SAarts Emerging

OUTLET PROJECT ROOM

Shane de Lange — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:22:00 +0000

Outlet is an ulterior spacial initiative, focusing primarily on alternative artistic practices; a project room of sorts that allows artists, designers and the like to explore their more experimental tendencies. The space is situated inside a seemingly innocuous, proverbially indiscreet, projector room, outside the old painting hall of Tshwane University of Technology arts faculty. This project room is the brainchild of South African conceptualist, and recent Spier contemporary winner, Abrie Fourie.

Outlet opened in 2003 and has had a prolific history, sporting the exploits of artists such as Gerhard Marx, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Sean Slemon, Johan Thom, Sue Williamson and Marcus Neustetter. Many of the SAartsEmerging artists have also exhibited in this space, such as Bronwyn Lace, Simon Gush, Nathaniel Stern, Colleen Alborough, and Shane de Lange.

Abrie has recently moved to Germany and passed over the reigns of the Outlet gallery to Ingozi Disco co-founder and fellow SAartsEmerging member Shane de Lange. The first show to be hosted by Outlet this year will be "Marvelous World"; an installation of works by Guy du Toit, Richard John Forbes, Sarel Petrus, and Paul Cooper. Marvelous World opens on April 19th at 14:00. For more information refer to http://outletprojectroom.blogspot.com/ or email ingozidisco@gmail.com

URBANSTRETCH

mtkidu — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:36:00 +0000

Opening Wednesday 26th March 6pm-8pm
Closing Saturday 12th April

Young street artists from various disciplines have been given the opportunity to work, explore and exhibit their ideas for “immoderate public art”. Their intention was to stay away from the more traditional public art ideals; the type of work that would be funded and encouraged in the real world of judging panels and politics. The public art has not been made, the visualizations are being exhibited: sketches of process, studies and plans. The gallery has become an environment to experiment and collaborate; a place where contemporary street culture, traditional artistic practice and “pie-in-the-sky” ideals overlap and coalesce.
Curated by Leigh-Anne Niehaus and Murray Turpin.

Participating Artists:
Black Koki and 351073
Elbowgrease
Kenny Sonono
Phillemon Hlungwani
Rhett Martyn
Satta Collective

With graffiti intervention by Rasty.
Supported by Art Bank Jobrug and Red Bull

The Premises at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre
Loveday Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa
www.onair.co.za/thepremises
thepremises@onair.co.za
Gallery Hours -
Tuesday - Saturday
10h00 - 17h00

PUSHPLAY>> Exhibition of Emerging Video Art @ The Bag Factory

Rat Western — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:55:00 +0000

The Bag Factory and SAartsEmerging.org present

PUSHPLAY>>

Opens: 12 March 2008 @ 6 for 6:30
Closes: 14 March

10 Mahlathini St, Fordsburg, Johannesburg

a selection of video art by up-and-coming South African artists. The exhibition, to be opened on 12 March 2008, runs in conjunction with the Johannesburg Art Fair to be launched on the 13March 2008.

SAartsEmerging.org is a collaborative web platform which promotes the work of South African artists though feature reviews, exhibition advertisements and other news links following the career paths of its associated artists. SAartsEmerging.org has an open call for applications to join the website.

The Bag Factory welcomes 'Push Play' as part of its exhibition programme which aims to further the needs of the local Johannesburg art scene.

'Push Play' is SAartsEmerging.org's fourth physical manifestation having exhibited previously in Johannesburg, Cape Town and most recently in February as part of the fringe of the Rotterdam Art Fair.

Line up includes: Lester Adams, Nina Barnett, Shane de Lange, Anthea Moys, Anthea Pokroy, Rat Western, Dean Henning and Rike Sitas and a live performance by MTKIDU and Ismail Farouk.

Enquiries:
Rat Western
rat@bagfactoryart.org.za
+27 72 802 9447
www.bagfactoryart.org.za
www.saartsemerging.org

10 Mahlathini St Fordsburg: Map

SAartsEmerging in Rotterdam

Bronwyn Lace — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Lester Adams

Bronwyn Lace — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:20:00 +0000

“What I am trying to do is tell a story. My work often tries to access situations and circumstance by way of the material itself. A rewriting of a biological imperative and history.” Lester Adams

Adams is compelled by stories, the stranger and more mysterious the better. Biological anomalies, destinies written by DNA, the factual and the fictitious, all knitted together in a sensitive and sophisticated aesthetic.

Adams has “discovered” creatures, circumstances and legends that he draws from historical, geographical and biological research. His love of these oddities likens him to an explorer, a rogue discoverer of rare information that is available to everyone, but sought by few.

His work stems from this detailed inventory of stories, linked to each other by a sense of a utopian/dystopian binary. To look at a work in its final form, there is little indication of the intense narrative and conflict it symbolizes. Adams creates pristine and immaculate icons that evolve from a voracious study of the abnormal and the unfortunate. He calls this process “a baroque distillation”, a method that both concentrates the essence of his stories and their particularities, and pays homage to their dramatic and indulgent elements.

