presents - NWU

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Free guided tours of the Visual Arts Programme commence daily at 09:30 at the ..... She completed her master's degree in
NWU GALLERY

presents

CURATOR: CHRISTINA NAURATTEL

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The Visual Arts Programme at Aardklop 2016 consists of curated group and solo exhibitions, with participating artists from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, France and Greece. It also breaks with the previous programme format and seeks to find a balance between current themes as seen in the art industry. It is important that all the art is accessible to a wider audience. Most of the works on the programme are for sale, with the remainder forming part of the MTN and NWU art collections. This will provide our audience with the opportunity to see art from artists such as Diane Victor, William Kentridge, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard and Cecil Skotnes (to name but a few). With our audience and their experience of the arts in mind, the programme will feature some “new” mediums and interdisciplinary collaborations.

ART SAFARI Monday, 3 October, 16:00 Starts in the NWU Botanical Garden (no under 18s) Tickets: R150 pp (limited) The highly popular annual Art Safari is your chance to see the entire Visual Arts Programme first. This also serves as the official opening of the festival. The ticket price includes refreshments and snacks along the way. What would art be without lots of wine too? Join us for this annual highlight on the Aardklop programme.

ART TOURS Free guided tours of the Visual Arts Programme commence daily at 09:30 at the Sanlam Auditorium and concludes at 11:00 at the NWU Gallery.

SHOWS

SEE ART/SIEN KUNS/BONA ART

4 to 8 October 09:00–17:00 ART SAFARI FOR KIDS Starting point: NWU Botanical Garden Gallery 09:30, 4–7 October For children from 6 to10 years (20 max) The tour concludes at the NWU Gallery at 12:30 Starting point: NWU Botanical Garden Gallery 10:30, 4–7 October For teenagers from 11 to 15 years (20 max) The tour concludes at the NWU Gallery at 13:30 The Aardklop Arts Festival 2016 is an opportunity to expose children and teenagers to the arts in general, and to nurture a love and appreciation for the visual arts in particular. The new direction and management of Aardklop has made it possible for us to focus on a younger audience, their needs and what matters to them. The children will embark on a chaperoned Safari through 10 art exhibitions on the NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus. At each exhibition they will be taken on a guided tour by NWU Gallery interns. Cost: • R75 per child. A family package is available, provided the children go on the Safari in one session: 2nd child R50; 3rd child R40; 4th child R30, thereafter free. * Price includes an activity pack containing a light snack and water, as well as a custom-designed education activity book with fun activities for each exhibition.

FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING Selected works from the NWU & MTN art collections CURATORS: CHRISTINA NAURATTEL & TIINA LIEBENBERG VENUE: NWU GALLERY PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Participating artists: Azaria Mbatha, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, Cecil Skotnes, Charles Lapicque, Christiaan Diedericks, Christine Dixie, Christo Coetzee, Christophe Miralles, Claudette Schreuders, Daniel Tsietsi (Stompie) Selibe, Deborah Bell, Diane Victor, Dumisani Mabaso, Durant Sihlali, Fabien Claude, George Boys, George Pemba, Giulio Tambellini, Gordon Froud, Gordon Mbatha, Hanneke Benadé, Irma Stern, Jackson Hlungwani, Jean Pons, Joachim Schönfeldt, Judith Mason, Justin Dingwall, Katala Fulai (Flai) Shipipa, Kay Hassan, Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah, Maggie Laubser, Marjorie Wallace, Maureen Quin, Minette Vari, Nomusa Makhubu, Noria Mabasa, Paul Boulitreau, Pippa Skotnes, Richardt Strydom, Robert Hodgins, Sam Nhlengethwa, Sandile Goje, Sue Williamson, Tsietsi Matubako, Vuminkosi Zulu, Vuyisani Mgijima, Willem Boshoff and William Kentridge

