Jenna Burchell’s travelling project Homing, opens at the Lovell Gallery, Cape Town

Jenna Burchell’s travelling project Homing, opens at the Lovell Gallery, Cape Town

Project: Homing

Event:  Touring exhibition project

Date:  OPENING 31 July 2014 at 6:30pm

            Exhibition closes 13 September 2014

Walkabout: Saturday 2 August at 11:00am

Venue:  Lovell Gallery, The Loft 139 Albert Road Woodstock, Cape Town.

 

Jenna Burchell’s travelling exhibition project Homing, is in full production and has launched with positive and emotional responses from audiences both at the 2014 Grahamstown National Arts Festival on the 3rd of July and the Turbine Art Fair on the 17th of July. Diane De Beer comments, “with a simple touch of a copper wire or running your fingers through a set of wires you can discover sounds that might remind you of home, or awaken a memory so vivid its almost chilling”. The third part of Burchell’s touring project will open at the Lovell Gallery in Cape Town on the 31st of July.

Burchell’s installation project Homing encourages audiences to consider and reflect on what home means to them in the context of diaspora. It is an opportunity to encourage diverse people to interact and exchange their stories, embracing the differences and similarities that unite South Africans. This hand-built interactive environment has been designed by Burchell with the aim of being an accessible meeting of contemporary art, sound and live interactive participation.

The Homing project is an installation comprising of hundreds of copper strings strung from floor to ceiling. As the viewer moves through the field of cords they interact with the artwork, they touch, listen and play. Each cord is touch sensitive, with pre-recorded sounds which Burchell describes as “memories of home”. There are dogs barking, laughter, thunder, traffic, a piano – “wherever you may be today, wherever you may live, each string of my touch-sensitive instrument Homing, triggers familiar sounds that take you back to that place - real or imagined - where you know you belong, feel safe, breathe easily” says Burchell.

The soundscapes presented at each exhibition are uniquely recorded and collected within a local community two weeks prior to a show. Some of these memories, conversations and ambient sounds are heard raw, others processed into intricate musical tones. The current soundscape is played alongside the soundscape of the previous exhibition, thereby allowing the audience to move and play between the two. The National Arts Festival held the soundscape drawn from Pretoria and Grahamstown. The Turbine Art Fair held the soundscape of Pretoria, Grahamstown and Johannesburg. Burchell’s exhibition at Lovell Gallery will include the soundscapes from Grahamstown, Pretoria and Cape Town.

 

The artist has received positive responses from the public to her Homing project and from their interactions with sound, touch and memory. The project has received funding and sponsorship from the National Arts Festival, the Ithuba Arts Fund, Walro Flex (copper pigtail), Astro Aluminium (aluminium ceiling) and the Lovell Gallery. Burchell was also the recipient of in kind and pro bono support from A Skyline on Fire (audio processing, Pretoria), Sebastian Jamieson (audio processing, Grahamstown), Leinster Grimes (electronic engineering) , Schalk Erasmus (installation consultant), Granger Scholtz (videography), Maldwyn Greenwood (audio equipment) and Bushveld Labs (electronic equipment and software engineering).

 

GALLERY TIMES

10am-6pm Tuesday-Friday.

10am-2pm Saturday

LOVELL GALLERY

Tel: (0)21 447 5918

tamzin@lovellgallery.co.za

Winner of the 2014 African Writer´s Residency announced!

Ghanaian writer Nii Parkes wins the 2014 African Writer´s Residency Award

Nii Parkes has been selected as the 2014 winner of the Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award. Parkes, who lives in Ghana and England is the recipient of the Residency Award, which he will take up at the Sylt Foundation´s headquarters within the next months.

Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a writer, editor, socio-cultural commentator and performance poet. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck (University of London) and is a 2007 recipient of Ghana's national ACRAG award for poetry and literary advocacy. Nii's début novel 'Tail of the Blue Bird' was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Prize and his work has been translated into Italian, French, Chinese, Dutch, German and Arabic. His latest books of poetry are the Michael Marks Award-shortlisted pamphlet, ballast: a remix (2009) and The Makings of You (Peepal Tree Press).

