20:20 VANSA NETWORKING SESSION
19:00
8 Spin Street
Thursday 25th September 2008
With presentations by;
Kathryn Smith
Department of Visual Arts, University of Stellenbosch
Loyiso Qanya
Cape Africa Platform
Robert Weinek
Afrika Burn
Steve Bandoma
Artist
"I was proud to share the evening with other guess from different art companies. This was very good experience for my carreer, as foreigner and French speaker artist giving the overview of my concept in front of experienced people and also having such networking opportunity in the art industry, specifically in the Cape Town province where I passed most of my time from 2005 until now."
THE PANSA 48 HOUR FESTIVAL
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Kai Lossgott and Steve Bandoma, Soft,2008
Photo: Hannah Mentz
THE PANSA 48 HOUR FESTIVAL – IT’S BACK AND IT’S BIGGER!
PART OF PANSA’S MONTH OF PERFORMANCE
SUNDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 2008
What do you get when you put 64 of Cape Town's hottest artists together, throw in some crazy ingredients, and allow to simmer for 48 Hours? You get five brand new plays, four totally original music pieces, four mind boggling dance pieces, and four eye watering pieces of visual art.
Starting on Friday 19 September, writers, choreographers, composers and artists will gather to hear the rules for this year's festival. With talent like last year's winners Nicholas Spagnoletti, Louise Coetzer and Nkosinathi Mgweba, along with interesting new entrants like Steve Pillemer and Fiona Du Plooy, we're sure the results will be worth watching. At 6pm on Saturday 20th, they hand over to directors, get joined by actors, dancers, designers and musicians for another crazy 24 hours. This year's talent includes Thoko Ntshinga, Jaqueline Dommisse, Floyed de Vaal, Gideon van Eeden, Thami Mbongo, Brent Palmer, Erica Glyn-Jones, to name but a few.
And then, on Sunday 21st September at 6pm, the magic begins, as all of the weekends pieces are played out in one crazy night. It's fast, it's fun, it's not for the faint-hearted - PANSA 48 Hour Festival 2008.
Theatre in The District, Chapel St, Woodstock
Tickets R40, available through www.webtickets.co.za
PANSA MONTH OF PERFORMANCE - PLAY YOUR PART www.pansa.org.za
Enquiries: PANSA OFFICE, 0214483513
Greatmore's Winter Open Studios
Winter Open Studio Exhibition
The smell of cinnamon and a variety of spices being stewed up for a vegetable soup greet me as I enter Greatmore. Boiled red wine and lemons or Gluvine was the welcoming drink. Lionel Davis, one of the founders of Greatmore Studio and a self-confessed socio-political and cultural art activist, welcomed us all and highlighted the plight of the visual arts in South Africa. “14 years later and the visual arts are still not being supported by government. Music, drama and other arts get support ... But the Non-governmental sector has kept the visual arts alive,” said Davis, staying true to his fight for the arts and adding that, “Without art we are just robots in society.”
As I walked through the passages, trying not be a robot in society by not embracing the creative arts, I was engulfed with an overwhelming sense of euphoria – artists such as Garth Erasmus, Xolelani Pat Matshikiza, Ena Carstens, Norman O’Flynn, Nadja Daehnke, Madi Phala, Mandla Vanyaza, Velile Soha and Lionel Davis had all once upon a time and still upon this time graced these studios. However I was not there to peep into their studios but rather to grace the Winter Open Studio Exhibition which marked the 2nd collaborative opening at Greatmore Studios this year. Look I won’t lie the work was nice and reflected a variety of styles. Greatmore has a way in which it captures the spirit of all genres of arts whilst embracing both local and international artists in their residency programs. Sadly the greatness of Greatmore and its many talented artists and their open studios stole the limelight from the main artists on exhibit, namely: Steve Bandoma, Sadia Salim, Merid Tafesse and Mpho Ngwenya. “Focus, focus, focus,” I kept telling myself as I tried to stick to subject artists.