The stripping away of a narrative into a singular and signifying entity is a daring and sometimes contradictory action. The meaning and value that lies in the story may be lost to the viewer, though the art object may be attractive and compelling. This attraction and mysterious concealment creates a conflicted response. One is drawn to Adam’s work because of its cleanly constructed and authentic form, and distanced by the hidden significance of the clearly symbolic objects. He enjoys and encourages this push-pull dynamic. It mirrors his own relationship to his narrative subjects.

14s in 25fps in 14m, Negotiate: Intervention, Johannesburg Art Gallery, 2004

Adams speaks of his works as signposts - indicators of the tragic, the obscure and the fatal that lie beneath the surface of saturated perfection. This twisted relationship suggests the essential faults and oddities present in life are accentuated and heightened as flawlessness is sought. Searching for this extreme might manifest in excessive breeding of a species for their unique quality with aberrant side effects, or the hunting to extinction of an elusive animal for its legendary features. In each case, there is an obsession with the control of beauty that has captivated humans for centuries. Adams expresses this dynamic through his own obsession with the unnatural, dystopic entities and stories that arise in these circumstances.

This notion of significant objects is seen clearly in Sins of the Father’s. This minimal, cleanly executed work indicates the binaries of perfection and fault, without giving away its tragic narrative. The focus of this work is a cloudlike shape of Karakul fur, a material that is harvested from lamb fetuses. Though there is no surrounding text or information, the vivid tangibility of the material and its ethereal presentation give a sense of the weight and moral implication held in this article.

Sins of the Father's, SAartsEmerging Exhibition, The Bag Factory, 2006

There is always an immaculate finish and essential truth-to-materials present in Adam’s work. He will not settle for a merely convincing representation of the object he is memorializing. In his creative process, he sources the genuine article from his chosen narrative, adding another layer to the investigative method he has wholeheartedly adopted. This enhances the importance and authenticity of the work, and conveys the message of the truth in the legendary. The acquirement of these objects, animals or materials, often comes at the cost of the article’s life, or involves accessing industries that are usually avoided for their unsavory nature. Adams speaks of sourcing these materials as both thrilling and traumatic – it is as if he must go through a ritual of a compelling and upsetting nature to incite this reaction from his audience.

This need for the genuine object indicates another aspect of Adam’s process, the creation of the relic. His works indicate the idea of fragments, precious pieces of a sacred entity that are venerated and memorialized. This relic-like quality places them in a fine balance, between the mysterious and legendary, and the brutally real.

Deep Roller has an air of the divine, the untouchable. Tumbler pigeons, frozen mid-fall, are placed sequence-like above one another. Their stagnant poses indicate the falling stages of a bird bred to tumble in this way, with the ultimate consequence of fatality. The immaculate beauty of the birds, their mysterious origin, and the undeniable truth of their authenticity all contribute to the aura of a relic they exude.

Deep Roller, Positive Pulse, Sun City, 2007

Deep Roller, SAartsemerging Cape, Vega Brand communications School, 2007

Adam's latest work is currently on the Impossible Monsters show at David Brodie's new gallery Art Extra. For more information go to http://www.artextra.co.za/

Written by: Nina Barnett

mtkidu and friends live....

mtkidu — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:32:00 +0000

Interruption

Anthea Moys — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:44:00 +0000

Anthea Moys

'Interruption'

to be opened by Prof. Penny Siopis... and other surprises

In fulfillment of Master's in Fine Arts

Saturday 10 November 2007, for one night only!

6:30 for 7pm

Intermission: 195 Jeppe Street, Lister Medical Building, 18th Floor

Safe parking via entrance Bree Street (turn right at big blue parking sign after crossing Kruis Street)

Map: www.intermission.co.za

Cash bar

Bring binoculars if you own them.

Anthea 084-822-6577 or anthea.moys@gmail.com

Alastair 083-561-8536

Art Extra

Lester Adams — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:23:00 +0000

Art Extra is a contemporary art gallery opening in Johannesburg
on 7 November 2007 at 6 pm with a curated group show

Impossible Monsters

Location - 373 Jan Smuts Ave, Craighall, Johannesburg

Map/Directions - go to www.artextra.co.za

OR

email info@artextra.co.z a and we will send you a map

For any other queries please call David Brodie 082 552 3143

A Look Away issue 6: Now Out

Rat Western — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:59:00 +0000

A Look Away is a fine arts and design magazine from Pretoria and SAarts Artist, Shane De Lange, is it's art coordinator. It showcases up and coming artists of all types and from all spheres of influence and in the last year and a half has become a great vehicle for contemporary culture.

This issue's cover has been specially designed by another SAarts Artist, Asha Zero and the mag includes a feature article on Bronwyn Lace.