This collaborative exhibition brings together a selection of artworks from the MTN Art Collection and the NWU Art Collection, and explores the range of complex meanings associated with figure in the analysis of visual and material forms. In one sense figurative refers to the figure, in another it acts as a key metaphor for the human body or human subject. In a metaphorical sense, the human body, through art, takes on the meaning of an organised or ordered entity of the composition itself. The human body can take on this meaning in the body of a sculpture, painting or drawing, denoting an identifiable shape or element within the artwork or indexically telling the onlooker something about the figure or the body. For example, artworks such as Durandt Sihlali’s Looking in (Paddavlei) Kliptown (1974) [MTN Art Collection] and Tsietsi Progress Matubako’s Thy dignity (1992) [NWU Art Collection] denote identifiable shapes and elements. On the other hand, although barely any figure or body is depicted illusionistically, abstract artworks such as Tony Nkotsi’s The Shock (1997) [MTN Art Collection] and Christo Coetzee’s David (1986) [NWU Art Collection] indexically suggest figure or the human body/human subject. As these artworks illustrate, the phrase “figuratively speaking” (in a literal and/or metaphorical sense) evokes multiple meanings and motivates new conversations between the two art collections and between specific artworks within these art collections. The complexity and variety of meanings associated with the phrase also articulates inclusiveness and openness to healthy discourse on the issues depicted (either literally or metaphorically) by the artworks in these two art collections.

THE MODERN CONDITION Solo exhibition

POTCHEFSTROOM ARTIST JODY OLËN VENUE: NWU BOTANICAL GARDEN GALLERY I wish to challenge assumptions regarding the nature of reality. To illustrate and create a dreamlike reality, where positive transforms to negative in an ethereal world that allows different realities to co-exist and collide. To address culture’s conflicting values of material success and self-transcendence, encapsulating how humans are creatures of infinite contradiction. And I hope I provide a window and momentarily allow the viewer to commune with the hidden universe. My work reveals how our desire for increasing acquisition has produced impoverished spirits and eroded on a profound level our inner relationships with time and humanity. My series entitled The Modern Condition is an introspective journey, inspired by poetry, quotations, music and lyrics. I am deeply affected by environmental issues, illustrating this in miniature, the forgotten and the accumulation of display and displacement. There is an element of nostalgia, mystery and fantasy in my portrayal of subjects that haunt me – as much as they inspire me. There is always a deeper and darker meaning to be inferred from the works, requiring the viewer to see beyond the subject to the world beneath. My art requires much from the viewer: deep thought, fragile connections, and I hope it leaves a lingering whisper of unease to awaken and invoke a personal response. Jody was born in Johannesburg in 1969, and studied Graphic Design and Photography at Vaal Triangle Technikon before becoming a full-time artist. Jody, a mother of three, is deeply and emotionally affected by environmental and social issues. She is inspired by music, poetry and children’s book illustrations, and one day hopes to illustrate children’s books. She works in various media, including oil on canvas, pen and ink, charcoal and mixed media, and has exhibited with many notable artists, including Diane Victor, Helena Hugo and Angus Taylor. Jody now lives in Potchefstroom.

#SITDITAF Group exhibition

CURATOR: HEIDI ERDMANN VENUE: SANLAM AUDITORIUM

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Tim Hopwood, Manfred Zylla, Dathini Mzayiya, Lindeka Gloria Qampi, Rory Emmett, Aaron Samuel Mulenga, Bert Pauw, Niklas Zimmer, Debbie Loots, Agnes Heinz and Carla Erasmus

When I received the invitation to curate an exhibition for the arts festival in Potchefstroom, my thoughts immediately centred on protest. This is a university town, and in 2015 university campuses countrywide experienced mass protests, followed by destruction. In some cases, lectures and examinations were cancelled or postponed. South Africa’s troubled history and that of protest is well recorded in a vast inventory of resistance art. Emerging artists of today will undoubtedly in due course produce art works that comment on these recent university protests. For the purposes of this exhibition I opted for a selection of works that explore this theme, albeit historically.

