by Christo DohertyIt’s not easy to find the Outlet gallery in Pretoria. You can drive around the arts campus of the Tshwane University of Technology asking people the way and nobody has heard of it. There are no signposts; but if you pre-arrange a visit with Abrie Fourie he will guide you in with directions by cellphone.
But when you get to the place where the gallery is supposed to be, it’s hard to believe that there can be a gallery in such a tiny space. Outlet is situated in a converted projection booth above a large hall on the northern corner of the campus. But as Abrie points out, as you climb the stairs to the little room, the size and shape of the gallery demand that artists deliberately use the space. “Outlet is about the space and how you show certain things in it.”
The way up the stairs to the entrance of the Outlet Gallery.
The gallery was launched in March 2003. In fact, the first show consisted of snapshots taken of the people that visited the space over the first two or three months. Some were deliberate visitors to the gallery, others were visitors to the institution who happened to pass by; others were Abrie’s students in Photography and Professional Art Practice.
Abrie started Outlet because Pretoria suffered from a dearth of experimental art spaces. “You sometimes have to just do things” he explains. He checked out several possible locations for the gallery, including some interesting spaces around Church Square in the centre of Pretoria; but chose to situate gallery on the Tshwane campus. Cannily, Abrie realized the value of an institutional letterhead; particularly for attracting international artists to the gallery. Artists need to clinch funding in order to travel and an invitation from a University-based gallery is more valuable to them. “Now I can tell a young Mexican or Irish artist, Hey Come!” and there is somewhere for them to do work. The second show at Outlet demonstrated the principle in action, featuring the Irish artist Eddie Raffety with Kay Hassan.
Abrie Fourie inside his Outlet Gallery with Nathaniel Stern’s latest show,
Compressionism, on the walls behind him.
The gallery was also inspired by Abrie’s experience of artist-owned galleries in Europe and America. In his view these galleries, often housed in apartments or even passage-ways of private houses, play an essential role in developing both artistic and curatorial careers. Typically, young curators start off by getting some experience in established galleries and then begin to do their own thing by launching their own galleries. Once they get listed, they can start to play an important role on the arts scene. For young artists, these galleries are an opportunity present the pick of their work without the costs or connections which the established galleries exact. Europe in particular is full of interesting small galleries which provide an energetic counterpoint to the established art scene. Abrie also recognised the potential for establishing links with the international art scene through a gallery such as Outlet. "Many of the young artists who are doing really interesting work in cities like Berlin would really like to get over here; but there are no openings at the established galleries and museums. Independent spaces like Outet can provide the platform for such artists to visit South Africa and to create new work.
Çlearly, Outlet is also fulfilling a need in South African art particularly for new artists and experimental projects. Since its launch the gallery has hosted shows by a wide range of local and international artists. Durban artist Thomas Barry presented his parody of the Volkskas/ABSA Atalier 1st prize at Outlet. Local performance artist Johan Thom built a false floor in the gallery, wired it for sound, painted everything white, and set up closed-circuit TV surveillance cameras which fed a projector in the hall below. He did a 45 minute performance, painting designs with blood on the floor and walls; which the audience in the hall saw as black&white. Only afterwards, when they had access to the gallery did they experience the blood red of the drawings and the stark white of the room. By contrast, the Belgian performance artist Zhane Warren encouraged her audience to cram into the tiny gallery alongside her while she “ate her fears”.
Abrie and his son in Outlet Gallery.
“Outlet is not a place for sale” Abrie declares. “Unlike any of the commercial galleries I don’t charge a rental for the space. Artists are not here to pay rent. Outlet works by people coming to me and saying what they want to do and we negotiate about it. The point is to make things happen!”
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