South Africa

<sub>Photo By Anthony Kaminju/ Courtesy of the BBC

The Congolese follow a movement called La Sape - a cult of appearance- considered to have originated with singer Papa Wemba. It was meant to defy Zaire's then President Mobutu Sese Seko, who ordered people to wear traditional African Clothes. South African based Kenyan Photo- Journalist Anthony Kaminju spent time with Congolese migrants in South Africa and documented a fashion show they had organised to help heal the wounds after last years attacks on foreigners in South Africa. Click here to view more images from the BBC.</sub>

_{I’m a lady, 2009. Digital print on cotton rag matte paper, 62 x 60cm (edition of 10).}

_{Gallery MOMO is proud to present Mary Sibande, opening Thursday 9 July @ 18h00 – 20h00 and concluding 3 August 2009.}

Yellow Crucifixion by Andrew Verster

_{The exhibition “Past/Present” is a survey of works by Andrew Verster who turns 72 this year. The artist has been given two retrospectives by the Durban Art Gallery in 1987 and 1997.  This exhibition takes the time frame from 1994 – the start of democracy in South Africa - and shows works from that time to the present.  The artist places significance on this particular period as it has been a milestone in his life mainly due to the freedom which was enshrined in the new Constitution which gave equal rights to all.  Speaking as a gay man Verster claims that “For the first time in my life I became legal”. Read more here}

^{The Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town}

^{A residency for Emerging Female Artists has been scheduled for eight weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. Artists will be sharing an open studio space at the historical Castle of Good Hope from 18 January to 14 March 2010. The selected women artists will represent Africa from regions of eastern, western and southern Africa, and finally two from outside Africa (Europe, America). The call for application is now open and due by 16th August 2009. The objective of this residency is to source and nurture new emerging female artists, especially of colour in Africa. Read more here on application procedure.}

^{Mosa Mohave photogravure by Edward Curtis}

^{A fascinating exhibition comes to the Durban Art Gallery in May. Sacred Legacy features reproductions of historical photographs of the native people of North America by legendary photographer/ethnographer Edward Curtis whose life spanned both the old West and its final destruction in the twentieth century. The result is a unique photographic record of an era and broad group of people whose representation is more usually rendered in American television and cinema. After seeing so many fictionalised images of America’s indigenous people, it is remarkable to see the people and landscape free of the biases of modernism. Click here to read more.}

^{'I stand protected' by Stary Mwamba}

^{After exhibiting in New York, London, Dublin, Tokyo, and cities across Africa, Stary Mwaba will show his latest series of paintings, "Solace of a Migrant", at Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg, opening on Thurs 14 May 09. Mwaba's paintings shown at the Joburg Art Fair have already generated excitement for the upcoming solo show. The young artist, only 32, generates his concepts for his paintings from his roots in rural Zambia and the struggles and aspirations of his people, and, especially for this exhibit, finding one's place in a world that doesn't readily offer solace. Click here to read more.}

^{South Africa’s white and yellow pages of the South African art world in its 6th edition is now available to artists, leading decision makers, gallery owners and directors of collections, local and international art libraries. The directory is the largest verified source of information regarding SA art infrastructure and includes information on art schools, museums, galleries, studios, framing, material manufacture, material retailers, publicity companies etc. Copies will be available from the publisher or from Exclusive Books nationwide. Read more here.}

_{3 boys from winter in Kliptown}

_{Seippel Gallery, in association with the Pretoria Art Museum, are pleased to launch the opening of Mbongeni Buthelezi's first national touring exhibition.On show will be black-and-white portraits, colourful works from the series Childhood, sepia paintings from the Winter in Kliptown series, and an overview of Buthelezi's latest plastic paintings. Buthelezi has moved on from the style of his earlier paintings and aquarelle drawings to a unique figurative technique which produces works that resemble sculpted reliefs and abstract forms. The artist works in full colour, black and white or sepia, or a combination of these. Click here to read more}

^{With only about 150 days remaining before the opening of the World Summit in Joburg on Tuesday 22 September, preparations are well underway for this special event. On the evening of Tuesday 22 September 2009 the National Arts Council of South Africa and IFACCA will host the opening ceremony of the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture. Read more here.}

Artwork by Heath Nash

_{South African designer Heath Nash uses unusual materials for his designs and work to save the environment at the same time. Nash decided to “look at material for material’s sake” to explore what designs could be fashioned out of them. He said that it was a radical approach that worked backwards, rather than the usual way of coming up with a design and then, looking for the material later. That led to his use of plastic bottles, more specifically polypropylene (PP) bottles, the kind normally used for detergent and fabric softeners. Read more here courtesy thestar.com}

Tryptych Care By Johannes Phokela

_{Artist Johannes Phokela is known for recontextualizing works by Old European Masters like Breugel, Jacob De Ghen and Rubens, among others, and giving them a completely new meaning by adding unsettling features such as an African person, a red nose or bananas.  In his just concluded Standard Bank Gallery Exhibition entitled ‘I like My Neighbours’ Johannes explores the psychological impact of meeting new people. For him new people or neighbours supply him ‘with all the material he needs to create his very intelligent and witty works of art. Read more here from Caroline Kaminju/africancolours.net}

_{Madam Suzma by Vusi Beauchamp}

_{Obert contemporary at Melrose arch presents "Smokin Cheese" from 12-31 march 2009 by Vusi Beauchamp. Beauchamp is a recent graduate in painting from the Tshwane University of Technology. Inspired by classic comics and cartoons, Beauchamp has developed his own cast of characters who offer cutting commentary on present day South African society. His work is often infused with graphic text that challenges outdated stereotypes and racial profiles. "Smokin cheese" features 15 mixed media works on board. By appointment only. Read more here.}