LOOK SIEN BONA

The title of this exhibition is the title of the song Sit Dit Af (switch it off), written by Johannes Kerkorrel for his band, Die Gereformeerde Blues Band. In this context it is tied to the Voëlvry movement of 1989. This protest, presented in the form of music concerts across the country, was led by alternative Afrikaans musicians against the apartheid government of the time. The title also references the recent censorship imposed in 2016 by the South African national broadcaster, the SABC. Protest, landscape and identity are the three main anchors in this exhibition. Tim Hopwood’s photographs, taken at a Voëlvry concert in Port Elizabeth in 1989, are central in the protest section. Two other voices are added – those of wellknown anti-apartheid artist Manfred Zylla, and the younger Dathini Mzayiya, known for his powerful works on the Marikana Massacre. In the category for self-representation and identity I selected a video work by the internationally renowned street photographer, Lindeka Gloria Qampi, titled Inside My Heart. Recent fine-arts graduate Rory Emmett’s video, Colour Man, and fine-arts student Aaron Samuel Mulenga’s photographs add a further layer of comment in this section. With a sculpture entitled Deadlock, Bert Pauw, also a recent fine-arts graduate, offers the link between identity and protest. Niklas Zimmer’s series of photographs, All Fall Down, reflects on how we engage as individuals within our environment/landscape. The works of two painters, Debbie Loots and Agnes Heinz, and the photographer Carla Erasmus offer views on landscape, and in this context act as the surface on which we live out our lives. Heidi Erdmann is a curator and founder of Erdmann Contemporary & The Photographers Gallery ZA, in Cape Town, South Africa. She is also the exhibitions programmer at the Chavonnes Battery Museum at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town.

URBAN IMPRESSIONS Group exhibition

VENUE: ALUMNI HALL

CURATOR: ELANI WILLEMSE

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Franco Prinsloo and Pieter Bezuidenhout (composers), Christo Niemandt (videographer) and the FOUND Collective.

The FOUND Collective comprises a movement of young emerging and established artists who create exhibition and collaboration opportunities by hosting pop-up exhibitions in unconventional city spaces. This Pretoria-based community of creatives seeks to elevate and challenge perceptions of art and its role in the capital city. FOUND is run by artists who have a personal stake in the growth of the creative community in Pretoria. It operates as a non-profit organisation with the shared goal of invigorating the city’s art scene, connecting its art community, and pushing its creatives to new heights and to the limits of their potential. FOUND is dedicated to the facilitation of great art through collaboration, the sharing of skills and industry know-how and the development of opportunities for artists, specifically within Pretoria. Artists affiliated with the FOUND Collective movement include: Allen Laing, Banele Khoza, Celeste Theron, Dylan Graham, Elbie Erasmus, Franli Meintjies, Hickley Hamman, Heidi Fourie, Jotam Schoeman, Maaike Bakker, Marika Pretorius, Michelle le Grange, Mashudu Nevhutalu, Nina Torr, Oliver Mayhew, Thabo Pitso, and more. Urban: Of or relating to a city or town. Impression: a strong effect produced on the intellect, feelings, conscience, etc.; the first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind; sensation; the effect produced by an agency or influence; a notion, remembrance, belief, etc., often of a vague or indistinct nature; a mark, indentation, produced by pressure; an image in the mind caused by something external to it; the act of impressing; state of being impressed. Urban Impressions is a multi-disciplinary collaboration by creatives from different genres within the arts. Visual art is played off against contemporary classical music and videography. The concept was initiated by composers Franco Prinsloo and Pieter Bezuidenhout, who, while living in Sunnyside, were confronted by different sound stimuli. An organ-playing neighbour, a choir singing in a church across the road, a night club next door. These became the backdrop to what would later become the Sunnyside suites – a juxtaposition of sound and sensory experiences in Pretoria city. Urban Impressions explores the various aspects of life in the city: the breaking down of monuments, the erecting of new monuments, urban dilapidation and rejuvenation, city dwellers and everyday life in general. The artists bring their personal experience of city living, specifically within the context of Pretoria, to life. Through the layering of different art forms, interpretations and experiences, the exhibition illustrates a sensory interactive expression of contrasts in the landscape, cityscape, street life, urban life, sound, noise, history and culture. With each individual interpretation, a new layer of meaning is added that evokes thoughts of nostalgia and melancholy in the viewer. Elani Willemse (1986) is an arts administrator and aspiring curator currently employed as company liaison officer at Dionysus Sculpture Works, where she also works as personal assistant to renowned South African sculptor Angus Taylor. She completed her master’s degree in Art History at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) in 2013. Here she worked as assistant curator at the NWU Gallery, and she was also the manager of the NWU Art Collection.

