Archive: Issue No. 60, August 2002

Hand in date for the new proposals for the Cape Town Convention Centre. Having to get ArtThrob up at the beginning of the month has meant not much time for the drawings I wanted to make, but here's hoping...

Rozalinda Borcilo comes to pay a studio visit. A professor from the University of Southern Florida, Rozalinda has been doing some workshops at Wits in Johannesburg around the issues of immigration and naturalization and what kind of qualifiications are required by different countries. As a Romanian now living and working the States, Borcilo has used her own experiences as source material, in one of her performances, exploring the cliched view of the young East European woman as gymnast. With immigration and zenophobia such hot issues in this country, her workshops and the exploratory work required by the students have been extremely timely.

A piece of mine, Can't forget, can't remember is up at the National Gallery, and this afternoon I have to do an interview for the TV programme Kunskafee. Never something I enjoy, but the crew Is very professional, and it's soon over.

Two openings tonight: which to go to? Both are old friends. Willie Bester is showing at the Sasol Museum in Stellenbosch in an exhibition curated by Sandra Klopper, of the University of Stellenbosch, and Tracy Gander is showing 'Flounce' at Joao Ferreira. Decide on Tracy, the indefatigable design person and updater of ArtThrob. The work is a collaboration between her and Katherine Bull, who in this series acts as her muse. I love the waywardness and energy mixed with desolation of the work, a series of dual images of Bull set in odd corners of the city.

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation is running a workshop at the Centre for the Book today, aimed at devising projects and programmes for use in schools and other groups which will attempt to unpack and promote the idea of "reconciliation". About 80 people have gathered for the day - artists, performers, writers, educators and representatives of various community groups. The day starts with random groupings having to perform tableaux physically expressing the idea of reconciliation. This is to "freeze" a series of images in our mind. One group points upwards, as if reaching for the stars, most simultaneously enact a wish to come together, but having to overcome painful barriers to achieve that.

Having warmed up like this, we split into disciplinary groups - artists, writers, performers, and then smaller groups, each with the task of thrashing out two or three exercises or projects which can be put into a workbook and distributed. Ideas like the compiling and sharing of family histories are brought forward; the construction of recyclable elements to make a massive community sculpture, every element named for someone - absent or present - in the community, the careful decoration of small jars which would hold candles to be used in communal ceremonies. Most of the ideas will need refining, but at the end of the day, there is a positive feeling that a good beginning has been made.

The fax machine rings. Slowly a letter from the Convention Centre architects emerges. Regrettably, no work has been considered appropriate for the two remaining sites at the Centre. I had already visualised exactly how my piece was going to look as I drove past on the highway. Too bad.this vision would now have to remain in my head, unrealised.