Winning this award Nii Parkes commented: „ The fact that the award of the Sylt Residency considers work in progress as one of its criteria makes this win doubly sweet - it validates the work I am doing and also gives me valuable immersion time to work towards its completion. I'm dreading the cold on Sylt island, but I'm very happy.“

The winner was selected in a two-tier process by the four independent judges, this year judges were Imraan Coovadia (writer and literary scholar, Cape Town), Pamela Nichols (literary scholar, Johannesburg), Veronique Tadjo (poet, writer and literary scholar, Johannesburg) and Indra Wussow (literary scholar and translator, Johannesburg/Sylt) out of an impressive list of strong contenders. The jury commented “Nii Parkes is such an original writer who easily moves about different literary genres that he will surely offer us something new and exciting with this new project he will be working on in his residency“.

This new residency opportunity is awarded annually to writers of contemporary African literature. The winner of the 1st African Writer´s Award 2013 was Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe. The African Writer´s Residency Award provides a two month stay in a subsidized apartment to writers of contemporary African literature, who engage with current thems and concerns related to Africa and the African diaspora. The award is open to published writers of poetry, prose, plays and novels.

The Foundation is located on the island of Sylt off the coast of Hamburg in Germany. Its residency programme has been running for several years and offers opportunities to South African as well as international visual artists, writers, composers and film makers. The programme is managed under the directorship of literary scholar and curator Indra Wussow.

For additional information:

The Sylt Foundation

www.kunstraum-syltquelle.de

www.jozi-artlab.co.za

Jenna Burchell’s travelling Project Homing is set to launch at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, stimulating sound, touch and memory with her interactive installation.

Jenna Burchell’s travelling project Homing, launches at the 2014 National Arts Festival

Jenna Burchell’s travelling exhibition project Homing, is in full production and will be launching at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival on the 3rd of July. The travelling project Homing encourages audiences to talk about what home means to them in the context of diaspora. It is an opportunity to move diverse people to interact and exchange their stories, embracing the differences and similarities that unite South Africans. This hand-built interactive environment has been designed by Burchell with the aim to be an accessible meeting of contemporary art, sound and live interactive participation.

The Homing project is an installation comprising of hundreds of copper strings strung from floor to ceiling. As the viewer moves through the field of cords they interact with the artwork, they touch, listen and play. Each cord is touch sensitive, with pre-recorded sounds which Burchell describes as “memories of home”. There are dogs barking, laughter, thunder, traffic, a piano – “wherever you may be today, wherever you may live, each string of my touch-sensitive instrument Homing, triggers familiar sounds that take you back to that place - real or imagined - where you know you belong, feel safe, breathe easily” says Burchell.

The soundscapes presented at each exhibition are uniquely recorded and collected with the local community two weeks prior to a show. Some of these memories, conversations and ambient sounds are heard raw, others processed into intricate musical tones. The current soundscape is played alongside the previous exhibition’s soundscape, thereby allowing the audience to move and play between the two.  The National Arts Festival will hold the soundscape drawn from Pretoria and Grahamstown. Grahamstown based sound engineer Sebastian Jamieson has worked in collaboration with Burchell in producing the Grahamstown soundscape.

There has been a positive response to Burchell’s Homing project and the interactions with sound, touch and memory. The project has received large support and has been funded by the National Arts Festival, the Ithuba Arts Fund, Walro Flex (copper pigtail), Astro Aluminium (aluminium ceiling) and the Lovell Gallery. Burchell has also received in kind and pro bono support from A Skyline on Fire (audio processing, Pretoria), Sebastian Jamieson (audio processing, Grahamstown), Leinster Grimes (electronic engineering) , Schalk Erasmus (installation consultant), Granger Scholtz (videography), Maldwyn Greenwood (audio equipment) and Bushveld Labs (electronic equipment and software engineering).