LOOK

She has always been actively involved in the art scene, working as logistics manager for the Clover Aardklop Visual Arts Programme from 2011 to 2012, coordinating a youth art competition sponsored by the ATKV, and also coordinating the NWU Art Collection publication, Looking back while moving forward. She has curated various art exhibitions, the most recent being a Dionysus Sculpture Works group exhibition titled TACIT, marking 20 years since the studio was established by Angus Taylor. The arts are her passion and she firmly believes that this is the answer to all the world’s problems. She enjoys working with community-based projects, and was recently involved with the Cool Capital DIY Guerrilla Biennale, coordinating Foundry Day and administrating the PPC Public Benches project, which won the BASBA Innovation Award. She is also a member of the Horizons Project Choir, a Pretoria-based choir specialising in music by young, local composers, and composes choral music in her free time.

SAADJIES Group exhibition

VENUE: ALUMNI HALL

CONVENOR: PIETER MATHEWS

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Adelheid von Maltitz, Allen Laing, Anneke Bosch, Annette Pretorius, Anton Smit, Banele Khoza, Bontle Tau, Caitlin Greenberg, Cari Niehaus, Carla Crafford, Carli Bassin, Carlo Vignelli, Chris Soal, Danie Nell, Di Miller, Elbie Erasmus, Francois Visser, Franli Meintjies, Gordon Froud, Guy du Toit, Harrie Siertsema, Heidi Fourie, Ike Nkoana, Isa Steynberg, Izanne Wiid, Jaco Sieberhagen, Jan van der Merwe, Johan Nortjé, Johandi du Plessis, Juané Venter, Kay Potts, Keneilwe Makoena, Leanne Olivier, Liberty Battson, Liekie Fouché, Liesl Roos, Livhuwan Muthivithi, Loeritha Saayman, Lothar Botcher, Louis Kok, Luthando Phiri, Lwandiso Njara, Lynette ten Krooden, Magdel van Rooyen, Martyn Schickerling, Mbali Tshabalala, Micaela Balie, Mignon Mayhew, Mkhotu Teboho, Mpanza Ndukenhle, Nicci Olivier, Nyasha Ruvimbo Chikiwa, Odette Graskie, Rachel Ferriman, Renier le Roux, Retief van Wyk, Rina Stutzer, Rowland Daniel, Sanna Swart, Sarel Petrus, Sharleene Olivier, Shenaz Mahomed, Strijdom van der Merwe, Sunet Ferreira, Sybrand Wiechers, Thabo Pitso, Tineke Meijer and Zanoxolo Sylvestre Mqeku

Saadjies, the 2016 Cool Capital sculpture project, is an uncurated collection of miniature sculptures which challenges the general perception of public sculpture as being large and permanent works. In line with this year’s Cool Capital theme of “small is big”, Saadjies proves that small sculptures with a strong message can be just as powerful. The title Saadjies (seeds or pods in Afrikaans) accentuates that a small work of art can achieve big outcomes and have a profound impact, just as a small pod can grow into a massive tree. As a travelling exhibition, Saadjies exports South African creativity in a novel way beyond the traditional gallery context, allowing the ideas expressed in the artworks to circulate and reach a widespread audience. The sculpture project was open to any artist wishing to participate and all works of art complying with the size restriction of 18 cm x 18 cm x 18 cm were accepted as part of the collection. We believe that the nature of the exhibition allows the project to be truly expressive of the contemporary South African art scene and democratises creativity by giving equal opportunity to all. The sculpture project, which quickly attracted numerous artists from all walks of life, boasts 70+ artworks and expresses a wide variety of themes. The Saadjies were photographed in countless urban locations, including in Pretoria, Venice, Amsterdam, Leiden, Paris, Berlin and Beijing, as part of an extensive social media campaign #saadjies. The photographs, taken by professional and amateur photographers alike, do not merely showcase the artworks, but also renew interest in the urban landscape. The collection will be exhibited in various locations, both locally and abroad. The exhibition at the NWU Gallery, which forms part of the Aardklop festivities, follows the inaugural exhibition opened on 22 September at the Anton van Wouw house in Pretoria.