A Look Away retails for only R25 and is available at various book stores and galleries in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town. For more information on where to get a copy or for back issues please contact the A Look Away Team: alookaway@pasiwa.co.za

SAarts Emerging Artist wins New Media Award and Exhibits in Austria

Rat Western — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:22:00 +0000

Ismail Farouk was recently awarded the SABC Highway Africa New Media Award (Individual category) for his collaborative work, with Dutch/Iranian web guru Babak Fakhamzadeh, sowetouprisings.com.

Farouk is also currently exhibiting his work 'Rock Sale' at the Unfair Trade exhibition opening at the Neue Galerie in Austria. The Unfair Trade Exhibition attempts to draw attention to fair trade, above all fair exchange. This exhibition on the subject of global "Un/fair Trade" does not only show art works dealing with this theme, but collaborates with scientists from the fields of economics, sociology and cultural theory. In addition to the curated works, the exhibition also boast an online component. Participants are invited to contribute thoughts, opinions and art work on the subject of "Un/fair Trade" on the Net. At the same time, these texts, opinions and art works will be projected into the museum.

HAVE CITY WILL PLAY

Rat Western — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:01:00 +0000

SAarts Emerging Artist Anthea Moys, brings Have City Will Play to Johannesburg next week end 29 September 2007. If you are interested in assisting marshaling the games on the day (shooting people with water pistols, throwing balls at them, judging karaoke etc.) Please contact Anthea at: anthea.moys@gmail.com.

HAVE CITY WILL PLAY
invites you to a day of playing games in your CITY!

"Have City Will Play" in conjunction with CIT:Y Festival and Arts Alive invites you to come and play in the streets of Newtown! On Saturday the 29th of September "Have City Will Play" will begin at 10am at Museum Africa with a discussion series on playing, gaming and performance art within public space given by the organisers- Anthea Moys and Tegan Bristow (see below for more info). After this, attendees will be invited to play one (or both) of two games on offer: "Shoot me if you can" or "The Nonsensical Obstacle Course Race".

So! The games will begin at 13:00 and continue throughout the afternoon, but come early as there are limited prizes and limited number of spaces available for each game. As prizes we are giving away full meals at Moyo, theatre tickets for any show at the Market Theatre, tickets to the Arts Alive concert on Saturday night featuring the likes of Giles Peterson, plus lots of fun stuff from the CIT:Y festival. Dress comfortably- no dresses or skirts please as tree climbing and ball dodging is involved! Its free so put on a hat and some sun cream, bring friends and come play!

SEE MAP attached for more info

WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT?

Johannesburg is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, making Johannesburg people 'car people'. When last did you just go for a walk in the city? Have City Will Play is about negotiating this chaos and perceived danger of Jozi through negotiating the city space in an engaging manner through the playing of a game. Have City Will Play is taking advantage of the safe and car free zone in central Newtown created by the Arts Alive Festival to engage in play in this public space. Newtown is seen as a practicing grounds as I hope to extend this project into other areas of town over the years to come.

Have City Will Play is part of an ongoing project, which I began as an investigation into the notion of play within various kinds of performance within public space. This project is kindly sponsored by the NAC (National Arts Council) and will be included in a solo exhibition to take place in November this year.

More Info: anthea.moys@gmail.com

Night Journey by Colleen Alborough on at Wits Medical School Adler Museum

Colleen — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:15:00 +0000

The video installation Night Journey by Colleen Alborough is currently on show at Wits Medical School Campus at The Adler Museum of Medicine. The exhibition runs until the end of October 2007.

Hours of the gallery: Mon - Fri, 10am - 4pm.

A walkabout will be held by the artist on 5 October 2007, 1-10pm.

SAarts Artist in Art South Africa: Latest Edition, Spring

Rat Western — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:12:00 +0000

Haunted Territory

COLLEEN ALBOROUGH BALANCES SUBJECTIVE ARTISTIC EXPRESSION WHILE STILL ENGAGING THE VIEWER IN AN EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL MANNER, WRITES CATHERINE GREEN

Colleen Alborough is Art South Africa's ninth Bright Young Thing for 2007

www.artsouthafrica.com

Work in Progress : An exhibition of young artists

Rat Western — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:41:00 +0000

Calling all young and emerging artists to enter a work for the upcoming exhibition ‘Work in Progress.’ This exhibition, which has been conceptualised and is curated by Anthea Pokroy; Candice Hirson and Louise Ross, looks at the idea of the emerging artist as a 'work in progress.'

The exhibition will be held at 105A Heather Rd, Athol on the 24^th of September and is a site specific one-night only event.

The Criteria for entry are as follows:

· Artists may enter individual or group works

· Artists may enter up to 3 works

· Any medium

· Any size

· Entry must be made through an email to one of the following addresses: louweeza@gmail.com; antheapokroy@gmail.com; hirsonc@gmail.com

· Entry must consist of a photograph, still frame or proposal

· Artists must include a description of their work, artist’s statement and price

· A fee of R20 must be paid when the work is delivered

· The Artist is responsible for getting their work to the exhibition space, if however you are having a problem with this then please speak to Louise, Candice or Anthea

· If equipment is required the artist must supply it

· All entries must be submitted by the 7^th of September

· All work must be delivered to the above address on the 23^rd of September between 10:00-14:00.