It would be criminal of anyone not to be in awe of Steve Bandoma’s works. Bandoma, a DRC-born artist who has been in South Africa since 2005 stood by the window ledge wearing camouflage gear. In our conversation, over a glass of gluvine, he casually told me that:
“My culture is my physique and my art is my spiritual level. So it doesn’t mean that because I am black I must show people directly my culture. I think this is globalization. We are in a time of exchanging cultures.” He then pointed me to his Cosmos piece as well as a long white rope hanging from the ceiling, with syringes infused into it and condoms at the end of it. He calls it the White Penis and says: “This work talks about education and for me White Penis is an educated penis because it knows how to protect itself with the HIV issues, you know?” he laughs and we change the subject to finding meaning in his Cosmos piece.
But seriously though, I’m tired of black artists being constantly placed in a category that is labelled: You-will-deal-with-identity-and-stick-to-navigating-your-culture-through-your-art-work-only. So to see Bandoma embracing the conceptual form is encouraging and a sign that black artists do not have to be stuck to painting and sculpture and that they are fully capable of smart conceptual work.
In the opposite room which looked like the kiddies room, in this house-turned-studio, I found Sadia Salim’s work which filled the floor. “I work with ceramics, I work with clay and here you are seeing various impressions that were formed whilst I was doing this residency in Cape Town,” she says as she welcomes me in, “The present work is made mainly by slip casting and throwing on a potter’s wheel and fired in an electric kiln.” The work resonates a feeling of serenity, beauty and meticulous craftsmanship. It is still a work-in-progress though and will be completed at the University of Johannesburg which is the second phase of Salim’s residency in South Africa.
The next room was Merid Tafesse where one was greeted by charcoal drawings that are very playful in nature. It almost feels as if they were drawn without any seriousness, but there they were – each captivatingly captioned appropriately and extracting contemporarily relevant themes such as xenophobia. When asked about the charcoal and monochrome nature of his work he replies: “Don’t ask me why black, black for a reason.” The response in itself says a lot on issues of identity and mapping out black experiences via charcoal drawings.
The last artist on exhibit was Mpho Ngwenya. Now here one tends to feel transcendence into a spiritual state of being. The pieces or let me say sculptures I paid attention to were made of corrugated iron and took no particularly fixed form, yet for him, had a meaning. “The corrugated iron as a medium of my expression was revealed to me by my underground movement or ancestors,” he says “It’s a fascinating medium and reflects the environment I come from.”
Still stuck on the gluvine I walk passed another open studio which had a lot of “oo’s” and “aah’s”. I’d profiled the four artists on exhibit, my job was done, but the “oo’s” and the “aah’s” was something I couldn’t miss. Turns out Nkoali Nkawa had put up five pieces of his work. “Oo!” I thought; I had never seen anything like it. The detail. The realness. It was real life vivified through charcoal and varnish. Born in Welkom, arrived in Cape Town in 2002 and took up his residency at Greatmore studios. Nkawa says: “You see I worked in the mines for six years of my life. So the black and white you see here is a reflection of my underground experiences where the only light was your light in that darkness. That showed that there was life in darkness,” as he explains his sharply dark black on black images. Nkoali Nkawa is, like Salim, moving to Johannesburg and is bound to captivate art audiences there. “The only place that will fully expose my work is Joburg,” Adds Nawa.
The gluvine had finally kicked in and it was time to go. Greatmore Studios is located on 47 – 49 Greatmore road in Woodstock, Cape Town. And I look forward to returning to the homely studios on the 14th of November 2008 when they will host a major 10th year celebration.
Text by Unathi Kondile
Greatmore's interview
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Tea with a Potter TAG takes 2 with Pakistan ceramicist Sadia Salim
Sadia Salim is Greatmore Studios’ first artist taking residency in our satellite ceramic studio at the Observatory Community Centre. A self acclaimed ‘potter’ TAG takes time to look at life through her cultural and artistic lens.
…(read more)
STEVE BANDOMA (South Africa)
Sisanda: Steve you are an artist from Kinshasa, Congo, tell us what led you to the arts ?
Steve Bandoma: I started drawing from a young age and continued until I got my bachelors degree in fine arts in 2004 at the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Academy of Fine Arts).I arrived in South Africa in 2005 during which time I acquainted myself with the unique culture of Cape Town. I got involved in a lot of initiatives with a focus on new media- I participated in the Multimediations project hosted by Cape Africa Platform.
…(read more)
DINEO SESHEE BOPAPA (South Africa)
Sisanda: Let’s go back to the art Dineo. Talk us through your choice of medium and your artistic concerns.