Untitled clothing installation by Kay Hasssan

^{Kay Hassan occupies an intriguing place amongst artists of his generation. A generation heavily influenced by Polly Street modernists including Lucas Sithole, Leonard Matsoso, Alfred Khumalo and Ezrom Legae , artists who emerged from the harsh urban areas of apartheid environment and created works of art that defied prejudices and self pity. Their works were notable for having escaped from European modernism, naiveté and primitivism. Hassan distinguished himself with work that reconsiders Conceptual and post-Conceptual art practices from an intensely personal and emotional art perspective. His work moves beyond surface issues of identity to explore issues related to time, memory, displacement and cultural balkanization that was apartheid's forte. Read more here by Andile Magengelele/AfricanColours.net}

Still life with mandolin, music score and fruit by Erik Laubscher

^{A two day auction of decorative and fine arts was held by Stephan Welz & Co in association with Sotheby’s on February 24 and 25. Over R10-million was raised. Despite negative financial indicators, these outstanding results proved that the art market in South Africa is very much alive.“Collectors continued to battle it out in the sale room, proving that quality and desirability outweigh the economic climate and overall sense of sobriety,” said Cape Town painting specialist, Phillippa Duncan. Two art works proved pivotal to the success of the sale. Keen bidding on the telephones and in the room were responsible for Erik Laubscher’s Still Life with Mandolin, Music Score and Fruit selling for R1.1-million — a world record for the artist, and a South African record for a living artist at auction. Read more here, Related links}

<sup>Provisional Lines by Trasi Henen

Sometimes I forget that you exist opens at the Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa on Wed 4 March 2009 at 18h00 and closes Fri 27 March 2009 at 18h00. The exhibition which is curated by Trasi Henen, is a collaborative research project around desire and heterotopia. Read more here.</sup>

^{Jozi by Vusi Mfupi}

^{His “Jozi”, a street scene of peddlers with fruits and umbrellas is a busy, lively congestion; but the subject registers only momentarily. Soon it is the technique that you see: His adeptness at making connections, choosing the right shades to fit in (he needs an awful lot of paper) is what surely makes the magic. Again it’s the minuteness of it all. All of these, the line of buildings, people, their shadows, how he catches the time of day, all using paper still does not jar the eye. A calm, naturalness, springs out of this all. It is after considering these that the true beauty of his work emerges and from there that the fulfillment from watching him starts. Click here to read more.}

^{Bodyworks by Andrew Vester}

^{Freedom - infectious freedom - and the abandon that comes with, leap up literary in Andrew Verster’s “Bodyworks” series. The 71-year old South African, who speaking as a gay man makes a statement that elsewhere might sound enigmatic when he says “For the first time in my life I became legal”. But he is South Africa; this statement and the joy expressed in his work celebrate the post-1994 South Africa. His works are traveling through the country, a journey that started at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown in July 2008. Click here to read more.}

^{Detail of Ching Chong Cha}

^{The works by Wayne Barker, Pat Muatloe and Dinkies Sithole transformed through soft colour images into subtle symbols. Barker through his tradition of neon lights and markings recreated consideration relating to despair and plight of displaced émigré souls in “Luggage and Clandestine”. This is to say nothing of the fact that luminaries Marlene Dumas and William Kentridge who have wowed audiences the world over were also on show at the same exhibition: The art show at the Polokwane Art Museum was perhaps one of the most star-studded in South Africa, reports Andile Magengelele.}

<sub>Projected development

“All the sculptures and the frames are plain white or bleached out - as it were, evoking the sense of absence or reconstruction, perhaps simplicity, neutrality or restraint and vagueness or simply incompleteness of the work itself.”</sub> 

_{This is the kind of reaction that South African Artist, Marco Cianfanelli seems to inspire. The son of printers, who grew up in an industrial area and who is himself working out in an industrial area in Johannesburg, he has been described as an artist who “romanticizes space and its inverse”. The intensity that Cianfanelli inspires is not incidental but forms some coherence, at any rate, of the excitement his works bring to the art world and that power which does not leave his audience untouched. Read more here by Caroline Kaminju}

^{museum Africa}

^{Museum Africa in Newtown has a new chief curator, and he's encouraging his staff to have tantrums as a way of creating a lot of noise around badly needed new vision for the museum. He is Ali Hlongwane, formerly the curator of the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial in Orlando West, and he has been in the post since 1 November. The museum has been rudderless for some years, with curators coming and going. Click here to read more.....}

_{^{Untitled by Kate Gottgens}}

_{^{At the heart of Kate Gottgens latest body of work lies a sense of entrapment; a quiet dissonance that emergies in the use of evocative imagery, painted in ash. Gottgens started photographing the contents of a props warehouse in Voortrekker Road, that grim grey, modernist trash-can of a road that runs through some of the bleakest mid-century suburbs of Cape Town. Subjects distort, ambiguities shift and a sense of unease is manifested. The ash evokes a realm between worlds, a liminal universe of dreams and nightmares. Click here to read more.}}

^{Gallery on the Square invites you to an ongoing exhibition featuring artists Phillemon Hlungwani, Vusi Mfupi and Thabo Molapo. Philemon’s work is predominately self-expressive in light of his background and Christian beliefs while Vusi’s work portrays a celebration of youth and mobility. Thabo employs the medium of traditional weaving as an expression of his creative talents. The exhibition runs until the 10th of December at the Gallery of the Square, Johannesburg. Click here to read more on the exhibition.}

