Grey Carpets in Grahamstown
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I stumbled around the streets of Grahamstown for a week of the festival and while there was a great atmosphere and some excellent theatre, the visual arts seem to be sorely neglected all round. Despite there being a captive audience of thousands of culturally aware art-hungry revelers, most of the art I encountered was either badly painted flowers/landscapes/puppies or else, where the work was acceptable, generally just very unresolved. What also surprised me greatly was the lack of any public art in the city – no billboards, performances, interventions etc. Rather everything was put into a dusty corner of a badly carpeted building without windows, hardly the dynamism one would expect from a National Arts Fair.
Thus far everyone I have lamented the state of the visual arts in Grahamstown to has asked me about two things: Nicholas Hlobo and the 25 Years of Standard Bank exhibition. Both should have been good, neither were. Hlobo, this year’s very deserving Standard Bank Young Artist, showed Umtshotsho, an ‘exhibition’ comprised of two works (one with three rubber figures, the other a figure on a couch) in a dimly-lit windowless hovel in the depths of the Settlers Monument. While the work itself was interesting (though it’s all beginning to look very samey to me), it just really failed to energise the space at all. Instead of a kick ass exhibition about Xhosa initiation and homosexuality in the 1920s Settler Monument (you’d think that one couldn’t go wrong here), it was just some rubber things on the floor.
The 25 Years of Standard Bank was equally flaccid; again you’d think that with such an interesting and diverse selection of artists a monkey could curate a great show. Apparently not the monkey they hired though. The exhibition seemed to go out of its way to select pieces that were singularly the most uninteresting in each artist’s winning exhibition and also impossible to read when decontextualised from their larger body of work. There also seemed to be no effort to allow the works to speak to each other, a curator’s dream completely wasted.
Basically, the art was bad. I think the remedy to this is to go up en masse next year and show them how it’s done. But more on that later…
posted by Linda Stupart at 2:34 PM
21 Comments:
wasn't sure where to drop this comment, so ill just leave it here.
...For a few years now i have been visiting your website...and i must say....its by far the most stagnant piece of crap passing off as a platform for reviewing and commenting on the local art scene. It seems as though all the people that contribute to this site are bored little white boys and girls that have nothing better to do with their lives
...its bullshit really...but i guess i have no business visiting it as much as i have over the years (a grand total of about 6 times)...but it gets a tiny bit annoying when u are advised to "familiarise yourself with what's going on out there" by some individuals in high teaching positions in institutions like...say... Michaelis...which is another recreational excuse for a bunch of white people that lack the ambition to pursue careers in business or whatever else....
Get a life!!!
i love the monkey comment.
yeah, the monkey comment is cool. But seriously, thank god you didn't go to the KKnK this year, that's hust terribly depressing and one is overcome by the need to take ones clothes of and pass out drunk. F.U.
Whilst I concur with most of the sentiments expressed by Ms Stupart, I do recall more than 3 figures in Hlobo's large installation.
For the record, the 'monkey' hired to curate the 4tandard Bank show, Alan Crump, passed away. A couple of months before the show opened.
stop being prescriptive
Hayzeus, but that person suckastick has got issues!! What a hater!
Why is 'white' STILL being used as a perjorative term, as if melanin-deficient persons making their way through life and doing what they do is somehow not enough, i.e. 'nothing better to do with their lives'...?
A statement like the one suckastick makes reveals a wilful ignorance of the rise of the black upper middle class, and the power that segment wields.
If you're taking issue with the small amount of power the Artheat crowd has, or with the power your lecturers have, maybe you'd do well to understand it in relation to the power the predominantly black political and executive class has acquired in the last ten years. When viewed on a continuum, the power of a few art lecturers and bloggers seems a lot less threatening.
Maybe go hang out in business for a bit, with th people who do, by ytour assertion, have ambition. Send me a potscard after a week.
This post has been removed by the author.
posterity, thy name is defeat!
apologies to both Nicholas (for wrong number) and particularly to Alan Crump.
Of course, his passing means he didn't in fact get round to curating (or hanging, at least) the show, so someone else was clearly to blame.