Disclaimer: The organisers have the right to select whatever work they may choose, the organisers will not be held responsible for any damage, theft, loss and so on and so forth that may occur before, during or after the show.

Anthea Pokroy

Candice Hirson

Louise Ross

Together In Electric Dreams: Rike Sitas & Dean Henning

Rat Western — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:54:00 +0000

by Alexander Sudheim

“I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of sound and vision / And I will sing, waiting for the gift of sound and vision” intones David Bowie in an alien baritone on “Low”, his 1977 landmark Brian Eno-produced album of downtempo electro-noir experimentation. Had the Thin White Duke uttered these words in 2007 he could well have been describing the anticipation of a performance by Dean Henning and Rike Sitas where one is, quite literally, waiting for the gift of sound and vision. Soon the spell is cast: once the listeners/viewers are drawn into the inimitable and inscrutable instrumental and electronic soundscapes created by Captain Asthma (Henning) and the equally dreamy and disturbing somnambulist cinema courtesy of Rike Sitas it becomes immediately clear that the gifts of sound and vision have been bestowed upon the audience in great abundance. Whether performing under the aegis of their Durban-based underground audio-visual initiative Rustpunk or within the wider collaboration with other artists and musicians that is The Sound of And Band, Captain Asthma and Rike Sitas never fail to astound with the combination of technical complexity and lyrical simplicity that anchors their work.

Captain Asthma’s philosophy of music is remarkably analogous to Dr. Frankenstein’s philosophy of undertaking: both pillage and co-opt with gleeful abandon to create from disparate elements an astonishing new creature that amounts to so much more than a sum of its parts. In both instances the entity they bring to life is both terrifying and tender; a lumbering monster with a heart pure as the driven snow. Blending samples, found sounds, rewired toy instruments, self-generated beats and whatever other aural detritus floats his way, watching Captain Asthma in action is a vicariously vertiginous business where at any given moment the taut miniscus of order could be punctured by chaos and pull you right down with it. In similar fashion is Rike Sitas’ oeuvre both temptress and torturer: the apparently random weave of her visual tapestry is as likely to caress in inordinately sensual manner as it is to chafe the most delicate parts in ways both excruciating and exhilirating.

The knockout blow delivered to both eyes and ears by the combined trajectory of Captain Asthma’s sound sculptures and Rike Sitas' moving images reaches new heights of sophistication and cohesion in their acclaimed installation simply entitled “a city”. Debuting at the KZNSA Gallery in 2006, the work was an instant hit, seducing scores of viewers/participants with its unprecedented marriage of science and beauty. Generally most people get their kicks in the former realm by reading about black holes and those in the latter by gazing at, say, paintings by Mark Rothko. Of course there’s a profound sense of mystery common to both of these yet somehow in “a city” it seems to have never been so deftly conjoined on one screen; on one set of speakers. By and large, science is about the desire to wrestle mystery into submission with the intellect whereas beauty involves allowing the intellect to submit to the fundamental ineffability of mystery. Naturally the dividing line is nowhere near as rigid as this, but nowhere has the Cartesian dualism of the two become so effortlessly enmeshed as in this installation by Henning and Sitas.

Hardly effortless though. Ask Henning how he made that big metal box thing with all the buttons that allow people to control the environment they see and hear and you get an answer involving phrases like “contacts are split into two groups with each linked to a separate contact sheet... these sheets had to be traced to figure out which connections had to be made for the alphanumeric characters (A to Z and 0 to 9) which ended in a matrix of sorts for which I had to solder all the buttons”. Or try asking how the person viewing the installation personally manipulates sounds, backgrounds and characters by pushing the buttons? “Backgrounds load the interstitial, load the new horizon line data, invoke the scaling/placing routine to move the characters about, then kill the interstitial. There are four sound layers: pushing a button randomly chooses one, kills the existing sound there (if there is one) and loads a new randomly chosen one”, comes the blithe reply. In English, somebody? And Sitas, what was her role? Says Henning: “She filmed and conceived everything and described each tableau to me. I just physically made it happen”. Never mind multi-media: this is more like ultra-media.

In an era where the word “installation” evokes images of information-age existential angst involving batteries of televisions and random barrages of images to make some hackneyed statement about desensitisation, Henning and Sitas have created something deceptively simple, disarming, beautiful and bewildering. Raw footage hand-enhanced frame-by-frame with myriad sonic and visual layers and components all capable of being mutated into infinite configurations, “a city” ensures that it will never be the same twice. And if that isn’t science and beauty both angling for the truth it’s hard to imagine what is.

Together the two artists also curated the explosive “Intersection” edition of storied Durban multi-media arts blast Red Eye and produced a perplexing opus in the form of a series of framed damaged narratives which was exhibited at Durban venue Home before being showcased at the lecturers’ exhibition at Vega, Durban and the saartsemerging show in Cape Town.