^{It is not the FIFA Football World Cup, but the organisers of Cape Africa Platform are promising that for lovers of African Art and Art generally, starting this December, South Africa – i.e. Cape Town - will be the go-to town. The series of events kicking off on December 4 are planned to culminate with a show of contemporary art from across the continent, which the organisers promise will be “ground-breaking.” For now, from December 4-6, weighty matters and topics from artists and philosophers will dissect such areas as the “state of contemporary African art,” “networks without borders,” curating African arts and more. Speakers include Angolan artist “Etona” Antonio Tomas Ana and philosopher Patricio Batsikama, to researcher and artist Monica Banyana Selelo (Botswana) and South African curator Loyiso Qanya, curator and artist Thembinkosi Goniwe and artist and curator Thomas Mulcaire. Click here to read more.}

^{Animation work by Pippa Stalker}

^{Esther Ernst, and Jörg Laue are artists-in-residence of IAAB (international studio and exchange program Bale, Switzerland). At Blank Projects, they are presenting works that are the direct result of their experiences of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Their main focus is the relationship between varied modes of production, media and techniques in a compact, homogeneous installation. Pippa Stalker on the other hand presents animations that encompass violence in an extremely contentious factor in the playing and marketing of games in the global market. The artists will be showing their most recent works from 4th December – 19th December 2008. Click here to read more.}

^{Mark Kannemeyer’s pen and ink landscape drawings occupy a creative space between gesture and concept. These drawings, subtly and ironically referencing the work of such diverse artists as Van Gogh, Cezanne and El Greco, render landscapes in gestural, impressionist marks by applying black ink in broad dashes and generous waves and swirls on the paper. In each drawing the landscape seems to swell out and culminate in an organic outcrop, similar in shape to Cezanne’s ubiquitous, cubist Mount Sainte-Victoire, and El Greco’s undulating Toledo hills. Click here to read more.}

_{The inaugural SUSS'T exhibition, which takes place at the KZNSA Gallery in Durban for two months from November 16, 2008, is the result of a partnership between the KZNSA and Design Indaba. Curated by Brenton Maart, the exhibition catalogues and exhibits the broad wealth of design and creativity inherent in South Africa, most of whom regularly participate in the annual Design Indaba Expo. Exhibitors and objects have been selected based on their relevancy to sustainability (the concept from which the exhibition derives its name).}

_{Click here for more}

^{Two nudes by Robert Hodgins}

^{Robert Hodgins, one of South Africa’s most loved and admired artists, shows new paintings and prints that bring together a sensual aesthetics of heightened colour and expressive form with his trade-mark intelligent humour and searing insights. At a time notable for a dearth of painting, Hodgins celebrates the medium with increasing freedom and confidence. Glorious colour and rich tactility produce sensational and seductive effects. The exhibition opens Saturday 8 November 2008 at 12 noon and closes on Saturday 29 November 2008. Click here to read more.}

^{Front Seat, mixed medium on cotton paper, 100 x 133cm}
_{The title of the exhibition is captured in the cover that enfolds the catalogue that accompanies it – two children in front of their humble shack, strangely observed by a swan from an Aubusson carton (a preparatory drawing for the tapestry). They represent the vicissitudes of contemporary township life in South Africa, photographed by Zwelethu Mthethwa, against an idealised, pre-modern rural scene created in nineteenth-century France. Past and present, imagined and real, mass-production and the mark of the individual artist are brought together by the hand and artistry of Louis Jansen van Vuuren, a South African living in France.  And of course by the visual dialogue that has emerged from the collaboration between Jansen van Vuuren and Mthethwa, who have been friends since the early 1990s.}

_{Read more here by Marilyn Martin}

^{The KZNSA gallery is pleased to present STUDIO, a solo exhibition by Cameron Platter. The main gallery will for the duration of the exhibition, recreate a working sculpture studio, in which the public is invited to and encouraged to participate. Platter who lives in Shaka’s Rock, KwaZulu-Natal and works from a studio in a sub-tropical forest decodes stranger-than-fiction realities drawn from contemporary living. Instead of the usual opening night, the real action will take place at a finissage celebration on Friday 7th November, where some of the sculptural pieces will be put to work. Click here to read more.}

^{The Lifeline Durban Prison Programme, is working with Sakhisizwe Mental Health Project equipping inmates with life skills in preparation for their release. The art project component of this course is part of a national initiative in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Lifeline. The outcome is a series of portraits and self-portraits that burst with the freedom of expression through colour- themes extended into the incredibly vibrant and rich works on “life in prison” and “memories and dreams”. Exhibited at Constitution Hill, Johannersburg, South Africa earlier this year, the exhibition now premiers in Durban at the KZNSA and closes on the 9th of November. Click here to read more.}

^{On its tenth birthday, Greatmore Studios is proud to extend an invitation to share in a time of reflection over the achievements of the past decade. To mark this event, the committee at Greatmore Studios has selected work on paper from the collection of images donated by local and international artists which will serve as prizes for this raffle draw. The draw will take place at the Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, Cape Town, during an evening of celebration on the 14th of November 2008. Click here for more information on this event.}

^{Urban Amnesia by Doung Anwar Jahangeer}

^{Brenton Maart, curator of the KZNSA Gallery in Durban selected works of contemporary South African artists namely Stephen Hobbs, Retha Erasmus, Zander Blom, Marco Cianfanelli, Doung Anwar Jahangeer, Paul Edmunds and Andrew Verster. Their work demonstrated that mathematics and art are intertwined because they used numbers, space and creativity. Caroline Kaminju visited the show and talked to the artists. Read more here}

^{The Johannesburg Art Gallery cordially invites you to the official opening of  DISTURBANCE CONTEMPORARY ART FROM SCANDINAVIA AND SOUTH AFRICA on Sunday 26th October 2008, at 6.30 pm. The evening will include a performance of “THIS IS NO DREAM”, a documentary opera by Goksøyr & Martens and Lars Petter Hagen, performed by Barnato Park High School Choir. The exhibition comprises of artists such as Bodil Furu, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Nandipha Mntambo among others. The exhibition which is curated by Clive Kellner and Maria Fidel Regueros will close on 1st March 2009. For any enquiries, click here.}

