Outside the white cube, art learns to breathe again
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
My university introduction to the art world positioned the city as the heart of art, although now, the landscape faces strange and disheartening shifts. In less than a year, the industry has witnessed the closure of a few prominent Johannesburg galleries including Guns & Rain, STEVENSON and Kalashnikovv and the censorship of Gabrielle Goliath’s representation for the South African pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton Mc Kenzie. The case of the minister pulling funds is synonymous with other long-standing events of significance such as the National Arts Festival, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Joy of Jazz and Open Book Festival. What happens when we decentralise city art institutions and our dependency on them? In April I saw an invitation to the group exhibition Experiment. Introduce. Enjoy by artist manager and consultant Togo Langa. The concept aimed to explore an art exhibition space and the idea of process and experimentation. A line that caught my attention: “How does one continue doing what works without being held captive to the point of stagnation?” Since there are minimal spaces that give ground for experimentation, most of what we engage with is the final product, leaving us caught in a conundrum of perfection. The invitation had the courage to denounce perfection and welcome play and the unknown into the process of making and engaging with art. A bit hesitant about an almost three-hour drive from the city to the location given in the form of GPS coordinates, I pondered on the trip for a week until a friend mentioned she got her ticket. We finalised our arrangements and on a Saturday morning, we were on the N4 highway to North West. The break from the city’s compact landscape was occupied with roadworks and vast mountain outlines of blue hues on the horizon. The sight of bright sunflower fields gave assurance that I made the right decision. After getting a little lost, we reached our destination at the home