  South African National Gallery's newsletterbonani: 2nd quarter 1999 |
Director's Message Current Exhibitions & Special Events Natale Labia Museum Friends of the National Gallery |
exhibitions
Sir Edmund and Lady Davis PresentationSang Permanent CollectionRoom 3 This collection of British art, presented by the mining-magnate Sir Edmund Davis in the 1930s, is being aired at the same time as the Musée d'Orsay exhibits (2 March - 6 June) the British art he presented to Paris's Luxembourg Gallery in 1915. At its height the original Davis collection included 170 oil paintings, 100 drawings and 30 sculptures. Davis stood apart from the rest of the South African 'Randlords', with which he seldom mixed, being resident in London. Randlord taste was motivated by a desire to acquire the trappings of aristocracy and to have Old Masters in gold frames, whereas the Davis favoured contemporary paintings and works on paper. The Sir Edmund and Lady Davis Presentation will be accompanied by a detailed catalogue generously sponsored by Sotheby's, London. | |
Zabuya EmadlelweniThe Cattle are Coming HomeRoom 8 until 2 May Sang presents an exhibition which focuses on the significance of cattle in local history, art and culture. As a measure of economic wealth, status and power, cattle have determined social organisation, settlement patterns and architectural styles (based on a central cattle byre). Political alliances continue to be formed by the transfer of cattle in the customary iLobolo. The exhibition includes exquisite examples of Zulu and Xhosa beadwork depicting cattle, costumes used by Zulu battalions made out of cow hide and brush, finely carved and patinated wooden milkpails, bovine-like Swazi headrests and delicately carved bone and horn snuff-containers. | |
ArtlineInteractive voice response service at SangRoom 8 until 2 May ARTLINE provides the visitor with pre-recorded information on selected works of art, themes of exhibitions, or updated information on current events at Sang by means of a cellular and/or land-line telephone. Whether in the gallery or at home, a visitor merely dials the advertised cellular telephone number before being prompted to dial-in the relevant PIN number. Once the PIN number is dialled a pre-recorded message - by the artist or curator about an artwork or exhibition - can be heard. So, enhance your experience as a visitor and 'phone today!' |
|
StructuresPhotographs by David GoldblattRoom 4 and Liberman until 20 June 'Structures' is the culmination of 15 years of photography, research and writing by acclaimed South African photographer David Goldblatt. Through his powerfully evocative black and white photographs Goldblatt critically probes the relationships between South African structures and the forces that shaped our society. His is a seminal exploration that compels the viewer to look afresh at our cultural heritage and to ask 'What do these structures signify? What convictions, what hopes and fears went into their building?' In his preface to the catalogue Professor Neville Dubow writes: 'David Goldblatt's work is about buildings and structures in the South African landscape. It is, in part, about actual structures - bricks, mortar, mud, and corrugated iron. But it is also about ideological structuring: about the mental constructs that underpinned the structures of South Africa in its colonial era and more specifically, the apartheid years, the locust years, of its recent past. What Goldblatt has done is to frame these physical structures in terms of photographic constructs which, cumulatively and compellingly, reveal the many ways in which ideology has shaped our landscape'. 'Structures' was recently shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the first ever solo exhibition of a South African photographerÕs work to be held at the Museum of Modern Art, and at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. Poster-size digital prints of the original photographs are on sale in the Gallery Shop.
Tours
|  David Goldblatt, A new shack under construction, Lenasia Extension 9, 1990. |
Evocations of the ChildFertility DollsRoom 8 from 1 May until 15 July This exhibition of fertility figures has been assembled by curator Nessa Liebhammer and artist Karel Nel from objects scattered throughout the country in unrelated collections, both public and private. These dolls are produced widely throughout Southern Africa by diverse groups of Sotho and Nguni peoples. Historians and museologists have paid little attention to these objects in the past. The neglect is probably due to the fact that these are fragile objects produced by women and therefore considered less collectable than the more durable carvings made by men. In the accompanying catalogue, sixteen authors in the field of African art studies, have explored topics such as the emergence of prototypes, regional distribution, symbolic meaning, modes of production, and relationships to ethnic affiliation and gender roles. This ground-breaking exhibition affords a unique opportunity for the public to gain an overall view of a long-standing and arcane tradition which has its roots in the past but has also endured, transforming into a number of isolated contemporary manifestations.