^{The CAPE AFRICA PLATFORM (CAPE) is a groundbreaking cultural project located in Cape Town, South Africa. CAPE 09 aims to explore networks that accentuate the contemporary characteristics of Africa and provide a stage for communications between communities and citizens’ activities. CAPE is seeking multiple proposals from artists for CAPE 09, its second biennale exhibition of contemporary African Culture, to take place from 2 May till 19 June 2009. Click here for details on application procedure.}

^{Ian Engelbrecht - 6th Birthday Party}

^{THE AVA in partnership with Spier invites you to two solo exhibitions. Michael Pettit will be showing his new paintings in a double exhibition at two Cape Town galleries in October. Michael has exhibited widely over many years, receiving extensive recognition. His academic background provides an intellectual base to fully developed, intuitive works of art. Ian Engelbrecht's first Solo exhibition Seed of Memory showcases in Cape Town and promises to be a subtle and evocative body of contemporary photographic work. Click here for more on the exhibitions.}

^{In light of the current challenges facing Zimbabwe’s stone sculptors, there is the real possibility that while established artists with an international reputation might weather the storm, the stone sculpture movement might never fully recover. The 2008 ‘BORN OF STONE’ annual sculpture exhibition in Johannesburg brings together 155 contemporary sculptures by 53 artists currently working in Zimbabwe. The exhibition features works by Walter Mariga, Authur Manyengedzo, the Bonjisi brothers Tafunga and Garikai among others. Read more here by Carolyn Dempster}

^{Sam Nhlengethwa explores a range of themes that encompass everyday urban life both in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent. Alternately sombre or playful, his works may focus on serious social, political and cultural commentary or on the sheer enjoyment of life. As a devotee of jazz, Nhlengethwa draws much of his inspiration from music, which features prominently throughout an oeuvre noted for its strong sense of design, syncopated rhythm and luminosity of colour. Nhlengethwa was Standard Bank Young Artists Award Winner in 1994. Read more here from the Goodman Gallery Cape}

^{An exhibition to celebrate Cecil Skotnes art is showing at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg South Africa. The exhibition with the theme Cecil Skotnes: A Private View, showcased Skotnes work including his intimate works like drawings, cartoons, prints and painting on paper, that has molded him into an iconic legend in the South African art world. Also on display were Skotnes’ letters and documents which were collected by his wife Thelma (for the last ten years), sketchbooks, notes from fellow artists, stamp designs from 1966. Skotnes, a pioneer in print making in South Africa, contribution to art has seen him receive many awards like the Chamber of Mines and South Africa Gold Medals in 1965 and 1968 respectively. Read more here}

^{Imagine this, You are in South Africa in the year 2010, You are a spectator at the final soccer game of the FIFA World Cup, Which team do you expect to be at the final? Who will form part of the dignified  guests? Well, a Mozambican toymaker, Samuel Baloyi seems to have an  idea. His carefully detailed piece of art labeled "Soccer Scene" was  on display at the Standard Bank Art Gallery in Johannesburg South  Africa alongside those of various artists like Auguy Kakase of the  Democratic Republic of Congo, Lekemu Seleman of Malawi, UniquEco  project from Kenya, South Africa's MaxNormal and the children of Zola.  Read more here}

_{On Wednesday, 25 June, NOMAD welcomes two internationally acclaimed South African photographers depicting their country in Now and Then. Jürgen Schadeberg, sometimes known as “The Father of South African Photography”, captured pivotal moments in the lives of South Africans during the Apartheid and afterwards. Pierre Crocquet successfully manages to portray images that transcend race, religion, gender and nationality. Read more here}

_{Thirty one year old Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko has over six thousand hits on Google search, some of her pictures exhibited alongside those of the great Malian photographer Seydou Keita, has had over forty photographic exhibitions since 2000, and was recently named the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Arts 2008. These are just a few of the achievements in her career as a photographer. Her most recent exhibition was at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown South Africa where she exhibited her Wonderland series. Read more here}

Photo Credit: Mimi Cherono Ng'ok

_{In 2006, Mimi Cherono Ng’ok a young Kenyan-born photographer chose to document immigrants from different African countries living in Cape Town, South Africa. Her interest in this project was sparked by the attacks of the Somali community who were living in Cape Town in 2006. “I felt some of the pertinent issues weren’t being addressed and decided to give a voice to these immigrants”, she says. This prompts the question as to the true meaning of the word ‘home’. While for many it might mean their country of birth, for others it could be an environment where ones creativity flourishes. Caroline Kaminju spoke with Mimi the photographer and a foreigner at home in South Africa.}

_{Read more here}

_{In painting and drawing the portraits of ordinary workers who play a vital role in society and the economy, and yet are often overlooked and taken for granted, and exhibiting them in a gallery, Helena Hugo presents her subjects to the viewer as individuals with reconsidered significance and status.}

 _{"This is an exhibition of breathtaking work of masterful finesse by the finalist in the esteemed international BP Portrait Award."}

 _{HELENA HUGO: KZN @ WORK is presented in association with the Art Room, Umhlanga Rocks.}

_{Opening at the KZNSA Gallery on Tuesday 10 June @ 6 pm}

_{"Expired Trading Products" is a mixed media exhibition that deals with refugees. The title refers to the fact that, like products that have passed their sell-by date, refugees are discarded or destroyed after their period of usefulness has expired. South Africa is currently undergoing its worst human rights abuses since the fall of Apartheid and this timely exhibition, presented by an Angolan national currently on a two month residency here, promises to present a unique perspective on the issue}