Though the essence of the Sitas/Henning odyssey through the lachrymose depths and glittering arcs of sound and vision remains a unified enterprise, on occasion their path bifurcates and each investigates separate directions specific to their chosen medium. On this front Sitas has featured as a prominent collaborator with acclaimed choreographer Jay Pather, creating interactive video elements for his works “Republic”; “Paradise” and his contribution to the seminal Dance Umbrella event at Constitution Hill. She has also exhibited at Cape Town’s AVA and written in arts journals about contemporaries Dineo Bopape and Vaughn Sadie.

New Site (More or Less)

Rat Western — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:37:00 +0000

Welcome Everyone, to the more or less completed new site for SAarts. We are still experiencing a few glitches with the archive which will be ironed out in the next few days. We have decided to move the site from wordpress to blogger as the group has found blogger more user friendly and the administration wishes to encourage more postings by those who have been featured in the past and those artists who’s work is lined up for the near future. Look out for new activities, opportunities and discussion sessions happening soon.

Site Under Construction

Rat Western — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:03:00 +0000

We are currently switching SAarts Emerging over to a new site with Blogger. The site is still under construction but feel free to browse our past posts and join us on Monday for the new revamped site.

Sun City: Positive

Rat Western — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:16:00 +0000

This past month, nine of the SAarts Emerging artists were fortunate enough to be featured on the continent’s largest and most ambitious Aids fund raising initiative to date, Sun International’s POSI+IVE.

The exhibition, which opened at Sun City’s Hall of Treasures on the 16th of June, was created to showcase work from internationally renowned South African artists, as well as some of South Africa’s emerging artists.

The line up of artists included Andries J Botha; Anton Kannemeyer; Athi-Patra Ruga; Babak Fakhamzadeh; Berni Searle; Brett Murray; Bronwyn Lace; Churchill Madikida; Clive van den Burg; Colbert Mashile; David Koloane; Dianne Victor; Donna Kukuma; Doung Anwar Jahangeer; Frances Goodman; Gerhard Marx; Hentie van der Merwe; Ismail Farouk; Jill Trappler; Jo Ractliffe; Joachim Schönfeldt; Johan Thom; Julia Teale; Kagiso Pat Mautloa; Kathryn Smith; Konrad Weltz; Lawrence Lemoana; Lester Adams; Luan Nel; Marco Cianfanelli; Minnette Vári; Nadine Hutton; Paul Emmanuel; Penny Siopis; Peter Schütz; Pieter Hugo; Rat Western; Robert Hodgins; Sabelo Mlangeni; Sam Nhlengethwa; Samson Mudzunga; Santu Mofekeng; Senzeni Marasela; Simon Gush; Sue Williamson; Tracey Rose; Willem Boshoff; William Kentridge; Zach Taljaard; Zanele Muholi and Zwelethu Mthethwa.

Some Images from the show:

Zach Taljaard’s The Kiss

We Can Not Continue to Die Like This
Ismail Farouk with Babak Fakhamzadeh

Hierachy of Colour, Lawrence Lemoana

8/5, Bronwyn Lace
Ranger Circle, Simon Gush

Deep Roller, Lester Adams

The Tarot of Johannesburg, Rat Western

MTKidu: the End of the Begining

Rat Western — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:24:00 +0000

by Shane De Lange

The electronic music scene in South Africa seems to be booming right now, with quality productions from Max Normal, Real Estate Agents (aka Constructus), Lark, and Jacob Israel generating positive results. Given the high calibre of these already established electronica artists, it seems difficult to imagine how another group could enter into the fray. However, thanks to all the publicity that Mtkidu have been attracting lately with their performances and exhibitions, it is clear that South Africa’s underground cultural scene has got a new member to contend with.

I first noticed Mtkidu about a year ago whilst visiting Love and Hate at their studio in Pretoria. There was a copy of TFTD 0.5 laying on one of the tables in the studio that attracted my attention with its peculiar pink cover, sporting a highly stylized and synthetic looking tree, suggestive of the proverbial burning bush. A few weeks later, Love and Hate held an exhibition, called New Suburbia at the Platform on 18th gallery in Pretoria, which exhibited some of Mtkidu’s illustrations. Mtkidu also played a live beat construction set on the opening night of New Suburbia that made many of the visitors, including myself, stare in astonishment and take notice. A few months later, I had the opportunity to join Love and Hate for their next exhibition, which was held at the Moja Modern gallery in Johannesburg. My involvement in this event, called the Inevitable Exhibition, eventually allowed me to make contact with Mtkidu. Thanks to this ‘inevitable meeting’, I managed to get Mtkidu to perform at my solo show, called Anticube, hosted by Gordart in Melville during December last year. This short history has allowed me to develop a close relationship with Mtkidu, which affords me the opportunity to elaborate on their work here.