ROWLAND DANIEL SCULPTOR

We are were proud to showcase local sculptor Rowland Daniel’s work this year. His large sculptures can be vied in the NWU Botanical Garden and some of his smaller pieces will be on exhibition in the Alumni Hall during the festival. He is also yo take part in two group shows in the Alumni Hall: Saadtjies and Crossing Borders.

Pieter Mathews is the principal associate of Mathews and Associates Architects, a multi-award-winning firm in Pretoria, South Africa. He is an alumnus of the University of Pretoria and did practical training in London, after which he travelled the globe. He served as president of the Pretoria Institute for Architecture from 2013 to 2014. In 2013 the Andrew W Mellon foundation invited Pieter as part of a study group from the University of Pretoria to visit various galleries and museums in New York and surrounds. In 2014 Pieter convened the world’s first uncurated guerrilla biennale, Cool Capital, which is currently showcased at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. He regularly acts as external examiner at various South African Architecture schools, and has published two successful books on architectural theory: Architexture and Detail Housed. He has also designed bespoke furniture pieces for Southern Guild – one of South Africa’s most prestigious sculpture guilds. Pieter has curated and organised the Saadjies project with the assistance of Carla Taljaard and Jana Kruger of Mathews and Associates Architects.

CROSSING BORDERS Group exhibition

CURATORS: RIKA NORTJÉ & DANIEL MOSAKO VENUE: ALUMNI HALL

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS John Moore, Toni Pretorius, Poorvi Bhana, Helena Hugo, Gabisile Nkosi, Dumisani Mabaso, Karin Daymond, Pauline Gutter, Cobus van Bosch, Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Thembinkisi Sinalo Ntuli, Thuli Zondo, Enoch Ndlovu, Thabo Molapo, Pauline Mazibuko, Mojaki Lebatla, Daniel Mosako, Petros Mwenga, Allen Kupeta, Benon Lutaaya, Joao Ladeira, Cindy Leah Awuor, Roy Ndinisa, Attie Gerber and Rowland Daniel

The Crossing Borders exhibition was initially conceptualised for the Sanaa Africa Festival 2016 and sponsored by the MTN Foundation. In alignment with Sanaa Africa’s strategic objectives, we chose artists who display their unique “African-ness” by creating and sharing their own indigenous traditions, knowledge and talents. The artists are from a wide spectrum of languages and cultures – often exploring not just their own cultures and traditions, but also those of others. Artists from other Southern African countries were also invited to display. They all use a variety of art media to express their views and opinions on being African and celebrating this – regardless of race, age or gender. Rika Nortjé (née Stockenström) was born and raised in Kimberley in the Northern Cape. She obtained a National Diploma in Ceramic Design at the then Technikon Free State in 1998. She taught at the Kimberley Art Centre for two years, before being appointed at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in 2003. There she worked as art projects leader for 12 years, during which time she obtained a BTech Ceramic Design at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and a master’s degree in Art History at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2015 she married and later in the year relocated to Johannesburg to be with her husband. Currently she practises ceramics restoration, and does freelance work in collections management and curating. Daniel Rankadi Mosako was born in 1970 in Soweto, Johannesburg. He studied fine arts and obtained an honours degree in History of Art, an honours Degree in Information Science, a postgraduate diploma in Museum and Heritage Studies, and a master’s degree in Fine Arts in his academic career. He is currently registered for a PhD in History of Art at UNISA. He gave art lessons at tertiary institutions and functioned as a graphic designer in a communication and media division before becoming a University of Pretoria museum curator from 2008 to date. He is a renowned practising artist and researcher. Mosako has showcased his artworks in multiple international art exhibitions, has adjudicated several art competitions, and has also curated several art shows.

