Studio 2666 artists Gimberg & Nerf are AIR [Artists in Residence] vs MIA [missing in action] at the Gugulective's TaMlamli Black&White cube space. They are boat building for the next several days, and nights, and invite you to lend a hand or just come drink beer, bring and braai and have a chat.
"One of the easier interpretive alternatives would be to simply deny a rationale altogether and frame Gimberg and Nerf's undertakings as indulgent adventures, Scooby Doo type mysteries that dabble with the dark arts and the deep seas; playful pursuits that amicably expose the futility of art to those who take it all too seriously. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your personal predilection, this projective vision of two men showing off the evidence of their various maritime, horticultural, destructive and escapist fantasies for their viewers to actively enjoy is disrupted by the very obstruction that prompted its application in the first place. Gimberg and Nerf's employment of a deliberate and strategic exchange that provides one piece of information while enshrouding another suggests that the lack of information, of reasoning and explanation is not the reactive product of a hostility towards explanation (or even over-explanation) but rather of an appreciation of obscurity that is allowed to remain obscured rather than be substituted by silliness. The indications of an approach that is sympathetic to futility within Gimberg and Nerf's various projects are also, therefore, indicative of an ability to understand the importance of attempting to express the meaninglessness of meaning without feeling the need to giggle about it (whether nervously, sarcastically or in earnest). This is not to say that the work is without humour, the absurdity of the project, so enhanced by the insecure paranoia and obsession that its obscurity often provokes in the viewer, ensures that the benefits of self-irony are not lost with the rejection of frivolity." Ryan van Huyssteen and Francis Burger
This all has something to do with "One More Day to Regret", "Escape to Robben Island" and perhaps the satanist/artist "Ed Young". Come see for yourself.

So, the something different worked ok with the piece on Brett Murray, so I'm interested in what responses, dear reader, you have towards this (developing) art work. Specifically, two questions arise:
a) Does the purposeful obscurity and secrecy Ryan van Huyssteen and Francis Burger suggest work as an artistic strategy?
b) What does it mean to be making art, as white people, in Gugulethu?
I'm curious for your responses.
Read more on the project at Studio 2666, and at the projects blog One More Day To Regret.

Labels: Christian Nerf, douglas gimberg, Gugulective

I'm glad I arrived two hours early for the Guguletu leg of Upstairs/Downstairs, a group show curated by Bettina Malcomess. There was writing all over the ground, which was already being worn away by the busy traffic of artists putting up the show. The first part I read said "One has to be an artist to survive as a poor person. You have to imagine space where there is none."

The Gugulective have constantly reimagined this space, the Kwa Mlamli shebeen, as an exhibition space, and persisted in having shows here in their own neighbourhood rather than being pulled into the centre of town. The context of Guguletu has thus been successfully maintained as integral to their work.
There was a lot to see, as this show included not only 8 Gugulective members, but also a lot of the artists who participated in the town leg of the show (exhibited at the AVA).
So instead of trying to do justice to the variety of interesting stuff on show, I will just say that I thought this constituted a good moment in the art life of Cape Town. It felt like some progress had been made in communication across the divides which still fracture our society as South Africans.

Labels: Bettina Malcomess, Gugulective, Upstairs/Downstairs

Mondays are a treat every two weeks or so, because of the great snacks at the AVA. This Monday was no exception, I waited outside till the speeches were over and then hunted down the people with the trays, using two hands to snatch and shove.

When I finally made it inside, the first thing I saw was a huge work by Mario Pissarra. It is generally considered bad form for a curator to put his own work on a show, especially when it is the first thing you see. But putting this aside, it was a large piece with letters made up of sand, ceramic, stones spelling Assimilado, apparently a Portuguese word meaning assimilated. Or more specifically, in the context of Portuguese colonialism, the assimilado was the colonised individual whom the system deemed to have succeeded in the process of stepping up the civilisational ladder. How appropriate I thought, as this is what we had throughout the whole show. A bunch of artists being quietly sucked into a modernist vision of Africa. Assimilated. A place where Cecil Skotnes once stood. A place where the word Authenticity gets battered around. Indeed, I don't think I saw a criticism of the assimilado in the show, or even a self-awareness.

All these artists are producing is tourist art that expresses an old and outdated concept of Africa South, a tail end of the colonial project. (I'm generalising here, for which I apologise, but sometimes on a group show it is necessary)

Afterwards, I thought about the Gugulective and their recent show Titled/Untitled, where they brought a shebeen to blank projects (the only part of the two part exhibition I managed to get to), and sold bottles of Baas Lager. How right they were, we still drink that stuff down.

Labels: Africa South, ava, Gugulective, Mario Pissarra

While Robert Sloon was having his cash taken off him at the National Gallery, I was voluntarily giving mine away to the barman at the Kwa Mlamli shebeen in Gugs, which had been turned into a temporary gallery for the day. There was another group show by the 'Gugulective', which included video (good), painting (very good), interactive painting (got a bit sentimental), and performance, which was the main focus of the show.

Most of the performance was live and of the musical kind, and it was spirited and fun. But I'm afraid I have a strange neural dysfunction which makes me resistant to the charms of dub poetry, which there was quite a lot of too. I liked the performance by Unathi Sigenu who sat in the bar sending sms messages. Mine said “Arrest the art”, which I liked. Though he should probably have sent it to Robert Sloon instead.

This piece written by Lizza

Labels: Gugulective, Lizza, painting, performance, Unathi Sigenu, video art