special feature 27 - media.withtank.commedia.withtank.com/76618832ee.pdf · dada south? review:...

Dada South?

review: Veronica Wilkinson

IT’S NOT every day that you walk into an artexhibition with a bookshop cunningly incorpo-rated into the actual display area but the SouthAfrican contemporary component of DadaSouth? has so much derivative work that a quickflip through art historical texts may be necessaryto pinpoint relevant departure points.

Such inspiration has resulted in vastly differ-ent approaches to art-making in various medi-ums with the delightfully detailed stamp designsby Walter Battiss (1906-1982) for his imaginaryFook Island.

The late Neville Dubow’s (1933-2008) photo-graphs and mixed media artworks make directreference to the movement known as Dada whichwas partly formed in reaction to the brutalityand horror of WW1: Dada practitioners wereindependent thinkers living for ideals beyondwar and nationalism. Characteristically, Dadaistpainters and poets adopted contradictory andoften intentionally absurd notions during whatart historian and former MoMA directorWilliam Rubin described as “a transitory periodwhen unrelated contexts often converged andinfluenced one another”.

Among Dubow’s photographs and images aredocuments pertaining to the June 1920 BurchardGallery show. One boasts an effigy of a pig in mil-itary uniform. Another set of Dubrow’s photo-graphs document Austrian artist Herman Nitschand his radical theatre known as Orgien Myste-rien, performances with actors and carcasses.One can savour European works on loan andarchival film footage by Hans Richter, MarcelDuchamp and Fernand Léger among others.

A Prussian archangel, originally made out ofpapier mâché by John Heartfield and RudolfSchichter, presides in a room boasting collagesby Hannah Höch and drawings by Tristan Tzara.Bibliophiles will drool over the collection of orig-inal literary magazines, pamphlets and pro-grammes from the Cabaret Voltaire establishedin Zurich by Hugo Ball in 1916. What to most peo-ple would be a clutter of wooden clothes hangersbecomes a handsome mobile following the direc-

tion of Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky). Theprofane and perverted digital project entitleddis.grace by Françoise Naudé and Stacy Hardythat matches each word in JM Coetzee’s novelDisgrace (1999) with an image from Googlesearch results also forms part of the exhibit,offering what appears to be an incomprehensiblebut jarring visual rendition of the narrative.

The idea for the show germinated in 2001when Roger van Wyk assisted Professor MiklosSzalay, the curator of the Soul of Africa exhibi-tion, and came into contact with the Hans Cor-

ray collection (1916-1928), which includes Africanartefacts. Corray hosted the first Dada exhibi-tions in his gallery at 91 Bahnhofstrasse, Zurichin 1917.

Van Wyk and Kathryn Smith, head of fine artat Stellenbosch University, have worked as cura-tors on this exhibition with Lerato Berang.VanWyk and Smith hope to expand the view of SouthAfrican art produced in the late 70s to early 90sby including socially critical and experimentalwork influenced by Dada. They have selected artcreated by artists who despite geographic andtime boundaries share the liberty to lampoonpolitical forms and institutions. The curatorsare hopeful that more scholarly attention toDada’s influence on the work of South Africanartists will result from this exhibition, which,according to artist Wolf Weinek “transmits a

27Special FeatureTHE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT DECEMBER 20 2009

THE ZONE @ ROSEBANK

AVATAR 3D ¸ ��Ç Daily: 10:15, 14:00, 17:15, 20:30

��

THREE IDIOTS ¸ ��Ç English Subtitles...Thu: 9:15, 12:30, 15:45, 19:30

��

KURBAAN ��Ç��English Subtitles...Daily: 9:15, 12:30, 17:00, 20:15

��

ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS:THE SQUEAKQUEL ¸ ��Ç å

Wed: 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30, 19:55, 22:15Thu: 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30, 19:55

��

INVICTUS �� ƒFri, Sat: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05, 22:50Sun, Thu: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05Mon-Wed: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05, 22:50

��

COUPLE’S RETREAT ��Ç ¥Fri, Sat: 9:10, 11:30, 14:25, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45Sun, Thu: 9:10, 11:30, 14:25, 17:45, 20:15Mon-Wed: 9:10, 11:30, 14:25, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45

��

2012 �� ÒDaily: 10:00, 14:15, 17:30, 20:45

��

BANDSLAM ��Ç ßFri, Sat: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30, 22:15Sun: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30Mon-Wed: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30, 22:15

��

THE TWILIGHT SAGA:NEW MOON ��Ç œ

Fri, Sat: 9:05, 11:40, 14:20, 17:05, 19:45, 22:30Sun, Thu: 9:05, 11:40, 14:20, 17:05, 19:45Mon-Wed: 9:05, 11:40, 14:20, 17:05, 19:45, 22:30