'suckastick', if you resent your white lecturers and peers so much, the really good way to Get Back at those bastards is to write something smart and intersting, really stand up to their hegemony with some new and exciting insights.
Also stop being such a jerk.
I don’t recall saying anything about power, what power? if there is anything threatening about these Orania type web based communities, it has to be the amount of energy you people seem to invest in creating and maintaining these exclusively white spaces. These attitudes are of course perpetuated in the formal art spaces, the entire gallery system is still under white control, and your art institutions have managed to remain fundamentally the same. It does not surprise me when black artists succumb to the pressure and end up ridiculing themselves in return for some degree of acceptance…take the show that opened at Goodman last night ‘dying to be men’ which showcases works by a Zimbabwean artist. The black body is thoroughly objectified in those photographs, and this is done not by your Peter Fucking Hugo or Guy Tillim but by a ‘black’ Zimbabwean artist. I hope I am not over analysing the facts here…but all this conformism that one can observe at any given exhibition showcasing work by any given ‘black’ artist, exist as a response to conditions you have created through limiting access to the relevant resources. Anywhooo…
Its quite admirable how white people manage to stick together even in moments of great adversity…which, according to you…is a moment characterised by a handful of black folk finally claiming their right to contribute to the economy. Maybe I should drop some numbers on your ign’ant ass…even though 2 million people have benefited from affirmative action and BEE, which is what I assume u are alluding to when referring to the black middle class, 60% of black South Africans live in poor to extremely poor conditions. I don’t think I will ever understand why one would feel ‘threatened’ when people who were formally excluded from the country’s economic and state structures, are now being rightfully integrated. Sure… there are going to be issues with how these programs are implemented, and admittedly there has, but u cant blame black folk…considering the mess you people have created over the last 400 years or so (and in some respect, continue to with your neo-colonial capitalist endeavours)
Until such a time when whiteness stops being some kind of measuring stick for humanity…and black people begin to be judged solely on ‘the contents of their characters’, and nothing else, then the terms ‘white’ or ‘black’ will remain relevant in these discussions. The issues that you r suggesting I have, stemmed out of 4 centuries of colonialism and about 5 decades of apartheid…so I’m very sorry if my recuperation is taking a little longer than a decade…
Suckastick:
I feel slightly pissed off.
I don't usually pay attention to angry internet people, but i feel as though i must this time.
Say 'you' instead of 'u'
You might be taken more seriously.
Firstly, the whole 'I hate this blog' thing is old news. You’re a few years late.
Secondly, making statements like 'the entire gallery system is still under white control' seems a bit complainy and presumptuous, although it may be partially true. Start your own fucking gallery instead of hating those who are actually doing something about our (OUR) country's increasing lack of involvement in fine art.
And thirdly, surely your seemingly passionate monologue about art and social issues in South Africa that has been generously displayed on this particular blog indicates that you somewhat see it as a relevant platform for discussion?
You may have proved yourself wrong.
It seems as though, in your case, artheat has finally proved itself useful.
Do u know gore go tena yang ha o leka go tlhalosetsa 'DomKop' mara 'die mogoe' a sa batle go thlaloganya....its fucking annoying!!!
...see thats where the problem comes in... insisting that suckastick use 'you' instead of 'u' when writing... (something that seems completely removed from the matter at hand)...shows just how arrogant yo kind is (also how deep your ignorance really goes).
i Don think i get it!... so for u to actually begin to unclog your ears and listen to people that hold an opposing opinion on shit, they have to glorify n embrace your language n fucked up culture? thats really sad!
About suckastick starting his/her own gallery...i have a feeling suckastick would do this tomorrow if you people payed up the loot that you owe half the fuckin world...U belong to an entire civilization founded on debt....it seems the only time any black person would get their way, is when they holding up u n yo family with a 9 memeza in yo mouth...is that how u want all this to play out? cos it will...it sorta is really...considering the fact that a good percentage of victims of violent crime in South Africa are mainly white people...it's asses like u that make us black people celebrate worsening crime levels.
peace!
yeah lets just break it all down/humankind just a dumb clown/hangem burnem chopem down/
ALL HOMO SAPIENS...DOWN & OUT/OUT & DOWN
give the fish and birds and trees a break....
