“A living legacy”, curated by Bongi Bengu and Nathi Gumede

Exhibition title: “a living legacy”
Exhibition venue: Kizo Art Gallery (Upstairs Gallery)
Exhibition launch date: 1 September 2008 at 6:30P.M.
Exhibition closes: 30 September 2008
Artist names: Sam Nhlengethwa, David Koloane, Pat Mautloa, Helen Sebidi, Dinkies Sithole, Nontobeko Ntombela, Johan Thom, Colbert Mashile, Themba Shibase, Sharlene Khan, Sifiso KaMkame, Gabi Nkosi, Esther Mahlangu and others

A living legacy is the biggest and significant curated heritage exhibition in KZN. The exhibition is part of a larger heritage festival under the hospices of Kizo Art Gallery with a title “Umgido, KZN Heritage festival”.

The exhibition intends to investigate the legacy and the contribution of experienced artists (deceased or alive) as to how this legacy moulds the practice today. Art as in many other industries here in South Africa is not immune to the history of this country and the project will look at the link between the practices then and how it influences the industry today.

Are artist today able to create art without the need to reference history of South Africa, i.e. apartheid and its legacy?

KZN as a province has contributed greatly to the creative industry of South Africa and an exhibition like this is appropriate for Durban as it will also investigate how many of the more established artists are still practicing in Durban and what legacy they are leaving behind.

For more information contact:
Bongi Bengu
Tel: 0826770634
Fax: (011) 8386791
Email: bongibengu@gmail.com

Rites of Fealty/ Rites of Passage

The Bag Factory presents:

Rites of Fealty/ Rites of Passage

A one-night exhibition of performance art

Date: 18h00, Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Venue: Bag Factory Gallery, 10 Mahlatini Street, Fordsburg, Johannesburg

The Bag Factory’s About Art program presents ‘Rites of Fealty/ Rites of Passage’, a one-night exhibition of new performance artworks by a group of emerging South African artists. The exhibition follows an intensive 10-day workshop in performance art presented by Johan Thom. The workshop was structured as a non-hierarchal laboratory, with each of the artists selected for participation already having established a visible presence in the South African cultural sphere. Artists like Ismail Farouk, Anthea Moys, Kemang wa Luhere and Murray Turpin all share in a multi-disciplinary approach to artistic expression, freely mixing elements of fields as far as urban geography, digital sound sampling, video, public performance, dance and theatre into their oeuvres.

New works have been commissioned by each of the participating artists.

Artists include:

Bronwyn Lace, Nadine Hutton, Anthea Moys, Mlu Zondi, Ntando Cele, Rat Western, Ismail Farouk, Murray Turpin, Kemang wa Luhere, Dinkies, Sithole, Johan Thom

The theme ‘Rites of fealty/ Rites of passage’ stresses the transformative capacity of art where the artwork is envisioned as a rite of passage through which both artist and viewer may plot alternatives to existing modes of relating to our familiar surroundings, ordinary social interactions, physical gestures and use of language. In this way art may act as a gateway that embodies the possibility for personal and societal change through direct action and physical participation.

The workshop and exhibition is made possible by:

The Ford Foundation

The Bag Factory

Special thanks to the Nirox Foundation

The exhibition is curated by:

Johan Thom

Bronwyn Lace

Contact details:

info@bagfactoryart.org.za (email)

+27 (0)11 834 9181 (tel)

Johan Thom at the KZNSA Gallery

Following other seminal performances such as Theory of Gravity (2006) and Come in Peace/Go to Pieces (2008), Johan Thom once again appropriates from a variety of sources: the title of his new work Twilight (of the Idols) is a clear reference to Twilight of the Idols by Friedrich Nietzsche (1888). The physical action comprises that of the clenched fist, associated with so-called leftwing political groups but also, more generally, with anger, violence and frustration, and found materials such as ordinary washing detergent and black sump oil. These materials will be combined in order to create a ritualistic performance lasting approximately two hours in which a group of performers will repeat a series of actions with military precision.

The Bind/Ontbind (series 1) video installation, first presented at the 2003 Venice Biennale - as part of the exhibition 'Recycling the Future: Viverevenezia2' - is an extension of a sculptural process where Thom binds or wraps objects with rope, tape, plastic, etc. The artist writes that, 'For me, the work is a metaphor for the constant processes of decay and of regeneration, of affirmation and negation - for example, the way various identities and ideologies bind themselves to us. They may disfigure us, but whenever we attempt to replace them with new systems of thought we are in fact simply disfiguring ourselves anew: this is the void - our inability to exist without disfiguring ourselves and others through our limiting gaze.'

Thom (b 1976) lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a BA Fine Arts degree (1999) from the University of Pretoria and a Master's Degree from the Tshwane University of Technology (2003, Cum Laude).

Opens: May 13
Closes: June 8

RE/Action: An Evening of Performance Art

Opening: Wednesday 8 August 2007 at 18h00 (One Night Only)
Venue: The Bag Factory (Fordsburg Artists Studios),
10 Mahlatini Street,
Fordsburg, Johannesburg
Contact: +27 11 834 9181
info@bagfactoryart.org.za

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