��

OLD DOGS �� ßFri, Sat: 9:45, 12:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45, 22:00Sun, Thu: 9:45, 12:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45Mon-Wed: 9:45, 12:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45, 22:00

��

LAW ABIDINGCITIZEN ��Ç��

Fri, Sat: 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30, 19:55, 22:30Sun: 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30, 19:55Mon, Tue: 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30, 19:55, 22:30

��

INGLOURIOUSBASTERDS ��

Daily: 9:45, 14:00, 17:15, 20:30

SANDTON

AVATAR 3D ¸ �� Daily: 10:15, 14:00, 17:15, 20:30

��

ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS:THE SQUEAKQUEL ¸ �� å

Wed: 10:00, 12:00, 14:15, 17:30, 19:55, 22:15Thu: 10:00, 12:00, 14:15, 17:30, 19:55

��

INVICTUS Ç ƒFri, Sat: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05, 22:50Sun, Thu: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05Mon-Wed: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:25, 20:05, 22:50

��

COUPLE’S RETREAT �� ¥Fri, Sat: 9:10, 11:30, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45Sun, Thu: 9:10, 11:30, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15Mon-Wed: 9:10, 11:30, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15, 22:45

��

PARANORMALACTIVITY ��


��

2012 �� ÒDaily: 9:15, 12:30, 17:00, 20:12

��

2012 ��Ç ÒFri-Tue: 10:00, 14:10, 17:30, 20:45

��

BANDSLAM �� ßFri, Sat: 9:30, 12:00, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30, 22:00Sun, Thu: 9:30, 12:00, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30Mon-Wed: 9:30, 12:00, 14:30, 17:00, 19:30, 22:00

��

ASTRO BOY �� ÓFri, Sat: 9:30, 11:45, 14:30, 17:05, 19:45, 22:30Sun, Thu: 9:30, 11:45, 14:30, 17:05, 19:45Mon-Wed: 9:30, 11:45, 14:30, 17:05, 19:45, 22:30

��

THE TWILIGHT SAGA:NEW MOON �� œ


��

OLD DOGS Ç ßFri, Sat: 9:45, 12:15, 14:15, 18:00, 19:55, 22:15Sun, Thu: 9:45, 12:15, 14:15, 18:00, 19:55Mon-Wed: 9:45, 12:15, 14:15, 18:00, 19:55, 22:15

��

LAW ABIDINGCITIZEN ��Ç��


THE MALL OF ROSEBANK

TURANDOT ¸ ��Ç Daily: 10:00, 14:45, 19:30

��

CHE PT 2:THE GUERILLA ¸ ��Ç��

Daily: 9:15, 12:00, 15:00, 17:45, 20:30��

FIFTY DEADMEN WALKING ��

Fri, Sat: 9:15, 11:45, 14:15, 17:00, 20:00, 22:45Sun: 9:15, 11:45, 14:15, 17:00, 20:00Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:15, 11:45, 14:15, 17:00, 20:00Tue: 9:15, 11:45, 14:15, 17:00, 20:00, 22:45

��

500 DAYS OF SUMMER Ç Fri, Sat: 9:45, 12:00, 14:15, 17:15, 19:30, 22:00Sun: 9:45, 12:00, 14:15, 17:15, 19:30Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:45, 12:00, 14:15, 17:15, 19:30Tue: 9:45, 12:00, 14:15, 17:15, 19:30, 22:00

��

CHÉRI Ç ÷Fri, Sat: 9:30, 11:30, 14:45, 17:00, 19:45, 22:00Sun: 9:30, 11:30, 14:45, 17:00, 19:45Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:30, 11:30, 14:45, 17:00, 19:45Tue: 9:30, 11:30, 14:45, 17:00, 19:45, 22:00

��

JULIE & JULIA ��Ç Fri, Sat: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:15, 20:00, 22:35Sun: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:15, 20:00Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:15, 20:00Tue: 9:15, 11:45, 14:30, 17:15, 20:00, 22:35

��

DEPARTURES Ç \English Subtitles...Fri, Sat: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:20, 20:05, 22:50Sun: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:20, 20:05Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:20, 20:05Tue: 9:10, 11:50, 14:35, 17:20, 20:05, 22:50

��

WHATEVER WORKS ��Ç Fri, Sat: 9:45, 12:30, 15:15, 18:00, 20:15, 22:30Sun: 9:45, 12:30, 15:15, 18:00, 20:15Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:45, 12:30, 15:15, 18:00, 20:15Tue: 9:45, 12:30, 15:15, 18:00, 20:15, 22:30