_{Read More here from Blank Projects}

^{SONYA RADEMEYER opening at Blank Projects: Wednesday 4 June}

^{Title:’ I am an African’, Year: 2007, Medium: DVD, Time: 3 min/49sec (looped}

^{Sonya Rademeyer was one of five South African artists selected to participate in Dak’Art 2008. This is the first screening of ‘I am an African’ in South Africa. Click here for artist's statement.}

^{Floating and Falling, an exhibition of monotypes and mixed-media oil paintings, is Bronwen Findlay’s first solo show in Johannesburg since her major painting exhibition at the Standard Bank Gallery in 2006 and a show of prints at Artist Proof Studio in 2007. Findlay has made unique monotypes and prints at DKW before (her first major exhibition of prints, A Blanket Story, comprised work created in the workshop in 2005), but in Floating and Falling, she demonstrates a new confidence in the medium. Read more.}

^{Interior designer Irwin Weiner of Irwin Weiner Interiors in New York just came back from a trip to his native South Africa. He studied furniture making, architecture, fine art, and graphic design in Cape Town, South Africa and was co-owner of an antique shop specializing in 18th and 19th Century English and Dutch Colonial pieces and the popular interior design website Design2Share.com as well as co-host of its Q&A video series. Join him as he visits a contemporary art gallery made of shipping containers!}

^{Brendon Bussy is a Cape Town based writer, electro – acoustic performer and visual artist. In 2003 he released Diesel Geiger (Open Records). He also runs workshops in spontaneous sound techniques and idea development. Drawing Machine and Brendon would like to thank Jacques van Zyl (www.phi-audio.com) for designing the KnapKas instrument and for inspiring acoustic guidance. www.brendonbussy.co.za. Click here to read more about this exhibition and other upcoming exhibitions at Blank for May 2008.}

^{Walter Oltmann, recipient of the 2001 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art and winner of the 2007 Sasol Wax Art Award, exhibits new works employing both human and insect aspects to explore the paradoxes of vulnerability and the monstrous. Oltmann’s obsessive explorations of the natural world have resulted in drawings in ink and bleach and woven wire constructions that reference local craft traditions. Walter Oltmann is a senior lecturer at the Wits  School  of the Arts, Johannesburg. Read more}

_{You are welcome to visit the KZNSA gallery in SA for the Alison Kearney latest exhibition 'Put Something In To Take something out'}

^{Alison Kearney is based in Johannesburg, and holds a BA and MA in Fine Arts, both achieved with distinction, from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is the recipient of the Maude Catherine Bird Scholarship, the E.J.A. Loerincz Scholarship and the Standard Bank History of Art Award. In 2003 she was a finalist in the MTN New Contemporaries Art Award, in 2004 awarded an artist's residency in Switzerland and in 2006 invited as artist-in-residence at the 2006 NEXT WAVE festival in Melbourne, Australia.}

^{The artist has participated in numerous international group exhibitions, and recently held her fourth solo exhibition at the Goodman Gallery, 2008. Kearney has lectured in the applied and visual arts at a number of universities in South Africa, and has been the guest lecturer at Konstfack for the past three years. She is currently Acting Head of Department of Art in Education at the Wits School of Education.}

^{Skin-to-Skin: Challenging Textile Art opens at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg on 16 April 2008, running until 10 May. Curated by Fiona Kirkwood, the exhibition reflects South Africa's multi-cultural identity and unique history through diverse work by artists using textile-related concepts, techniques and materials. The title of the show, Skin-to-Skin, is a metaphor for the present day amalgamation of various cultural groups that were racially separated under apartheid. According to Kirkwood, the textile-related works on show are "the artistic fruits of a new unified South African society." These works are by Tamlin Blake, Lynda Ballen, Leora Farber, Nicholas Hlobo, Karin Lijnes, Nkosinathi Khanyile, Fiona Kirkwood, Angeline Masuku, Walter Oltmann, Langa Magwa, Jane Makhubele, Nandipha Mntambo and Yda Walt. Read more.} 

^{As part of its partnership with the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the KZNSA is calling for applications from professional writers and journalists interested in attending an intensive training workshop on art critical writing, scheduled from 26 to 30 May 2008. Facilitated by Sean O’Toole, editor of Art South Africa, participants will spend five days exploring the links between the image and the word. The workshop will include a series of public seminars by leading practitioners in the field of art critical writing and history. Read more.}

^{This solo exhibition by Alison Kearney consists of selected artworks made between 2006 and 2008. Parts of the exhibition have been variously shown in Melbourne, Basel and Johannesburg; however it's the first time any of these works will be exhibited in Durban.The exhibition is an interactive artwork inviting direct audience participation. The installation consists of a series of wooden boxes, each containing objects (found or made by the artist), arranged according to a theme. Read more from Going places.}

^{Dr. Michael Durst has had a wide range of professional experience. Trained in psychology and Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy, he is well acknowledged as an international speaker, consultant and author. His three books, "Napkin Notes: On the Art of Living,highly rated on Amazon.Com," "Management By Responsibility," and "Responsibility: The South African Imperative," have been used widely in businesses and universities. Read Dr. Durst's interview on his perceptions and view of art as a source of healing.}

^{Young Cape Town creatives working in all disciplines are invited to apply to join the CAPE Africa Platform’s Young Creatives Programme. An innovative new art awareness initiative, the Young Creatives Programme aims to facilitate skills development, promote fresh creative talent and independent artistic vision, and inspire exchange between Cape Town’s diverse artistic and cultural communities. Application is by nomination only and is open to creatives working in all disciplines. Read more about the programme.}