DIVINE Solo exhibition

FRENCH ARTIST PAUL BOULITREAU Vivienne Art Gallerie - Paris VENUE: ALUMNI HALL Marilyn, Alice, the Immaculate, Michael Jackson or Mickey Mouse... The human history was built through transcendental figures representative of the quest of narrative icons. These symbolic pictures gave birth to a remarkable semantic field translating to the desire of the perfection of humankind. This specific graphic and moral codes leading to a possible positive evolution of the human soul is also the occidental social cement. Divine is a body of work in which the viewer can identify iconic figures related to common belief systems and organised religion, with graphic cues and references jumping out at first sight. With a second glance one comes to find the destructuration of the recognisable and established references of common morality and fantasy; breaking the social agreement on the popular representation of contemporary objects of faith. The aim is to identify the condition of the existence of the divine and the feeling of possible salvation it offers to the occidental human being. How is our subconscious reacting to the distortion of the inner meaning of the picture we have of the Divine, the sacred? The work explores the displacement of the semantic field in the reading of popular figuration of the perceived divine. How disturbing can it be to confront another possible aesthetic truth in a consensual picture? This exhibition deals with questioning the place of religious imagery, the criteria of adoration of pictures, the sense of beauty and the evolution of devotion in our contemporary societies from Jesus Christ to Leonardo diCaprio. Paul Boulitreau was born in Paris in 1967. He studied textile design and fashion in Paris at L’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués and recently enrolled as a drama student. He works and lives in Paris and Johannesburg. He has exhibited extensively both locally and internationally, including at the gordart Gallery, the Michael Obert Gallery in Johannesburg and Galerie Brun Léglise in Paris. His works have been included in many collections, such as the Rand Merchant Bank, Chemcify, North-West University, Conseil Général des Yvelines, collection Illas Villa, Elizabeth Pons Collection, and others. He is a permanent artist at the Vivienne Art Galerie in Paris, and has also shown in New York.

FILMVERSE II Poetry animation project

ARTISTIC PRODUCER: DIEK GROBLER | ATKV CURATOR: RIKA NORTJÉ VENUE: ALUMNI HALL The ATKV’s successful poetry animation project, Filmverse, is continued with the premiere of Filmverse 2 at the kykNET Silwerskermfees at the end of August this year. The end product is once again a DVD, but the new production is multilingual, with four alternative soundtracks to choose from: Afrikaans, English, isiZulu or Sesotho. Filmverse received three nominations for Best Visual Arts Presentation locally, and individual films were selected to be shown at some of the most prestigious international animation festivals, including KROK in Russia, the Annecy Festival in France, Klik in Amsterdam and the Monstra Animation Festival in Lisbon. The Weimar Poetry Film Festival in Germany also recently announced that Charles Badenhorst’s film, based on Adam Small’s poem, What abou’ de lô, had won the Grand Jury Prize. Naomi van Niekerk’s film, ’n Gewone blou Maandagoggend, from Ronelda Kamfer’s poem with the same name, was also recently named the Best First Film at the Annecy Animation Festival in France. This is the first time that Afrikaans animation films have been included in these trendsetting festivals. Diek Grobler is once again the artistic director of Filmverse 2, and a new selection of 12 poems is included in this follow-up production. Poems by our older poets (Elizabeth Eybers, DJ Opperman and Boerneef), as well as the work of younger poets (Nathan Trantraal, Andries Bezuidenhout and Ronelda Kamfer) are included. Poems by Joan Hambidge, Johann de Lange, Jeanne Goosen, Marlise Joubert and Heilna du Plooy also feature in Filmverse 2. After the premiere at the kykNET Silwerskermfees on 26 August, Filmverse 2 can be seen at the Tuin van Digters at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington (16–18 September), the Aardklop Arts Festival, as well as at all the national arts festivals in the course of 2017.