��

LAST CHANCE HARVEY \Fri, Sat: 10:00, 12:15, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15, 22:30Sun: 10:00, 12:15, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15Mon, Wed, Thu: 10:00, 12:15, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15Tue: 10:00, 12:15, 15:00, 17:45, 20:15, 22:30

��

EARTH Ç ßFri, Sat: 9:30, 12:15, 14:30, 17:30, 19:45, 22:15Sun: 9:30, 12:15, 14:30, 17:30, 19:45Mon, Wed, Thu: 9:30, 12:15, 14:30, 17:30, 19:45Tue: 9:30, 12:15, 14:30, 17:30, 19:45, 22:15

EXCLUSIVE ATCINEMA NOUVEAU

BE CAPTIVATED THIS WEEKFRIDAY 18 DECEMBER – THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER

SHOWS, PRICES & TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. (*) NO COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS FOR NEW RELEASESFOR ONE WEEK FROM RELEASE DATE UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

FOR SHOWTIMES & BOOKINGS,VISIT www.sterkinekor.com

ONLINE OR VIA YOUR CELLPHONEOR CALL TICKETLINE ON 082 16789*

*VAS RATES APPLY

THERE IS a certain sense of futil-ity if not naive arroganceattached to pronouncing someart products better than others.

Intrinsically art is a contested field: asrapidly as definitive boundaries areerected to demarcate its character orpurpose they are just as swiftly chal-lenged and dismantled, ever wideningand complicating the discipline.

Within these fluctuating conditionsworks and ideas that are revered canjust as easily be declared passé.

Besides, how does one identify excel-lence in a field when those who chal-lenge any criteria that may entail areprized for doing so? It is within theseproblematic and contradictory condi-tions that the art critic is forced to oper-ate, constantly charting unmapped ter-ritory, committing our definitivepronouncements to paper, to history.

This year was a particularly bounti-ful year for the discerning art critic.

While an economic recession mighthave seen some gallerists choosing tostick with tried-and-tested names, thuspreventing unknowns from enteringthe local art circuit, three of the mostexhilarating exhibitions were pro-duced by artists who have yet to makea name for themselves: Mary Sibande,Vaughn Sadie and Alistair Whitton.

Sibande’s Long Live The Dead

Queen, which showed at gallery Momoin Joburg, was undoubtedly one of thehottest. Dressing up in a restyleddomestic worker’s uniform, Sibandewould inevitably grab headlines; butthere was substance behind the con-tentious images she created. Sibandedidn’t pose in any ordinary domesticworker’s uniform.

She transformed the outfit so that it

encompassed the figure of a “madam”from a bygone era. In this way the fateof these two figures was inextricablybound to each other. It also allowedSibande’s discourse to be situated inthe realm of fantasy, which proved theideal context in which to unpack thepolitics of the madam/servant dichoto-my without it degenerating into aclichéd tale of woe that would underpinthe domestic worker’s victimhood.

In positing her expression in therealm of fantasy Sibande was able toengage with a very pertinent issue inpost-apartheid South Africa: aspira-tion. She made two interesting state-ments on the topic: because her domes-tic-worker subject can only dream ofbecoming a madam it is implied thateven if this subject is able to realisethis ambition, she is still tied to themaid/madam dichotomy – albeit thatshe occupies a position at the other endof this socio-ideological spectrum.

Another highly contentious aspectof her exhibition had to do with the factthat Sibande, as a well-educated andempowered black professional, waschoosing to slip into or assume theidentity of a domestic worker. Such amove reverses the notion of aspiration.

In this way Sibande’s performancepresented the unthinkable: she wasdenying the goals of the political strug-gle. Sibande is not the first artist to donthe domestic worker’s uniform as aform of subversive expression: AsandaPhewa, an up-and-coming writer andactress, performed a similar act in A

Face Like Mine, which dealt with theconcerns of a new generation, who arebuckling and rebelling against theexpectations set by the strugglegeneration.

Part of the attraction behindVaughn Sadie’s Situation, whichshowed at the Bank Gallery in Durban,was that it probed beneath the surface,delving into an overlooked area of theurban landscape: artificial light andhow discreetly it (re)constructs reality.

Sadie could have chosenphotography to engage with this topic,which would have been dull and expect-ed, but instead his exhibition mainlyconsisted of ready-made objects config-ured into seemingly banal displays.

Sadie stripped back the physicalstructures or decorative casings in

which artificial lighting is usuallyembedded. Such structures help gener-ate the illusion that artificial lighting isnatural.

In this way Sadie forced viewers toreassess this ubiquitous and pervasivefeature of the architectural environ-ment and how it quite unobtrusivelyaffects and shapes experiences ofspaces. Sadie’s work is undeniablyfresh: not just the subject-matter but itsexecution. He forces us to view ourenvironment differently if not morecritically. His work could be describedas “reorientating”. He also evinces a

knack for expressing a multitude ofcomplex observations in a very simpleand uncomplicated manner. In otherwords, he is an adept communicator.