Tours |
 Photographer unknown, Zulu woman with fertility figure, late 19th century. Courtesy Michael Graham-Stewart, London. |
IsintuCeremony, Identity and CommunityRooms 9, 10 and Liberman from 21 March 'Isintu' marks the first formal exchange and co-operation between the South African National Gallery (Sang), the Robben Island Museum (Rim) and an Australian institution, the Flinders Art Museum in Adelaide. This exhibition offers us a unique opportunity to reflect on that which links and separates our countries and our cultures, on our commonalities and differences. With 'Isintu' we are engaging in a South-South project and debate and further disengaging from the persistence of Eurocentrism. 'Isintu' has been curated from the inside, not from the outside. It is hoped that it will contribute to the promotion of a consciousness of contemporary South Africa and Australia in all their complexities and heterogeneity. By embracing hybridity and marginality and by exploring the multiplicity of our experiences and knowledge we can create a theoretical discourse of our own. With this exhibition, the three participating institutions raise, and try to answer, some of the questions related to the politics of representation. Questions that are often asked of Sang are: Who is writing history? Who is telling the stories? Who speaks for whom? We understand that redress only occurs when individuals and groups are empowered to represent themselves. 'Isintu' is the first exhibition at Sang to be solely curated by a black person, Tumelo Mosaka, taking us another step forward in altering museum practice in South Africa. We see 'Isintu' as an opportunity to build cultural bridges between artists, curators and institutions, to use the context of art as a means of addressing the historical problem of cultural difference, and to celebrate the work of emerging artists.
Tours Click here for the online exhibition. |
 Destiny Deacon, Being There, 1998, bubble-jet print from C-type photograph. Collection Flinders Art Museum. |
Video ViewsRoom 5 until 27 JuneMany contemporary South African artists are exploring the medium of video in challenging and innovative ways. A selection of these videos is being projected to complement an exhibition called 'Channel' at the AVA in Church Street. SANG's provisional programme includes:
Road Zero Randolph Hartzenberg 2 - 14 March WEIGHING... and WANTING is the seventh in a series of films which chronicle the history of William KentridgeÕs recurring character, Soho Eckstein. Like his first opera, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, which will be staged in Grahamstown this year, this is the story of another homecoming or reconciliation. KentridgeÕs international reputation was established with his inclusion in Documenta X. A solo showing of his latest video, Stereoscope, will be seen in the Project Room of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The building and breaking down of a wall in Malcolm Payne's Abandon Your Culture (1997), becomes a metaphor for the construction, reconstruction and deconstruction of notions of culture and language. In Sticks and Stones (1998) Tracey Rose also takes up the issue of language with special reference to racist terminology and personal identity. Given the limitations of this exhibition, Kendell Geers's TW (AV) made in 1998, is an intimate work unlike his larger, multi-screen installations which often combine visual and/or aural assault to deal with aspects of crime and violence. In her latest video, made in 1999, Penny Siopis uses the soundtrack of Verwoerd's notorious speech from the Voortrekker Monument (1966) overlaid with home movie footage to examine intersections of personal memory and historical fact. Finally, Greg Streak examines the liminal space between life and death in a pared down, high impact video. Admission is free, but your donations will assist us in acquiring some of these videos for the Permanent Collection. The videos will be screened continuously (Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 till 17:00). For more information consult the Reception Desk (tel. 021 465 1628) or contact Emma Bedford (swing@gem.co.za). This exhibition is made possible through the support of the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany (Cape Town). |
Top of page