Mtkidu are a Johannesburg based ‘blip-hop’ collective comprising Murray Turpin (MT) and Richard Nesbit (KIDU). Together this Team Uncool, as they like to be called, is known for their live beat constructions and multimedia manipulations, which have developed a cult following in certain cultural circles in Pretoria and Johannesburg. These constructions and manipulations form the basis of Mtkidu’s performances, forming a small part of their dark and whacky idiom. Mtkidu’s happenings are pivotally connected to their other artistic endeavours, and it is important to note that Mtkidu’s work is experienced most effectively in various contexts. Mtkidu employ a plethora of mediums and formats to create their work, ranging from graphic illustrations, digital animations, internet blogs and web sites, live DJ sets, interactive CD box-sets, improvised performances and happenings, and all kinds of marketing, such as buttons, badges, stickers, stencils, and pamphlets.

Murray and Nick played a few modest gigs together before the formation of Mtkidu, most notably the “Secret Parties” that were held at the Horror Café and Carfax in Johannesburg. Mtkidu’s first official performance took place at the trendy Berlin Bar in Melville during July 2005, and it was a typically low-key, underground, ‘dope-beats’ affair. They would go on to have regular appearances at various events and venues around Johannesburg, practically becoming residents at Fuel Café and Tokyo Star. Key amongst these happenings was Mtkidu’s performances at art exhibitions organized by Love and Hate, which gradually extended their support base.

Despite the furor surrounding Mtkidu’s underground events, it was the limited release in May 2006 of TFTD 0.5 (Tales from the Dark: Version Five), their first studio album, that finally began to manifest results for the collective. This album was seen as a breakthrough by many connoisseurs in Johannesburg’s artistic community, simply because it managed to do away with many historical constructs and border-limitations; most notably those that separate fine art, illustration, graphic design, and multimedia (digital animations, interactive interfaces, electronic compositions, et cetera).

Mtkidu’s penchant for cross-pollination can be attributed to the fact that MT is a trained artist (Honours, Wits University) and KIDU studied graphic design (Degree, Wits Tech), and both of them have dabbled extensively with music in the past. Murray was a DJ for many years, spinning the decks with rather conservative hip hop beats under the guise of “Undersound”. Nick has been in various bands, playing guitar and singing for the “Shirley Temples”. So, it is understandable that Mtkidu tend to hybridize graphic design, sound, and art so effortlessly. Mtkidu can be seen as a chimera that agitates conservative perspectives about art, design, and music; specializations that have been isolated by institutions throughout history, causing redundant boundaries to be constructed. The introduction and development of new media has offered a way out of these boundaries and constraints, and Mtkidu are surely a pioneering duo in this respect.

A major feature of TFTD 0.5 is its strong emphasis on ‘multi-media’; blurring the distinctions between Mtkidu’s live performances, web sites and blogs, art exhibitions, collaborations, marketing, interfaces, music and other saleable publications. This is not to say that all traditions must be discarded; the point is that Mtkidu has managed to find a relevant use for traditional mediums within the virtual spaces of ‘new media’, paying homage to the digital medina.

Mtkidu’s process is extremely progressive, tossing any notions of specialization away, feeling free to use any medium that strikes their fancy. Firstly, audio manipulation is done with a laptop, sampler, CDJ’s, Kaoss pads, turntables, and a Casio keyboard. These machines help compose the soundtrack to the world of TFTD 0.5, both in its live and recorded manifestations. Secondly, graphic elements, such as comics and websites, are introduced to convey the visual concepts surrounding TFTD 0.5. Thirdly, audio experiments with cued animations are regularly performed in front of a live audience (simple two-dimensional animations are made using Macromedia Flash). And lastly, Mtkidu manages to conjoin all these projects, mediums, and disciplines under a banner of a pseudo-corporation called Team Uncool, which is also their recording label and art consultancy. This approach to capitalism is fairly reminiscent of Asha Zero’s Roadkillvisiontoiletries, or Matthew Herbert’s “Country X” and Radioboy projects, and adds to the socio-political element characteristics of their work.

TFTD 0.5 was the first production released by Team Uncool, and it contains a number of digital compositions in the form of an interactive Flash presentation, which gives a concise introduction to Mtkidu’s worldview. There are seven tracks on the CD that can be described as a mixture of Hip Hop, Drum and Bass, Electronica, Brit-Pop, classic arcade game noises, and a combination of familiar sounds that are reminiscent of childhood (swings, children playing, and birds singing). The sound that comes from this creepy combination of noises can be compared a prospective collaboration between Aphex Twin and Alphaville, or a concert with Richard Devine and Foreigner in a huge gaming arcade. The interactive presentation on the CD also enhances the ubiquitous experience of TFTD 0.5; creating a strong sense of nostalgia in relation to the past, present, and future. The interface is deliberately obscured in order to increase this sense of ambiguity in relation to society’s borders, geographical positioning, and temporal paradoxes. The album is an amalgamation of Mtkidu’s subversive ideas relating to societal constructs, stereotypes and institutions i.e. white people listen to Alternative and Metal and black people listen to Hip Hop and House. Their point is that these distinctions are severely limiting and unnecessary, obstructing the development of art and design in South Africa.