The project will be touring from the Grahamstown National Arts Festival to Johannesburg, where a sample of the work will be shown at the Turbine Art Fair, in the Turbine hollow from the 18th to 20th of July.  After the end of its Johannesburg showing the project will travel to Cape Town where it will be installed at the Lovell Gallery from the 31st of July to the 13th of September.

GALLERY TIMES

National Arts Festival, Grahamstown.

3rd - 13th of July 2014

Rhodes School of Art Studio Gallery

09:00 - 17:00 Daily

Walkabouts at venue 5 July 12:00 / 7 July 14:00 / 10 July 10:00. 

Contact Festival booking office to book for walkabouts

(NAF will hold a soundscape of Pretoria and Grahamstown)

For media enquiries please contact Art Source South Africa:

Kelly McErlean

Kelly@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za

072 600 7709

The Department of Arts and Culture’s international Relations Department cites !Kauru as a key project in developing bi-lateral and multilateral relations

DAC, Department of international relations
Director Ruphus Matibe and
!Kauru Director Tshepiso Mohlala.

As the !Kauru African Contemporary art exhibition draws to a close, we would like to acknowledge the role of the DAC as a key sponsor of the !Kauru initiative. 

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 included an artist’s meet & 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, a youth day celebration and a community outreach programme.

As the !Kauru African Contemporary Art Project’s primary sponsor, the Department of Arts and Culture’s international Relations Department has provided solid support.  The aims and vision of the !Kauru project align with those of the Department of Arts and Culture’s (DAC), Department of International Relations. To quote their website, “ The DAC’s vision is for arts, culture and heritage to contribute to sustainable economic development, through partnerships for a socially cohesive nation .”

The visions of both DAC are closely aligned to !Kauru’s project vision, which is to provide a platform for African contemporary artists and cultural practitioners through which they may engage with each other around a showcase of contemporary art, created in and inspired by the continent; a continent with a rich cultural heritage and many creative and innovative artists.  Its ultimate aim is to incorporate all the regions of Africa over the lifespan of the project. The project promotes the visual arts as a viable career choice, and showcases the innovative and significant contemporary artistic voices of Africa.

!Kauru director Tshepiso Mohlala says that “Director of the DAC, Department of International Relations Ruphus Matibe, has supported the vision of the project since 2013 and played an important role in the growth and development of the project”. When addressing the guests at the !Kauru artists meet and greet, Louise Graham his colleague from the DAC Department of International Relations, spoke about how “!Kauru has created new opportunities as well links to the South African art market for the participating artists from the African continent”. The project thanks the DAC and all of its representatives for recognising its vision and providing support to grow this initiative.

GALLERY TIMES

UNISA GALLERY

10am – 4pm Mondays - Fridays.     

Note: The gallery is not open on weekends.

Paul Emmanuel’s The Lost Men, France public memorial installation is set to launch on 1 July 2014 adjacent to the site of theThiepval Memorial, Somme region, France

Paul Emmanuel’s The Lost Men, France public memorial installation is set to launch on 1 July 2014 adjacent to the site of the Thiepval Memorial, Somme region, France

The Lost Men, France is the third installation of South African artist Paul Emmanuel’s ongoing memorial The Lost Men Project. The Lost Men is a series of site-specific, temporary, outdoor, installations which aim to engage with memory, memorials and public grief. Each selected site has a relevance steeped in its own histories as well as engaging the thematic content of Emmanuel’s imagery. The first public exhibition of The Lost Men project took place in Grahamstown, South Africa in 2004 and was installed on Monument Hill. The second phase implemented in Maputo Mozambique in 2007, with the ephemeral artwork installed on the Catembe Ferry Jetty.  Now in 2014 the third artwork of Emmanuel’s public counter memorial project will be installed adjacent to the Thiepval Memorial on the extension of rue de l’Ancre in France.