^{Skin-to-Skin, a showcase of contemporary developments in the field of textile art, opens at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg on 15 April 2008, running until 10 May 2008. Curated by Fiona Kirkwood, the exhibition reflects our multi-cultural identity and unique history through diverse work by South African artists using textile-related concepts, techniques and materials. Skin-to-Skin was recently shown at the Kaunas Art Biennial - Textile 07 in Kaunas, Lithuania. Read more bout the exhibition.}

^{The KZNSA is pleased to announce that its two upcoming exhibitions will show a selection of star students from two of Durban’s prestigious institutions of learning: the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and the Centre for Fine Art, Animation and Design (CFAD). The participating artists were selected according to their academic excellence, technical mastery and conceptual depth. Read more about the the two new exhibitions happening at KZNSA gallery that close on 30th March 2008.}

^{Artists and photographers are invited to apply for participation in the 2008 edition of the URBAN SPACE. Focusing on the aesthetics of large urban centers, URBAN SPACE features international works of photography and is exhibited as a traveling slideshow at selected festivals and galleries around the world. The first edition of URBAN SPACE premiered at the renowned media arts foundation Oi Futuro in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in July 2007. The show has since been screened at several exhibitions and festivals worldwide, including: ECCO during Brasilia's FotoArte, Sao Paulo's Galeria Vermelho and showings during Fotopub07 in Slovenia. Read more.}

^{The New York Philharmonic Orchestra playing in Pyongyang, People’s Republic of North Korea, in February 2008 was a monumental mediatised occasion. A second event taking one nation’s heritage to another’s public courted significantly less attention, maybe because the two countries are not at war, or since neither touts itself as an ideological force to be reckoned with.  Scratches on the surface: Antiquity and Contemporaneity, is an exhibition worth mentioning. Read more by Aarti wa Njoroge.}

^{The Spier Contemporary, South Africa’s largest collection of contemporary artists, moves on from its hugely successful Cape Town debut to the Johannesburg Art Gallery on March 15. Over 13,000 people attended this unprecedented exhibition during is inaugural showing. Spier is the naming sponsor of the exhibition while Hollard has generously sponsored the move to Johannesburg. Read more from Artslink.co.za.}

^{Artspace gallery, well known for its annual showcase of miniature artworks known as 'Oppitafel – a group exhibition project that has run every December for the past four years, relocates to the heart of the ’artstrip’ in Johannesburg. The gallery has relocated from Fairlands to a new home in Rosebank. Established in 2001, by Teresa Lizamore, Artspace has been showing the work of new and established contemporary South African artists for seven years.  Read more from ArtZone.}

^{Art as an investment is increasingly being considered as an alternative asset but the  majority of South Africans are still not sure how to enter the art game. When the First National Bank (FNB) announced at a press briefing in Sandton last year, of their sponsorship of the first contemporary art fair in Africa to be held in Johannesburg in March 2008, it sparked a debate on the viability of art as an investment option. FNB maintains that the decision to purchase art for investment is not to be taken lightly. Read more.}

^{Urban concerns connects citizens in Umea (Sweden) and Johannesburg (South Africa), as well as the two collaborating art museums, Bildmuseet and Johannesburg Art Gallery. Together with practitioners and institutions, the Urban Concerns research process suggests new avenues for experimentation through mapping of multiple and simultaneous public places.The project aims to address human concerns and community dynamics in the public realm. Read more about Urban Concerns}

^{One of her artworks sold for US$ 3.34-million (about R25.6-million today) in 2005, making her the highest-paid living female artist in the world. Marlene Dumas is back home in South Africa with an exhibition, and she is all ours until the end of March, reports SouthAfrica.info. Ms Dumas was born in Kuilsriver in 1953; she left South Africa in 1976 on a scholarship to study at the Atelier '63 in Haarlem, Holland and 30 years later is still living in the country's capital, Amsterdam. Read more from AllAfrica.}

^{Aesthetic managers? Creative ambassadors? Cultural entrepreneurs? Unlike the art curators of yesteryear who were mostly concerned with the maintenance of a museum collection, today’s curators play a pivotal role in the creative and conceptual process of making of exhibitions. Despite the growing recognition of this important function, South Africa still has no formal academic curatorial programmes. In response, CAPE has launched a Young Curator's Programme geared at nurturing emerging local talent by providing an exciting environment for both critical and practical engagement. Read more about the programme.}

^{A new book on the South African artist, Diane Victor, has been published by David Krut Publishing. The book, set to be launched on Saturday 1 March, is the 13th book and an educational supplement in the ‘TAXI-013 Diane Victor’ Art books Series by Elizabeth Rankin , an art history  professor at the University of Auckland and Karen von Veh, Senior Lecture in Art and Design at the University of Johannesburg. Click here for more info on the book and on Diane Victor.}

^{A lot of paintings and other works of art done by black South Africans remained unnoticed or unexposed to the world during the apartheid years. But things have now changed, thanks to an art boom that has international collectors hunting for art from emerging far-east markets – which have largely remained obscure. One exhibition to be held in London from the 29 January 2008, will be exclusively South African – the first of its kind outside of South Africa. More from The Wall Street Journal.}

^{The first African contemporary art fair will be held in Johannesburg from the 13th to the 16th of March 2008. On sale will be the largest collection of African and South African contemporary art the world has ever seen - 5000 square metres of the Sandton Convention Centre have been booked for the event. The main sponsor for The Jo’burg Art Fair is First National Bank. Artlogic, the producers of the event, has galleries from three continents that focus on African contemporary art to participate in the first Jo’burg Art Fair. Click here for more.}