TIRO Group exhibition by Botswana artists VENUE: ALUMNI HALL

CURATOR: SANDI BAKER

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Sedireng Olehile Mothibatsela, Ann Gollifer, Velias Ndaba and Aldo Brincat

Tiro, meaning work in Setswana, is an exhibition by the four artists, who live and work in Botswana, the place they call home. The exhibition of paintings, prints, smoke drawings and photographs from Botswana at this year’s Aardklop Festival is a glimpse into the country’s contemporary art scene. The four exhibiting artists reflect the current demographic of men and women working in the visual arts in Botswana. The exhibition includes the work of two Batswana artists, Sedireng Mothibatsela and Velias Ndaba; the work of a British Caribbean artist, Ann Gollifer, permanent resident in Botswana for 31 years; and of Aldo Brincat, of South African origin, resident in Botswana for close to 10 years. The work on display is varied in terms of its medium and concept. Each artist’s approach to their studio practice is individual. The unifying factor, being the artworks themselves, is a testimony to the time and care spent on creating bodies of work that, when hung together in an exhibition of this kind, become a reflection of the cultural mores, individual aspirations and insights that make up a portrait of a community in Botswana. Curator’s statement Coming from a predominantly literary background and arriving in Botswana after five years in Berlin, my preconceived ideas about society in Botswana were shattered on seeing Aldo Brincat’s work on the Ma Rock. With post-apocalyptic swag the death-metal rockers unleashed an immediate desire in me to find out more. And where better to do this than by establishing contact with Aldo? It is through this contact that I was introduced to the sharp, clear works of Ann Gollifer and her insightful examination of people in society, the subtle, eloquent and poignant works by Sedireng Mothibatsela, and Velias Ndaba’s vibrant and compelling works. Each artist reflects the weft and weave of Batswana society and adds to the developing narrative that is Botswana as it celebrates 50 years of independence.

BENDING LIGHT Curated by the NWU Gallery

ARTISTS KLEONICKI VANOS & LOTHAR BÖTTCHER VENUE: THE BLOU GALLERY “It seems obvious that something connects between the eyes and the thing being viewed. That something must be light. But does the light come from the eyes, or from the object under scrutiny, or from someplace else?” The Story of Light, Ben Bova, 2001 - Light and Vision, p.125 There are many approaches to the subject of Bending Light which may present us with a challenge on our perception of ‘light’. We are not uniformly sensitive to the illusions of light, yet context matters and our perception of it affects our physical, psychical, philosophical, conscious, subconscious, and scientific being. We process life as we perceive it and our perceptions can change. By Bending Light, both artists invite the viewer to explore variations on perception, invoking a moment of immediacy. Vanos uses light as a metaphorical brush, literally painting with light in her photographic images. Beau Lotto, professor of neuroscience at the University College London, conducts experiments to demonstrate how humans perceive optical illusions. He says, “I can take a grey patch, and cause you to see any colour in it”. Based on Prof Lotto’s experiment, Vanos conducts one of her own: by making use of LED lights that change colour at set intervals, she highlights different aspects of the image, which will give the viewer several different perspectives of the piece. This experiment is to demonstrate the effect that light has on our senses, and also to inspire contemplation on the matter of “reality” vs. “fantasy”. Vanos argues that we can begin to expand our world view on light by considering light not only as a way to illuminate objects, but an object in itself; in the absence of light, an artwork becomes about “seeing”. Böttcher sculpturally transforms glass into objects and portals, enticing the spectator to come closer and observe the world through his sculptures. “Glass is an optical medium. It reflects and refracts light. Light has a dual nature. It acts as a particle yet behaves like a wave. These scientific facts are my muse with which I explore my sculptural endeavours”. Honing his skills as a cold worker of glass, Böttcher intentionally manipulates light, and thus the imagery of continuous spaces within and beyond the sculptural lenses. These sculptural anomalies or visual portals are a search for the sublime. Their intentional distortion and bending of light contrast with our seemingly mundane perception of our falsely interpreted boring lives. “In this age of mass media and visual overstimulation I am inspired to create a moment of visual immediacy for the participant”. Mutually collaborating on the subject of transforming the familiar arrangement of photons into new narratives, these vibrant artists intend to illuminate the participant’s view on life.