David Robert Lewis?
Re:maybeushudsucktheendofmybarre: "considering the fact that a good percentage of victims of violent crime in South Africa are mainly white people...it's asses like u that make us black people celebrate worsening crime levels."
Hate speech anyone? Threatening violence towards a particular demographic, or ANYONE, is really not on. Plus that comment is just racist all round "us black people", c'mon...
maybeushudsucktheendofmybarrel,
Anger is welcome here, but celebrating crime and violence bordering on hate speech is unwelcome. I'm giving you a day to rework your polemic before I remove the comment.
Father Emasculata announces with unbearable sorrow the death of our Immaculate and Holy Sister Bench. After nursing too many spontaneous penile amputations she exhaled her final breath, in the mountains, exhausted in prayer. She now rests forever in the arms of our beloved Jesus.
Her dieing message, scrawled for her on her bodice, by a young gangrenous amputee, in his own puss was for the humble men Maybeushudsucktheendofmybarrel and Suckastick -- her wish is for them to never relinquishing their cause.
Forever, I remain your servant in the Lord,
Sister Stump.
that seems to be the only language you respond to....what option do people have, black or otherwise? i think that there is no real threat in the statement above...anyone and everyone is entitled to celebrate whatever they wish...after all,unless if the definition of the word 'celebrate' has since been change...to celebrate does not necessarily mean to actually commit to such sentiments as expressed in the comment!
Believe it or not...the sentiment in question...is broadly held by many black people...the fact that you label this racist, doesn't quite change anything...
a wise man once said, and of course you would probably label him racist as well (much like how Nelson Mandela and his boys were called terrorists, anyway)...."fervor is a weapon of choice for the impotent"
Peace white folk, Uxolo!...don't go throwing your toys now...( you should never overlook the fact that, all this is fundamentally inspired by your persistence to ignore the conditions of others around you)
To Maybeweshould juststicktosuckingthestick,
Violent crime is terrifying for everyone. It is dehumanising for everyone who falls victim to it. It is vastly vastly different from the political violent struggle that Fanon, who you quote, spoke about. Vastly different. Supporting it even on an intellectual level is despicable. You need to decolonise your mind and start doing some serious thinking as to where you are directing your anger. As a wise man once said: "Man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being."
I guess its just a matter of differing opinions then (I am allowed to differ right?)...because i believe that the structural socio-economical violence that many (black) south africans suffered (and continue to suffer due to persisting neo-capitalist practices, and bad governance) at the hand of an apartheid administration was far greater than any account of violence in the post-apartheid/contemporary context.
The reason why you may not see the harsh conditions black people have to endure...partly if not entirely, because of a residue of apartheid state rule, as 'terrifying' violence, is probably because you retreat to the safety and comfort of your lifestyle when ever u wish...U have a home, job security (whatever that may mean in the field of art), and many other such privileges that many cannot claim to have...
What is dehumanizing is the kind of force Fanon speaks against in his work...to strip an entire continent of its culture and memory and replacing it with your own...is despicable...to say the least. so i guess the glitch in this discussion is in regard to what certain words mean to different people...
...if i had a choice between someone sticking a gun in my mouth,as described by "maybeushouldsucktheendofmybarrel" , and someone subjecting the entire continent to colonialism once again...i would offer to pull the trigger myself...i presume (based on your comment) that you, and many of the contributor to this site, presented with the same scenario, would choose the latter... i respect that...Life is one privilege u can not acquire by taking someone else's.
Maybeweshould,
I don't see why you insist on assuming that all white people are racist and have no clue as to the horrors of colonialism. I totally agree about the terrifying violence of the Apartheid system. If you were to do a bit of research into the art I make, and the attitude I take towards apartheid, racism and neo-colonialism you might be less quick to accuse. Is it because of the colour of my skin that you feel that you can talk in this way, or is it because of what you know about me. I think it is a good idea for everyone to explore their prejudices.
It is true that I am a middle class man, but the again... so was Frantz Fanon (and Che Geuvara, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and many other revolutionaries.) What I try to do with this blog is to try and create new culture. You wanna play? or just be angry? ArtHeat has always had a open policy towards contributions. Email me.
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