serving the international art world." Working from a data base of cutting edge critics, collectors, consultants, galleries and museums, e-flux will email information about exhibitions to its subscribers at "a small fraction of the usual mailing costs". Logging on to the site will provide information about a wide range of current exhibitions in the States and Europe. The curators of "Translation/Seduction/Displacement", the show of South African artists at the White Box earlier this year used e-flux to send out pix and info on the show.
ShanghART
ShanghART displays works by internationally acclaimed Chinese artists, as well as new and coming young artists from Shanghai and all over China. Since its establishment one year ago, ShanghART has featured some of the most interesting young artists who live in China today. It has become a unique centre for contemporary art in a country with a fast developing art scene. Through exhibitions this site contributes to the development, appreciation and collection of contemporary Chinese art.
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INTERNATIONAL
www.akka.nl/hsal/docs/index_artists.html
South Africa Line project
To increase the artistic and cultural contact between South African and Dutch artists, a South African living in the Netherlands, Andrea Rolfes and a Dutch art project manager, Arend-Jan Weysters of Stichting AKKA, designed the Holland South Africa Line project (HSAL). This exhibition showed in Amsterdam in September, 2000. This project was designed specifically to have "dialogue" and "communication" between seven Dutch and seven South African artists as its primary basis and objective. Information on the exhibition, and examples of work by the artists involved, are also included on the site.
Continental Shift
Continental Shift shows art to be an experimental forum for the co-existence of world cultures. This exhibition focuses on art as a blueprint for co-operation between diverse cultures. The exhibition has taken place from May 21 to September 10, 2000, in four different venues, the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen, the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Stadsgalerij in Heerlen and the Mus�e d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain in Li�ge. It features a number of artists from Africa and aims to create an image of the artistic relationships between Europe and other continents. Click on an artist's name to bring up samples of the artist's work, then mouse over each picture to reach other related information. This is a website of excellent design.
ZKM Online
Isn't it a little strange to plan an exhibition of internet art and place it in a museum space instead of cyberspace? Well, that is what renowned curator Peter Weibel did, and you can see it on the net anyway. Check out net-condition on the very elegantly designed ZKM Online.
Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa
One of the better exhibition websites around is this one, which shows a number of works by each of artists on New York's Museum for African Art show, 'Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa'. It's a good place to go for all those matric essayists constantly seeking information on local artists. It presents paintings, sculptures and installations created between 1994, the end of the apartheid era and 1999.
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www.sensorium.org
Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa
Sensorium is a site of truly wondrous projects. Breathing Earth, for instance, is a visualisation of earthquakes that have happened worldwide in the past 14 days. A globe with a map of the world comes into view, and on each of the 14 dates, swellings bubble up indicating the location of the seismic activities. Other projects involve the number of kilometres the world has swung round the sun while you have been busy on the website, and the sounds of the web itself.
Plexus
Plexus is one of the best - great artist projects, articles, news.
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SOUTH AFRICAN
REDzine
REDzine is a groovy looking site with articles, interviews and examples of work by artists and students of the contemporary art world. The look is fresh and gives the impression that there a lot is going on within... which there is. Devin Purvis runs this Durban based e-zine devoted to experiments in design, art, music, photography and the internet. The (all original) content is of both South African and International origin, with a focus on the socially challenging (likes to peel back the gloss).
ZA@Play
ZA@Play is a good daily read for anyone who wishes to keep up with the best of local cultural happenings. The site also features lively interviews and reviews taken from the Mail & Guardian.
INTERNATIONAL
eChinaArt.com
Comprehensive and well designed, eChinaArt.com is packed with loads of information on the contemporary art scene in China. It contains an artist and online gallery of work in all types of media by artists whose biographies can be read after clicking on the thumbnail of each piece. The Museum and Gallery page contains a list of these institutions, located in China and the United States. The Education page gives listing of the top five art institutes available in China, all providing exchange programmes and links to each institution site for more details. There is a store where one can order China fashion dolls, delicate fine art prints, elegantly made sculptures, and well-designed T-Shirts. Art News provides information on what's happening in the contemporary art world of China. One can join a live chat session discussing a variety of art related topics, or simply leave an opinion or reply to a previous one.
Artnet.com
Artnet.com is a New York-based website which is one of the best and the biggest, constantly updating current information on exhibitions, and offering excellent reviews and magazine coverage.
Africaserver
Focusing on an interchange of material about Africa, this fresh-looking Dutch-based site has a particular emphasis on the arts and culture of this continent, and searches for new virtual exhibitions to host online.
International Gallerie
Published biannually in India, International Gallerie is the gorgeous online version of a global ideas magazine and has won seven national and international awards for excellence addressing issues that are of universal concern through the arts, performing arts, essays, poetry, photo-essays, socio-political stories of communities and people.
Chinese Art
Chinese artists are attracting more and more notice on the world art scene - check out this well designed site for a look at what's contemporary or traditional in the world of Chinese art. One can order magazines, books, there is an artist of the week and a calendar of events.
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/frame/index.htm
Frame
If you're up to grappling with questions of 'critical thought around the whole subject of how culture and technology are interweaving at the end of this century', you could click on the Frame site to read essays by contributors from around the world. Frame is an e-zine emanating from the UK. It's edited by Sue Thomas and Simon Mills.
Newsgrist
New York artist Joy Garnett has started a website of interest to artists. Newsgrist,"where spin is art" has images and prose and poetry and articles. Well worth checking out.
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