!Kauru: Rerouting Dialogue 1994-2014 at the UNISA Art Gallery until the 27th June 2014.

Project: !Kauru: Rerouting Dialogue 1994-2014  

Event:  Touring exhibition project
Date:   22 May 2014 – 27 June 2014
Venue:  UNISA Art Gallery Pretoria

The !Kauru African Contemporary Art Exhibition opened on the 22^nd of May at the UNISA Art Gallery, to positive audiences. The !Kauru project has already brought together Africa in 2014 through a variety of events, stimulating conversation between international artists, dignitaries, embassies, academics, arts professionals and the Department of Arts and Culture. Events which took place in the past week include an artist’s meet and greet evening hosted by the French Ambassador Elisabeth Barbier, the official exhibition opening at the UNISA Art gallery, an Artists Walkabout and a stimulating Round Table discussion. Facilitators who took part in the the Round Table discussion included Prof. Simon Mapadimeng, Ashraf Jamal, Bongani Mkhonza and Gordon Froud.

 The !Kauru exhibition will be open at the UNISA art gallery until the 27^th of June.

This is the third year of this project which aims to stimulate conversations within Africa and internationally to facilitate a change of perceptions about the continent through its contemporary art. Events still to come as part of the !Kauru African Contemporary Art project include youth day activities and a community outreach and development program.  The youth day activities will be hosted by UNISA’s Art Departments Students. A community outreach program includes walkabouts for community art groups and educational institutes. Additionally there will be a development seminar for up-and-coming artists by Art Source South Africa, which will give them the opportunity to think strategically about their career direction.

In 2014 the !Kauru African Contemporary Art project celebrates 20 years of South African democracy through the voices of artists across the African continent. According to !Kauru 2014 Curator Avitha Soonful “about unveiling the African truth.” This exhibition explores the continent of Africa as an integral player within the global village. Twenty artists from SADC and East African countries have been selected to take part in the exhibition. Artists selected to participate in the exhibition include Thame Kaashe from Botswana, Endale Desalegn from Ethiopia,Patrick Rorke from Lesotho, Alpheus Mvula from Namibia, Pierrot Man from Madagascar, Nirveda Alleck and Krishna Luchoomun from Mauritius. Three Mozambican artists, Anesia Zefenias, Gemuce Pompillio Hilario and Lourenço Abner Tsenane, Christine Chetty from the Seychelles and Mohau Modisakeng, Diane Victor and Churchill Madikida ahowcasing from South Africa. Reheme Chachage and Safina Kimbokota from Tanzania, Victor Mutulekesha and Kenneth Zenele Chulu from Zambia. As well as Nancy Mteki and Israel Israel from Zimbabwe.

Project Director, Tshepiso Mohlala of Back2Back Experiential Marketing says, “my vision is for this project to become a bi-annual event which will showcase the artworks of top African contemporary visual artists, starting with the SADC region. Thereafter touring four regions of the African continent. Ultimately the future plans are to tour these exhibitions internationally”.

Supported by the Department of Arts and Culture’s international relations department, !Kauru provides a platform for African contemporary artists and cultural practioners to engage around a showcase of contemporary art from the continent. The strategy aims to incorporate all the regions of Africa over the lifespan of the project, which began in 2012. The project promotes visual arts as a viable career choice and showcases the maturity and significant contemporary art voices of Africa.

GALLERY TIMES

UNISA GALLERY

10am – 4pm Mondays - Fridays.     

Note:The gallery is not open on weekends.

For media enquiries:

Art Source South Africa
Kelly McErlean
011 447 2855
kelly@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za

or

UNISA Art Gallery

Nana Tshangana

012 441 5876

tshannn1@unisa.ac.za / www.unisa.ac.za

!Kauru Contemporary Art Exhibition Opening

The !Kauru African Contemporary Art project is in full  production for the 2014 exhibition that will open at the UNISA Art Gallery on the 22^th May 2014. This is the third year of this project which aims to stimulate conversations within Africa and internationally to facilitate a change of perceptions about the continent through its contemporary art.

Through a series of talks, walkabouts, lectures, seminars and other programmes aligned to the exhibition, the project aims to sensitize and mobilize South African and African audiences as well as the media, in the appreciation of contemporary African visual arts. Art is seen as a means to promote inter Africa /Diaspora cultural exchange in a direct and meaningful way.

Supported by the department of Arts and Culture international department, !Kauru provides a platform for African contemporary artists and cultural practioners to engage around a showcase of contemporary art from the continent that will travel 5 regions of the African continent. The strategy aims to incorporate all the regions of Africa over the lifespan of the project, which began in 2012 with artists from the SADC region and east Africa. The exhibition will promote mid-career to established artists and will showcase the maturity and exceptional wealth of talent to be found within the region.