^{A multi-disciplinary public art project with international artists, architects, designers, local initiatives, urban communities and stakeholders, CASCOLAND intervenes in Durban to create awareness of urban issues, mobility and the use of public space in a positive and creative framework. CASCOLAND and KZNSA invite all members and the public to come and speed date with us on saturday 26 jan at 6 pm. Read more about this invitation.}

^{Blank Projects invites you to the opening of  TRANSFORMASIE , an exhibition by contemporary jeweller Inge Marais. "In my practical experiments I investigate, through various interactions with material and repetitive meditative actions, the transformation processes that occur in parallel with the transformation of materials. In this way traditional perceptions of value related to time, material and experience is also re-evaluated." says Inge Marais The exhibition opens on Friday 11th January,2008 at 18h00 at 198 Buitengracht Street ( Corner of Buitegracht & Buiten), Bo-Kaap, Cape Town. Telephone 083 256 1170. email blankprojects@gmail.com}

^{‘About Beauty’ takes its cue from the book 'Beautiful Ugly: African and Diaspora Aesthetics', which is an award-winning collection of essays by leading African artists and authors that was edited by Sarah Nuttall. Like the book, the exhibition explores the radical transformations that are shifting perceptions of beauty as well as particular challenges offered by African and Diaspora artists to the world’s predominantly Eurocentric ideals. Read more about this exhibition at Goodman Gallery Cape}

^{The Spier Arts Summer Season has been formally adopted by the Africa Centre, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and celebrating the rich history and contemporary practice of African arts and culture. Now known as the Spier Arts Festivals, the Season’s content has been re-conceptualised to comprise three vibrant festivals: poetry, performance and music festivals will expand into the city of Cape Town. Read more}

^{African contemporary art is big on the continent, but it would be a big mistake to think it is a new thing. This is the main treatise in the book, Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent that has recently been published. Featuring 85 of the best African visual artists, the book reflects the authenticity of the continent’s contemporary art. An exhibition featuring most of the works in the book is on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Read more}

^{In keeping with the spirit of things, the KZNSA encourages festive shoppers to its premises with the promise of gifts that escalate in value. Adorning its walls and floors and outlandishly crafted shelving systems is an exhibition of truly gorgeous editioned artist prints expounded upon by a careful selection of art books, all illuminated with highly dramatic lights by designer darling Adriaan Hugo, bravely going where no Christmas fairy has gone before, the gallery brings affordable art to all . Read more.}

^{Unlike many South African artists who are obsessed with their own identity and personal histories, Phokela takes a broader scope and so his own personality is submerged under the bigger picture.}

_{Carol Brown: The Sunday Independent, 4 November 2007}

_{Read more reviews of Johannes Phokela's Compendium from other publications.}

^{Visual Century is a research project that situates South African visual art history within historical and art historical contexts, nationally and internationally. Conceived by Gavin Jantjes, the project director, Visual Century is managed by Mario Pissarra on behalf of ASAI. The project has received initial funding from the Department of Arts & Culture, and is currently at an advanced stage in discussions with a department at a South African university, where the project plans to be based. Read more}

^{Dr. Z. Pallo Jordan announced that Thembinkosi Philemon Wakashe has been appointed the new Director General of the Department of Arts and Culture, following a cabinet decision. Mr. Wakashe is the second Director-General since the Department became independent and autonomous in 2004. He succeeds Professor Itumeleng Mosala who served in the position for four years until March 2007. Wakashe was born on 29 November 1960. Read more on this appointment}

^{Rapidly regaining its reputation for attracting some of the hottest names in contemporary visual art, the KZNSA has pulled off something of a coup with Compendium, its forthcoming exhibition of Johannes Phokela. This is the first time that Durban will get to see the collected work of this internationally celebrated artist born in Soweto who now lives and works in London. Compendium demonstrates why Phokela is the hat-trick recipient of the John Moores painting prize, Read more.}

^{We invite established visual artists and crafters who would like to extend their skills, exchange ideas and techniques to apply to work in this dynamic, stimulating two week workshop where discussion and interaction between artists and crafters will be encouraged and debated. applications in all medium will be accepted and arrangements for equipment and materials can be discussed if the application is successful. crafters will be encouraged to bring their own machines and tools. Read more}

^{Goodman Gallery Cape is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Cape Town by Lisa Brice since 1999. Brice graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 1990 and quickly established a stellar career with numerous local and international exhibitions before relocating to London in 1999. Known for the fearlessness of her wide-ranging subject matter that has included violence, crime and sexuality, she has recently returned to painting. Read more.}

^{The Johannesburg Art Gallery is pleased to be hosting the exhibition Cyprian Mpho Shilakoe Revisited. This long-awaited retrospective of Shilakoe was curated by Jill Addleson for the Durban Art Gallery. Despite the fact that Shilakoe died at the young age of 26 in 1972, he remains one of South Africa's most prolific and innovative printmakers. Shilakoe received his art training at the Art and Craft Centre, Rorke's Drift, Natal. Read more}

^{CAPE invites applications for its Young Curator's Programme, a new initiative geared at nurturing local curatorial talent by providing an exciting environment for both critical and practical engagement. The programme will identify 4 - 6 aspiring or emerging curators currently living in South Africa.Successful applicants will undergo an all-expenses covered, focused 18-month course aimed at developing their skills in the thoughtful presentation and criticism of contemporary cultural production.  Read more .}

^{The SADC Artists Aids Festival is a regional artists HIV/AIDS initiative being launched in Harare, Zimbabwe this year.  Multidisciplinary Artists, Aids Service Organisations, Representatives from Ministries of Health, Arts and Culture, National Arts and Aids Councils and invited to participate in workshops, and artists invited to showcase various works related to HIV and AIDS in exhibitions and performance. Read more on this festival.}