TFTD 0.5 can be described as a satire about the current socio-political climate within South Africa, specifically in relation to the transition from Apartheid to the ‘New South Africa’. Issues such as crime, poverty, and change seem to be addressed in a humorous and serious manner. This confusing situation is addressed by the digital comic book of TFTD 0.5, which can be viewed with the enhanced features on the CD. The comic evokes Mtkidu’s vision of a simulated environment based on life growing up in South Africa’s transitional period.

The comic depicts a troubled young boy called Klein Baas (meaning young master - a call-back to the Apartheid era) who lives in the inner city of Johannesburg. He is constantly struggling to understand the odd contradictions that surround him in his post-apartheid world: he sees his domestic worker as a mother because his mother is too busy with her advertising job, and he constantly makes Manichean distinctions between the city and the suburbs. Klein Baas is the alter-ego for both MT and KIDU, both having been seemingly unaware of the events of 1994 because they were too young to understand the reasoning behind those events. TFTD 0.5, from the perspective of Klein Baas, asks a few simple questions: what would life be like in 1994? Am I responsible for what my forefathers have done? Am I South African if I am white? Who comes up with these distinctions, taboos and stereotypes? It is a play on George Orwell’s “1984” in the context of South Africa during 1994.

Mtkidu uses technology and the effects of the media, such as television and the internet, to approach these issues in an almost Futurist, avant-garde manner. The only way Klein Baas manages to cope with his schizophrenic life is to play video games on a cartridge based console, which is once again a flashback to the early 90s (Nintendo and Sega consoles were very popular at that time). At one point in the comic Klein Baas manages to get his hands on a very special game cartridge, called TFTD 0.5, which he stole from a second-hand shop owned by a man named Paul Kruger. When Klein Baas inserts the game cartridge into his gaming console he is transported into an alternate universe. This dimension is called “dark continent” and forms the environment of TFTD 0.5; an immixture of The Never-ending Story, The Ring, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz. The only difference is that Doris is a boy named Klein Baas growing up in post-apartheid South Africa.

All the features included on TFTD 0.5 aids in linking Mtkidu’s art, design, performances, and marketing. The spectator is converted into an information pattern, skipping networks, penetrating vibrant, anime inspired, two-dimensional domains, in dark and lively spaces. Mtkidu, Team Uncool, TFTD 0.5; all these identifications form an absorbing display of quirky and sinister visuals, combined with hauntingly funny sounds, and an extremely addictive concept founded on MT and KIDU’s lived lives, growing up in a multi-cultural, multi-faceted, and multi-mediated South Africa.

TFTD 0.5 is analogous to Mtkidu’s historical and futurist, altruistic and self-conscious viewpoint on South Africa; a schizophrenic attempt to portray the tenebrous and lucid geographies that comprise South Africa. Mtkidu prove that South Africa is certainly an interesting place to live; a veritable well spring of sources and influences for artists to draw back on and express themselves, streaming with a multitude of possibilities, despite the economic and social problems that still plague the country.

Recently Mtkidu closed the book on TFTD 0.5, stopping all performances and halting every manifestation of the project after a few arduous months touring the country with their Nike sponsorship. However, TFTD 0.5 is only the first of many chapters that will be released by Mtkidu. TFTD 0.6 is already being advertised on Mtkidu’s blog, and the next chapter should be released soon, which will introduce new characters to the TFTD galaxy, namely Nandi (Klein Baas’s love interest) and Shaka Zulu (Nandi’s Father). For now Mt and Kidu are focussing on their respective solo careers. MT has had two solo exhibitions this year, at Moja Modern and the Premises. KIDU is hard at work with his band called Doris, and collaborations with Mtkidu’s VJ known as CHINXXX.

For more information about Mtkidu and their upcoming events visit their blog at www.myspace.com/mtkidu.

SAarts Cape Town Manifestation 2007

Rat Western — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:20:00 +0000

As part of XCape, Cape 07’s artists-led fringe exhibition, SAarts will exhibit works by selected artists and writers who have been featured on the site in the past year as well as artists to be featured in 2007.

The SAarts Emerging Exhibition: Cape Town 2007
will open on the
27th of March at
Vega, The Brand Communications School,
2nd Floor Satbel Building
Cnr De Smidt & Somerset, Green Point,
Cape Town

If you are in the area please join us for the opening at 6pm on the 27th or for the two workshops we will be giving on the 28th and 29th of March from 10am till 12pm.

Artists to be featured on the exhibition include:

Zach Taljaard: A Boy and his Toys

Rat Western — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:41:00 +0000

Zach Taljaard with his work The Kiss (in progress.)

Zach Taljaard is forever, in my head, the boy who plays with dolls. I first met Taljaard, who hails from the Eastern Cape, when he started his residency at the Bag Factory in August last year. For this period, he was paired with the most unlikely companion, Arash Hanaei from Iran.

Arash Hanaei Autopsy ii by Arash Hanaei

The two, whose appearances seem to represent very dissimilar versions of masculinity, struck up an interesting synergy in their way of working. And although the two had other methods in common (identity issues and a sense of humour), what was the most interesting and unusual commonality was that they both ‘played’ with dolls.