D.B.: I work with video, found objects and paint, incorporating various words- I really like to change from one medium to the next depending on what I want my work to say. Sticking to one technique can really inhibit you from growing and exploring. I like the quality of the media I use. My work explores themes around power, sex, loneliness, anger, tension, discomfort- things that have in essence happened to me. I take things from my personal life experiences as well as from my friends. For me my artwork is about making sense of the world. My current work attempts to engage and have relevance to the city.
…(read more)
MERID TAFESSE ( Ethiopia)
Sisanda: Merid, what is the art scene like in Addis?
Merid Tafesse: I studied fine art at the university in Addis. It was very hard to get a place because out of 500 applicants there were only 20 available openings! There is a strong interest in the arts among young people in the city.
…(read more)
Text by Sisanda
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Art practice
Steve Bandoma employs various materials that have specific qualities and characteristics.
Batting, rope, raffia, rubber and found objects are all but some of the materials employed in his work. He sews raffia and batting, installs forms in space, performs and sometimes does video art. All this seen together, Steve Bandoma begins to literally fuse, connect and mix media, while he conceptually surfaces the socio-political, the socio-cultural and the socio-economic climates of not locally but globally. The semi-transparency of batting allows the artist to be both absent and present while remaining unidentified.
All these concerns are sometimes conveyed in a humorous manner.
Batting, rope, raffia, rubber and found objects are all but some of the materials employed in his work. He sews raffia and batting, installs forms in space, performs and sometimes does video art. All this seen together, Steve Bandoma begins to literally fuse, connect and mix media, while he conceptually surfaces the socio-political, the socio-cultural and the socio-economic climates of not locally but globally. The semi-transparency of batting allows the artist to be both absent and present while remaining unidentified.
All these concerns are sometimes conveyed in a humorous manner.
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STATEMENT
In the 21st century, when technology breaks political and cultural barriers while bringing together different backgrounds to exchange their experiences. My work then, seeks to interact with the policy of defending my culture’s exigencies through concealing my inherent character behind the tangible materials used. It also strives to connect societies while fulfilling the needs and interests of contemporary art epoch.
In the 21st century, when technology breaks political and cultural barriers while bringing together different backgrounds to exchange their experiences. My work then, seeks to interact with the policy of defending my culture’s exigencies through concealing my inherent character behind the tangible materials used. It also strives to connect societies while fulfilling the needs and interests of contemporary art epoch.
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MATERIAL AND COLOR PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN MY WORK, I'M MORE CONCEPTUAL AND SYMBOLIC IN MY CREATIVITIES.
DEALING WITH THE COMPLEXITY GIVEN BY THE GLOBALISATION IN THIS 21 CENTURY WITH THE FOCUS ISSUE OF RACIAL AND CULTURAL DISCRIMINATION CONTEXT SO
THE FALSE IMPRESSION BY SAILING THE IMAGE IS A REFLECTION OF MY OWN PERSONALITY
I AM NOT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SEEING OR THE WAY THEY ARE LOOKING AT ME, IN MY CONCERN OF PERSONAL INTEREST I PREFER TO HIDE MY PERSONALITY IN SEARCH OF AN IDENTITY SUBJECT TO EXIGENCE OF CONTEMPORARY ART CONTRARY TO MY CULTURE, SO MY ART IS INVOLVING THE POLICY OF JOCKS BEHIND THE MESSAGE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE MY OBJECTIVITIES.
DEALING WITH THE COMPLEXITY GIVEN BY THE GLOBALISATION IN THIS 21 CENTURY WITH THE FOCUS ISSUE OF RACIAL AND CULTURAL DISCRIMINATION CONTEXT SO
THE FALSE IMPRESSION BY SAILING THE IMAGE IS A REFLECTION OF MY OWN PERSONALITY
I AM NOT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SEEING OR THE WAY THEY ARE LOOKING AT ME, IN MY CONCERN OF PERSONAL INTEREST I PREFER TO HIDE MY PERSONALITY IN SEARCH OF AN IDENTITY SUBJECT TO EXIGENCE OF CONTEMPORARY ART CONTRARY TO MY CULTURE, SO MY ART IS INVOLVING THE POLICY OF JOCKS BEHIND THE MESSAGE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE MY OBJECTIVITIES.
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