The installation is comprised of five, 5m x 5m silk banners. These banners will hang along rue de’l Ancre; a public road which runs from the Thiepval Memorial towards the Lonsdale Cemetery, where headstones mark the graves of soldiers who died in WWI. The banners will be left in this landscape to the wind and the elements; possibly to disintegrate over time. The silk banners bear photographs of Emmanuel’s body with the names of French, German, South African and Allied servicemen who fell on the Western Front. The names were pressed into Emmanuel’s skin, without reference to rank, nationality or ethnicity. The Lost Men artwork also questions the exclusion of Black South African servicemen’s names from the walls of the Thiepval Memorial. The installation is not a permanent construction; rather it portrays a marked male body as something fragile and vulnerable. It is a non-partisan, ‘counter-memorial’ that reflects on impermanence and forgetting. The Lost Men, France does not glorify war but poses questions about masculinity and vulnerability. It questions the exclusion of people in traditional memorials – in particular black South African servicemen.

The Lost Men, France will be launched 1 July on a site where thousands of soldiers from England, France and their colonies, Germany, Russia to mention some of the countries involved and including South African servicemen died during the terrible battles of World War I (WWI). The 1^st of July is a significant date not only in respect of Emmanuel’s project but also to the town of Thiepval. It is the day that commemorates the commencement of the Battle of the Somme in 1916; one of the most significant battles of the Great War

This contemporary art project is the artist’s personal expression which he created for this specific arena. It is intended to stimulate conversations about memory and memorialisation.

Remembrance services will be held at the Thiepval Memorial to remember and commemorate the thousands of lives lost. French, British and other dignitaries are expected to attend the services.

The project has been selected by the Government of France as an official exhibit of the World War One Centennial. Emmanuel has also received support from Institut Francais, La Mission du Centenaire de la Premiere Guerre Mondiale, the French Institute and the National Arts Council, South Africa amongst others.

Paul Emmanuel states he is “..as many are, affected by these terrible historic battles. A was has a lasting psychological effects that are passed from generation to generation; we lose humanity, gentleness and vulnerability, feeling, empathy and sensitivity. We lose dignity, treasured relationships, potentiality, hope and the future. We become defined by ideologies that can confine and define our world view. As the Thiepval Memorial bears witness. It is a non-partisan artwork that aims to stimulate contemplation about all of this.”

WALKABOUTS WILL BE CONDUCTED BY THE ARTIST AT THE INSTALLATION SITE

Tuesday 1 July 2014 at 11 am

Wednesday 2 July 2014 at 11 am

Thursday 3 July 2014 at 11 am

Friday 4 July 2014 at 11 am

Saturday 5 July 2014 at 11 am

Walkabouts will be conducted in English with a French interpreter.

                                                  

About the !Kauru Project

! Kauru African Contemporary Art Touring project

Rerouting Dialogue 1994-2014

The !Kauru African Contemporary Art project aims to promote conversations in Africa and internationally that change perceptions of the continent through contemporary art.

It provides a platform for African contemporary artists and cultural practioners to engage around a showcase of contemporary art from the continent that will travel to various locations. The strategic plan aims to incorporate all the regions of Africa over the lifespan of the project, and began in 2012 with the SADC region.

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. !Kauru is in its third year and is a South African initiated project aiming to stimulate conversations about African contemporary art both in Africa and internationally. 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 about unveiling the African truth. This exhibition celebrates the continent of Africa as an integral player within the global village.

As a key stakeholder, !Kauru is supported by the Department of Arts and Culture, (International Relations Department) and seeks to instil and increase Inter Africa, Caribbean and Diaspora arts and culture activities between civil society, government and the private sector. This is achieved by collaboration in various capacities between sponsors, State organisations and civil society in realising the projects vision. The 2014 season welcomes the UNISA Art Gallery to the team as a host venue and facilitator for key educational outreach programmes.

BacktoBack Advertising are the project managers under the guidance of !Kauru Director Tshepiso Mohala.

Ashraf Jamal writes on the !Kauru African Contemporary Art Project

!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