This sense of ‘play’ is evident in all Taljaard’s work and by this I do not necessarily mean that it is completely light hearted. Taljaard’s early work dealt with childhood memories, self realization though experiences, disillusionment, growing up as a male - a boy blushing, strained by a pair of boxing gloves, a child superhero about to dive head first to the ground, a baby poised on a ladder.

Taljaard’s entry, What Goes Up, for the PPC Young Sculptors Award Exhibition in 2000 was described as ‘an exercise in technical virtuosity if there ever was one’ This statement can be used to sum up most of his work which is labour intensive and beautifully crafted.

‘My later works then looked at the objects we give children to play with,’ says Taljaard. ‘How children through game playing become these objects. Plastic motorbikes, guns, teddy bears and a rugby ball become stereotypes for the male identity.’

What Goes Up, 2000

Toy I, Toy ii, Toy iii

On the surface, Taljaard’s work borrows from Pop Art but there is always an underlying current – a long adult shadow falling across the jungle gym on a hot day.

Sometimes this shadow is sinister as in the case of Initiation ritual: our little secret, 2003 but more often it is a subtler melancholy - the inevitable disillusionment of childhood – that one must grow older, ‘be a man’ and that this journey is fraught with potential/inevitable failure.

Initiation ritual: our little secret 2003

http://www.artthrob.co.za/03aug/reviews/grahamstown.html

Taljaard’s latest work examines the complexity of masculine identity. ‘CON/FRONT”, Taljaard’s solo show at the National Arts Festival 2006 was exhibited in Fort Selwyn, an old fort guarding over Grahamstown. The fort was built as a watch and signal tower during the frontier wars and today is a national monument.

‘This evidently male created space with its function to protect against the ‘enemy’ inspired a body of work which dealt with confrontation.’

Ghost Images, 2006 The Kiss, 2006

Here, Taljaard exhibited three works/installations: Ghost Images, The Kiss and The Match. Working with moulded busts, the aesthetic of ancient classical Greek sculpture and the pop of the present-day, plastic, poseable figurine the artist explores the ‘impressions’ or ‘moulding’ made by society on the individual and the various versions of masculinity portrayed in history from the effeminate classical Greek and the sterile and stoic Roman bust to the camp, plastic G.I. Joe.

The Match (detail)

His work The Match played homage to his earlier work with many symbols of childhood, as used in other works, being represented – this time on a giant game board or miniature playing field. The last battle of the child as he struggles to find his place as a man.

The comparison between his work and the work of Arash Hanaei is interesting, as their common interests demonstrate that the struggle for male identity in our current context is not limited by race, nationality or sexual orientation.

This struggle is by no means new nor is it original, yet what sets Taljaard’s work apart is its almost self-aware but unavoidable innocence.

Artists such as Hentie van der Merwe, Clive van den Berg and Paul Emmanuel have worked with the themes of army life, war and masculinity in specific relation to gay male identity, but Taljaard’s work takes a slightly different angle.

Whilst his predecessors explore these topics in an attempt to position gay male identity somewhere in a blurred field of perceptions around appropriate and inappropriate masculine behavior, Taljaard seems to be ‘trying on’ these ideas in an attempt to find a concept of manhood that best fits his complex man-boy character.

In an almost literal demonstration of this action, Taljaard’s piece The Damage Is Done 2006 (from his Bag Factory residency show Self/destruct) depicts five personas: four life-size, self-portrait busts in different attire and a fifth on a television screen.

Damage is Done; 2006

Of the busts one is shirtless, another dressed in a suit. The third wears a military uniform while the last was based on a Roman emperor.

‘The tradition of portrait busts comes a long way and was usually used to symbolize power and immortalize bravery. These portraits looked all but brave and proud and had a kind of sadness and loss about them. They wore their robes like mill stones around their necks, the weight of centuries of lust for power, destruction and wealth clearly burdening their shoulders.’

But what burdens these figures more, is that none of the personas quite fit. The robes give the impression of dress up; both the garments and the guilt are inherited.

The Damage is Done; 2006

The fifth persona, represented on the television screen, shows the shirtless bust with a projection from a video arcade war plane simulator. The soundtrack is a mix of the game’s own electronic sounds and children laughing as they shoot away at the enemy, lost in playing the game. Guns blazing, the game stops to show their score after the words “Game Over”.

In this video Taljaard returns to the themes of childhood and it is here that the work feels more comfortable with itself – revisiting the accoutrements of adolescence instead of the ill fitting outfits of manhood.

As an emerging artist, Taljaard may still be trying to find his feet and an area of investigation uniquely his own. For now he is resolved to re-examine the questions sometimes asked by others, but he does not appear to rage against these questions and ask why? Rather he plays with the questions, asks them again in slightly different ways and asks, why not?

Zach Taljaard will exhibit ‘APPOSE’, a reworking and a re-examination of some of his previous installations, at gordArt Gallery in February 2007.