^{The fifth and final panel discussion will focus on exploring  success stories in the arena of hosting exhibitions in Africa and to find possible synergies between various institutions on the continent. The panel will feature Africa Remix curator Simon Njami who also co-curated the Africa Pavillion at the Vennice Biennale 2007. Curators and museum directors from Mazambique and Zimbabwe will also be part of the discussion. Read more}

_{The 2nd Cape Town Biennale was officially opened by Native intellectual and writer Ronald Suresh Roberts at 6 p.m. at blank projects on 14th September, 2007. After the enormously successful 1st Cape Town Biennale in 2006, curated by Kathy Coates, Executive Director Andrew Lamprecht decided to make the biennale an annual event in recognition of Cape Town's reputation as a city that moves twice as fast as the rest of the world.  Read more}

^{Click here for more information on the exhibition}

^{Making waves is an exhibition which features approximately 100 works, attempting what no South African collection, either public or corporate, has previously done, to provide both an interpretation of the development of South African art through the 20th century and a selection of the best contemporary South African work.  The exhibition opens at Iziko Good Hope Gallery at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town from September 6th to October 28th 2007.Read more}

_{There are only 10 days left for members of the public to submit their nomination for The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards 2007 presented by Nedbank. The annual Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards are an important part of ACT’s work in support of the arts, culture and heritage in South Africa. The prestige associated with being nominated as a finalist or winning an award serves as a measure of quality in the sector. Read more}

_{The photographs of Ernest Cole will be on display at Iziko South African National Gallery from 4th September until the end of the year. Cole was an extraordinarily courageous young photographer who spent five years documenting everyday experiences of black South Africans under Apartheid in the 1960s. The exhibition titled ‘Ernest Cole’ is a commentary on many manifestations of Apartheid, as seen through Cole’s lens. Read more from Iziko South African gallery}

_{An exhibition of exquisite art by South African women entitled “Live Your Dream” opens at the Fresh Paint Gallery in Glenwood on Wed 29 August. The exhibition comprises of new work by this eclectic group of five women artists featuring works by mixed media collage artist Fran Jex, Heidi-Marie Smallwood’s beautiful jewellery, Michelle Nigrini, Rosendal and Dahla Hulme, a sculptor and metalworker now exploring her talent as a photographer. Read more from artzone.co.za}

_{The Association For Visual Arts (AVA) in partnership with Spier, is one of Cape town’s oldest non-profit art galleries, showcasing contemporary south African art in all media. In the run up to the 2010 World Cup, all eyes focus on sports. Ball Sports calls for artists to engage sport as a starting block for the interrogation of serious and not so serious social dynamics. This will take the form of a curated exhibition at AVA and will employ all four gallery spaces. Read more from AVA}

_{Beads: Ritual and Ornamentation is a fascinating and historically important exhibition depicting the versatile role of beads in Southern Africa. The exhibition illustrates the use of beads as ritual gifts and personal adornment as well as their role in expressing social and cultural identity. The exhibition which opened at TH Barry Lecture Theatre of the Iziko South African Museum includes shell beads from Blombos Cave dating back 77 000 years. The show will run until 31 July 2008. Read more}

_{The second Africa Remix panel discussion – Digital Africa - took place at the Johannesburg Art Gallery on Saturday, July 28 from 10am to 3pm. Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent – which is on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery until September 30 – features the work of more than 85 artists from 25 countries on the African continent and the Diaspora. Lorna Abungu a member of the board of AfricanColours.net took part in the discussion... Click here to read more..}

_{Nominations are open for The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards 2007 presented by Nedbank and supported by Classic feel Magazine. The annual ACT Awards recognise and reward the work done by individuals, organisations and agencies who played a supportive role in the development of arts, culture and creativity in South Africa. The awards are a celebration of excellence in the areas often hidden from the public eye. Read more}

_{Internationally recognised graphic artist, muralist and political cartoonist Nanda Soobben has scooped three impressive awards, the latest triumphs in a career that has spanned more than 27 years. As the only published black political cartoonist during the apartheid period Soobben moved to the US when he found his anti-establishment work could not be featured in mainstream newspapers in South Africa. Read more from artslink}

_{What’s 2 metres by 4 metres in size, made of steel and breaks down into 14 pieces? It’s Strijdom van der Merwe’s art and it has been designed specially for the Simonsberg Ward, a collection of some of the best wine farms in South Africa. A highly acclaimed artist, Strijdom is this year’s winner of the Medal of Honour of the SA Academy of Art and Science. His sculpture will be revealed for the first and only time at the Stellenbosch Wine Festival. Read more from artslink.co.za}

_{PPC is calling on all artists “young” in the art of sculpting to enter the 2007 PPC Young Concrete Sculptor Awards. Artists are required to submit a minimum of five photographs of each completed artwork, between Monday 17th September and Thursday, 20th September 2007. The competition is open to sculpting students 18 years and older. Artworks will be judged on concept, craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal and a balance... Read more from artslink.co.za}

_{Media Africa and Busvannah Communications are once again offering their unique pitching courses. ‘Pitching and Audience psychology’ are three day courses that will turn delegates into world-class pitchers of films and TV programmes enabling them to get into the mind of a mass audience and find out what makes them tick. The courses include full interactive workbooks, a library of resources, and opportunities for personal coaching and consultancy. Read more from artslink}

_{Awards Night for the 28th Durban International Film Festival took place at NuMetro Cinecentre at Suncoast on Saturday June 30th, with 18 prizes being awarded, in form of traditional Zulu dolls. The best South African Film award, with a cash prize of R20, 000, went to Heartlines, directed by Angus Gibson. The jury praised the film for its “attention to cinematographic detail and its unflinching adherence to its core message of redemption”. Read more from Artslink}