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Coral Bijoux’s Dreams as R-evolution at the Iziko South African National Gallery

02/09/2021

Media images and interview requests, please contact: Zikhona Jafta at mediaofficer@iziko.org.za

 

The Iziko South African National Gallery (ISANG) is pleased to present Dreams as R-evolution – an exhibition by artist Coral Bijoux and curated by Iziko Curator of Photographer and New Media, Ingrid Masondo. Dreams as R-evolution is a site specific, multi-media installation that encompasses sculptural forms, drawings, paintings, photographs and costume. Engaging with the ideas of conditioning, evolution, and revolution, the artist, Coral Bijoux, invites us to participate in a conversation about our ability to transform ourselves and our environments (knowing from what we must transform), and daring us to reimagine ideas of self, space, authority/power and innocence: the four core narrative elements of the installation. Is there any other way for us to be human, she asks? 

 

Plastic collected from industrial and household bins and dumpsites is the predominant material here: single-use, builders’ and packaging materials, and discarded plastic-based objects. The installation, however, is not about recycling or the idea that we can reverse human impact by recycling our behaviours. Plastic, as a metaphor, is used to reflect on humanity: our practices, habits and values. Plant life engages the relationship between organic and inorganic materials, and is a critical knowledge system that speaks of place and acts on space, as much as it is acted on by the context. The ‘self’ is central too: it is the protagonist who attempts to r-evolutionise the self, in particular space. All these elements merge in the installation to signal transformative potential.

 

The installation, then, is offered as a provocation, a space for imagining the world differently and is an act of self-actualisation. 

 

The Dreams as R-evolution installation was conceived in 2018 and developed over a nine-month period (2019-2020) in a neglected plant nursery at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN) Westville campus, bordering the Palmiet Reserve. This was after many doors were closed to Bijoux as she sought out the appropriate place for this work to evolve. The nursery space teemed with life: insects, birds, snakes, lizards, meerkat, monkeys, plants, sky, wind, sun, rain and people on the university campus. In this ‘unnatural’-natural open-air space, the artist had to observe, listen and create, even if thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions. Over the months, the disused nursery evolved into a dreamscape where the artist mused about the  dreams that were “klapped out of her” from an early age. Lionel Davis, artist and struggle veteran, commented about the installation at the nursery: “…this journey of joyous fantasy that you have created…you transformed this neglected wilderness strewn with rubbish into a playground for young and old. We are all victims of conformity, shackled for too long to what others have decided we should be.

 

The Dreams as R-evolution installation has found ‘a new environment’ at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. Of this space, Bijoux says, “I am conscious of the effects of  the Dreams as R-evolution within this formal structure – in one of South Africa’s older colonial buildings (about 150 years) – the land on which the Gallery sits belongs to us all and as such, we will engage this space as ours, offering new meanings to it. In ’greening the gallery’, I engage the historical countenance by muralling the walls, inserting icons, symbols and words that evoke the past in the present.”

 

Drawing attention to conversations (and boundaries) about art and environment, between ‘indoors’ and ‘outdoors’, the installation explores contemporary art-making practices and ways of exhibition making. It is a prompt to ask pertinent questions about place and land; about valued knowledge systems; about behaviour and practices; about the place of the human.

 

For more information on the installation at SANG or to book group dream workshops, contact Ingrid Masondo, Iziko Curator of Photography and New Media on +27 21 481 3956 or at imasondo@iziko.org.za.

 

Other exhibitions currently on exhibition at the ISANG include Leora Farber’s disquieting domesticities, vestiges of violence (or, the ghost in the house) – curated by Iziko Curator Andrea Lewis, Iziko Curator Tšhegofatšo Mabaso’s Territories Between Us, and Framing Landscape: ‘The Picturesque’ and ‘The Sublime’ curated by Hayden Proud, Iziko’s former Curator of Historical Paintings.

 

When visiting Iziko Museums, your health and safety, and that of our staff, is of utmost importance. Please note that there are Covid-19 protocols in place to ensure the safety of both staff and visitors; we thank you for all your efforts in maintaining social distancing to keep both yourself and us safe. 

 

Throughout this uncertain period, Iziko has been online and working to showcase our unique work and collections on the website. Visit www.iziko.org.za to explore all that we have on offer, and keep up-to-date on COVID19 safety protocols and opening hours. Make sure to also like, follow and share our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok!

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Dear Visitor

Please be advised that the Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum will be closed on Thursday, 01 August 2024 due to a power maintenance affecting the entire area.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Iziko Management

Dear Visitor 

 

Iziko Museums’ Winter Operating Hours Update. 

 

Please be advised that the weekend(SAT and SUN) operating hours have been adjusted. 

The museums will open operate from 08h30 to 16h00 on weekends during winter.

 

Saturdays from 08h30 to 16h00

Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium, Iziko South African National Gallery, 

Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum and Iziko Slave Lodge. 

 

Sundays from 08h30 to 16h00

Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium and Iziko South African National Gallery. 

 

By order 

Iziko Management.