According to Project Director, Tshepiso Mohlala of Back2Back Experiential Marketing, “my vision is for this project to become a bi-annual event which will showcase the artworks of top African contemporary visual artists, starting with the SADC region, thereafter touring 4 regions of the Africa continent. Ultimately the long term future plan will be to tour these exhibitions internationally”, she says.

In 2014 the !Kauru African Contemporary Art project celebrates 20 years of South African democracy through the voices of artists across the African continent. Titled Rerouting Dialogue 1994-2014, the exhibition will open at the prestigious UNISA Art Gallery on 22 May 2014. The exhibition provides a platform for artist’s to engage issues which talk to who we are as Africans today. Attention is focused on our current identities, informed by our rich histories, cultures and contemporary experiences, which contribute to Africa as a dynamic continent.

The curatorial vision for Rerouting Dialogue 1994-2014, is according to !Kauru 2014 Curator Avitha Soonful “about unveiling the African truth.” This exhibition celebrates the continent of Africa as an integral player within the global village.  More than 18 artists from to SADC countries have been selected to take part in the exhibition.

Artists which will be in the 2014 exhibition include, Endale Desalengn from Ethiopia, Patrick Rorke and Stephen Mashaobathe from Lesotho, M. Alpheus Mvula from Namibia, Anesia Zefenias Filipe, Gemuce and Lourenco Dinis Pinto from Mozambique and Mohau Modisakeng, Dian Victor and Churchill Madikida from South Africa to name a few.

A Round table discussion will be held on the 23^rd of May as well as an Artists Walkabout on the 24^th at 9:30am-11:00am which will be open to the public. Other events which surround the !Kauru Contemporary Art project and the 2014 exhibition include the initiation of the prestigious African Collectors club on the 30^th of May. The collectors club aims to promote African art and create a platform where African collectors can gain knowledge of African art as an investment vehicle. Events which will be initiated in June include a community outreach programme which allows underprivileged Art students to interact with the !Kauru exhibition and take part in conversations and a youth day celebration driven by the UNISA art department students.

GALLERY TIMES

UNISA GALLERY

10am – 4pm Mondays - Fridays.     Note:The gallery is not open on weekends.

For media enquiries:
Kelly McErlean
011 447 2855
kelly@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za

or

UNISA Art Gallery

Nana Tshangana

012 441 5876

tshannn1@unisa.ac.za / www.unisa.ac.za

Bernice Stott, Litmus Skin

Bernice Stott, Litmus Skin

Durban artist Bernice Stott will be opening her exhibition titled Litmus Skin at Gallery on Leviseur, Bloemfontein in association with Art Source South Africa. The exhibition will open on the 13th of May at 18h30 and run until the 2nd of June 2014. 

Stott’s career has been centred on the human narrative and her intrigue with the female body in contemporary South Africa. Stott’s primary media are sculpture and painting, although Stott says that “photography has led me to into the media of video and performance art”.

Bernice has created a series of paintings based on photographs titled Litmus Skin. The body of work evokes a childhood that is mixed with horror and delight. The motif of a circle in Litmus Skin indicates a symbol of protection: the circle a child draws around her/himself and the circle of protective love a caring mother traces around her children. A circle can also refer to a cycle, in this context a cycle of deprivation, which can be disrupted and replaced with roundness and fullness of being. The cycle of deprivation can be broken by an individual becoming conscious – loving, enacting new behaviours and ritualising new events – and through a supportive community. 

In Litmus Skin red is primary colour, a symbol of violence, blood, passion, victimhood and wounding. When discussing her work Stott quotes respected Durban based art critic, Peter Machen, “Stripped of our skin, we are all the same colour underneath. Adrenalin tastes the same to everyone. Whiteness might be pinkness but pink is not whiteness”. 

Bernice Stott has completed a post graduate degree in Drama which was followed by a Masters in Fine Arts at Durban University of Technology. She has been teaching in the Drama and Performance Studies Department (UKZN) for several years. Stott says that “Art making feeds my soul: it is a place of meditation yet it provides me with an engagement of both my internal and external life”.

Opening speaker of Stott’s exhibition and director of Art Source South Africa Les Cohn says that, although the work deals with incredibly difficult and painful subject matter, Stott has created works that are sensitive, evocative and intimate. Art Source South Africa an art project consultancy is working in association with Gallery on Leviseur to present Bernice Stott’s body of work this May. “Art Source South Africa is excited to work in association with Bloemfontein’s first contemporary art gallery and bring Bernice Stott’s work to a national platform.” Cohn.

Les Cohn will be delivering the opening remarks on the 13th of May at 18h30. Furthermore in collaboration with Stott’s exhibition there will be a performance, directed by Mark Dobson on the 14th of May at 19h00.

GALLERY TIMES

Tue - Fri: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm

Sat - Sun: 8:00 am - 2:00 pm

GALLERY ADDRESS

59 Dan Pienaar Avenue, 

Westdene

9301 Bloemfontein, Free State

For media enquiries contact: