CT: Sometimes I forget… @ Blank Projects
Hang out in the BoKaap at the ‘vernissage’ this Wednesday the 4/3/09 of “Sometimes I forget that you exist” an exhibition that will be ‘developing’ over the month of March, ending on the 27th. It’s curated by Trasi Henen and features contributing artists Francis Burger, Sebastian Charilaou, Zipho Dayile, Anja de Klerk, Douglas Gimberg, Mendi Pantsi, Werner Ungerer and Ed Young. The liminal space is where binaries momentarily dissolve, the space in between… Dominant culture is a victim of the Will (after Schopenhauer’s The World as Idea and Representation) and therefore perpetually oscillating between Desire and Ennui. Desire is a state of potentiality. When the desired destination is reached, is this a tragedy? Sometimes I forget that you exist is a collaborative research project around desire and the heterotopia. Participants are asked to engage with the above dialectic. The exhibition process is ongoing, and contingent, culminating in a closing event. In the two weeks leading up the exhibition, blank becomes the research studio which opens the project to dialogue and interventions. Opening on Wed. 4 March 2009 @ 18h00 With a closing event Fri. 27 March 2009 @ 18h00 – Blank Projects is located at 198 Buitengracht Street, Bo-Kaap, Cape Town. – For more information on the artists or the exhibition: http://blankprojects.blogspot.com/ *27 72 1989221, *27 72 5075951...
EXHIBITIONS @ blank projects: July 2008
Next time you’re wondering through the quaint sunny streets of the BoKaap in CT, make sure to pop into blank projects and check out the constant flow of art that passes through the gallery. Details below: Opening 2 July 2008 1) Norman O’Flynn The Butterfly Project “When will I be a butterfly?” the caterpillar asked. “When you have finished being a caterpillar,” the butterfly laughed. (ends: 18 July 2008) 2) Gabrielle Alberts FINE ART Local artist Gabrielle Alberts is to launch her debut solo exhibition on 2 July 2008. The show, entitled Fine Art, is an exhibition of found objects that deals with notions of the artist as collector and selector, along with the concepts of elitism and definition. It features a series of purchased amateur artworks to be displayed and sold together as one installation. Alberts, 24, explains the rationale of the show, as well as how she brought the works together. “It’s a solo show where I act more as curator than artist,” she says. “These works would, according to art critics, connoisseurs and aficionados, be considered useless in terms of traditional definition. In collecting the pieces I ask why they fail (and here qualify) conceptually, stylistically and/or technically.” Rather than defining her selection by quality control, Alberts treats artists as a self-publisher, so that the argument of whether or not their creations – in concept or technique – are ‘bad’ becomes moot. The result is thus highly subjective but not necessarily discerning, because the show must comment on taste and exclusivity (even snobbery) within the art world, and as such explore the consensus on what is considered art. Formally the show will be presented in a way similar to permanent collections found in galleries, and each work will be credited to its (known or unknown) amateur originator. The outcome is that, by curating these works, Alberts, a professional artist, effectively takes ownership of them. This gives them a level of legitimacy that highlights the idea underpinning the show itself: the fine line between artistic ambition and acceptance. Gabrielle Alberts, a graduate of the Michealis School of Fine Art, produces sculpture, video and assemblage works that currently deal with the notion of the artist as an individual in society. She considers her mode of production to be fundamentally conceptual, as opposed to formal or procedural. (ends 30 July 2008) Opening 23 July 2008 3) Barend de Wet | Douglas Gimberg | Christian Nerf Mental Pictures “I’m not sure what the occasion was but Christian, Barend and I were braaing wors at the studio. It’s the woolies lamb sausage we were owed by Renee Holleman from Carpentry 101....
We will be back!