With his gift for articulating themanner in which the truth is obscuredfrom us, Alistair Whitton’s exhibitionPatmos and the War at Sea,whichshowed at David Krut, hails from theother end of the spectrum.

Whitton appeared to be obfuscatingreality, or past events, by presenting alargely abstract series of photographsthat were each teamed up with a pageof coded message – which contained

letters pertaining to the title or subject-matter of each photograph.

He encouraged viewers to engagewith familiar wartime imagery anew,but he also suggested that the fullnature of these images, of the past, can-not be fully penetrated. In this way hemade some astute statements about ouraccess to trauma, particularly well-documented traumas that areunpacked ad infinitum via televisionproducts, the relationship between lan-guage and imagery, the nature ofknowledge and most importantly, hechallenged our expectations of photog-raphy.

Two of the other gripping exhibi-tions this year were produced by twoart world heavyweights, who rarely dis-appoint: Colin Richards and Brett Mur-ray. One is kind of loath to use such anoverdrawn and glib adjective as “exqui-site”, but that is precisely the word thatcame to mind while viewing Richards’sParrot at the Art on Paper Gallery. Theexhibition was visually spellbindingbut also conceptually rich, offeringfood for thought long after one had leftthe gallery. The meticulous executionand physical labour involved in themaking of the three-dimensional sculp-tural works and drawings forced view-ers to contemplate the act of mimicryand representation. Just like the motifthat was central to the exhibition, theparrot, who repeats the words thathumans utter in its presence, artistshave traditionally been engaged incopying reality.

There is a sense that such acts areempty, and vacuous, especially in thecontemporary art canon where a pre-cise imitation of reality is consideredto be a mere technical attribute. The artworld prizes conceptual content overvisual richness.. Can visual representa-tions exist as substantial art objects inthemselves? Richards ever so subtlyalludes to a socio-political discourse inthis exhibition: this is a different kindof ideological substance, elements ofwhich have been overused and repeat-ed to the point that they are meaning-less. Thus concepts don’t neccessarilylend substance to a work. In this waythe exhibition was less about whetherthe parrot is able to be human but theways in which humans have becomemore like parrots.

Brett Murray’s Crocodile Tears,which showed at the Goodman Gallery,reflected on empty sentimentsexpressed by the old political order andthe new, which repeatedly declare theirconcern for the impoverished, whilemisusing resources that could benefitthis segment of our society.

Murray created a powerful analogybetween the country’s new elite and theFrench aristocracy of the late 1700s,who lived lives of excess while noncha-lantly neglecting their impoverishedsubjects. Of course, the analogy inti-mated a grave caveat: the masses in thiscountry will eventually rise up andrebel against such an abusive politicalauthority as was the case with MarieAntoinette’s minions during theFrench revolution. His exhibition wasincisive and witty. He very astutelysummed up the political status quo andlaunched a very precise attack onSouth Africa’s political and social elite.Presented prior to the election it was asubversive missive that challenged thepolitical rhetoric that various leaderswere employing to persuade voters.

Dada South? is a history lesson you’ll want to savour

Some of the hottest exhibitionsthis year were mounted by virtualunknowns but that didn’t dilutetheir impact,writes Mary Corrigall

Mary Sibande’s Long Live The Dead Queen unpacked the politics of the madam/servant dichotomy without degeneratinginto a clichéd tale of woe that would underpin the domestic worker’s victimhood.

This detail from Hannah Höch’s Flight 1931 Collage is oneof the artistic delights on display at the Iziko South AfricanNational Gallery. COPYRIGHT:VG BILD-KUNST

Chance toview rarehistorically relevantoriginalartwork andpublicationsis a treat

message that everyone can take further with its funand excitement”.

The anti-rationalist mood of the absurdists andclowns who had the courage to defy the zeitgeist ofthe early 20th century, as presented in this show,demonstrates material evidence of the humanneed for escape from the confines of convention.More to the point is the fact that that by creatingtheir own ways of dealing with cruel realities theyhave demonstrated their capacity to transform cir-cumstances to their advantage through art. At atime when most of us are barraged with conflictingdemands upon our resources Dada South? provesthat positive creative action can be effective as prop-aganda for self-sufficiency.

● Dada South? is showing at the Iziko South

African National Gallery until February 28.

Colin Richards’s He is Barehead... (2009). His meticulous production forces viewersto contemplate the act of mimicry

VISUAL ART HIGHLIGHTS

special feature 27 - media.withtank.commedia.withtank.com/76618832ee.pdf · dada south? review:...

Documents