Impossible Monsters in Craighall
We’re always delighted to hear about a fresh gallery space opening in Jozi… the Jan Smuts Art Strip gets elongated as we welcome the spanking new “Arts Extra” opening next Wednesday in Craighall. The piping hot exhibition entitled “Impossible Monsters” looks to feature a slab of contemporary artists – we look forward to something edgy and visionary… heaven knows we’re in need of some disruption to the lazy end of the year. You’re invited so go go go. Art Extra is a contemporary art gallery opening in Johannesburg South Africa on 7 November 2007 at 6pm with a curated group show Impossible Monsters. Location – 373 Jan Smuts Ave, Craighall, Johannesburg. Map/Directions – go to http://www.artextra.co.za/ OR email info@artextra.co.za and we will send you a map. For any other queries please call David Brodie +27 (0)82 552...
Classique is back to warm you up
Every time I look out of the window I wonder if I have been teletransported to Europe during a dank Autumn. WTF is wrong with Jozi weather this October 07? Miserable. If it doesn’t give up and you stumble into the Classique party this Saturday (after we thrash those Brazilians of course) you would be forgiven for thinking you’d been teletransported to Cape Town on an ordinary grey mizzy weather day…this weather is just so CT! (OUCH) SO warm up your disappointing spring with some soulful jazzing and lots of fun ‘cos Classique is back for their Spring installment this Saturday 13 Oct 2007 – click on the flyer for more: To get you in the weekend mood, and wash away the Thursday rainy blues, here’s your party reminder about CLASSIQUE happening this Saturday 13 October @ ROKA, so best you polish that dancing shoes and ladies spoil yourself with a new outfit, because we about to turn the heat up on the Jo’burg party scene to show everyone how we do it CAPE TOWN STYLE!!!!!!!!! All the way from Cape Town we welcome back Dj Roger the dodger and new comer to CLASSIQUE but with no introductions needed, DENVER APOLLUS aka HECTIC D from Hanover Street fame and now ripping it up @ BUNKER 9 Cape Town. Doors open 8pm and cc is R50 ……..Come party in TRUE Cape Town style…. PS: Don’t forget to catch the fabulous Joe Barber 4 show starting this week at the Market Theater in Newtown. We caught the show last night at the media opening and BOETA GAMAT and BOETA JOE had the packed theater in stitches , watch out for Washilea she certainly stole the show for us J . And as our loyal CLASSIQUE friends we will be giving away tickets for you to see the show so be there Saturday night! …. Who knows it might be you sitting in the front row for the show. Regards and see you Saturday...
CATCH THIS QUICK! Kathryn Smith
We have been wanting to catch this exhibition since it started but have been too busy – you only have two days to catch brilliant young artist and ex-Durbanite Kathryn Smith’s work “In Camera” at the Goodman on Jan Smuts – so Go Go Go. We’ll do our best! The Goodman Gallery presents Kathryn Smith’s In Camera, opening on September 15 at 18h00. This is her first solo exhibition since her Standard Bank Young Artist touring exhibition Euphemism (2004-2005). The exhibition closes 6 October, 2007. In Camera is a Latin phrase literally meaning ‘in private’ or ‘in secret’. It is most commonly used in legal cases where testimony is presented in private chambers instead of in open court. In camera testimony is most often facilitated where reliving the experience of a violent and traumatic event through verbal narration would be aggravated by having to do this in public. This opportunity is often given to victims of sexual assaults and children involved in criminal cases. Kathryn Smith’s In Camera presents a controlled, immersive environment featuring a series of portrait drawings, sourced from a range of print and online media photographs and processed so as to blur the distinction between the handmade and the mass-produced. Her subjects are the victims and perpetrators of violent acts, the circumstances of which remain almost incomprehensible in their extremity, even if the facts surrounding tabloid revelations of these cruel private desires are known. Smith is particularly interested in how, through repetition, certain photographic images get detached from their subjects and the representation of a person becomes emblematic of ‘victimhood’, ‘the missing’, ‘monstrosity’ or ‘evil’. This kind of rhetoric functions as a means to situate the perpetrators outside the realm of human behaviour and does not allow us to dwell on the particular circumstances of each violent interaction. Smith’s drawings have been made with ultraviolet-sensitive inks, invisible to the naked eye. As an artist known to work with performance and photo-based media, the choice of ink, brush and paper presents another way of processing the photographic image, particularly these images mediated and re-mediated such that they become like a retinal afterimage, a trace of something we have seen or experienced but which remains beyond our grasp. In setting up a relationship between the spectrum and the spectral, In Camera is an exhibition of ghosts, an attempt to reclaim that which eludes cognitive and emotional capture and retention. The installation comprises audio and lighting components, making use of both the Goodman Gallery’s public façade and display windows to accommodate aspects of the exhibition for evening...
ABSEIL DOWN PONTE next weekend
Oh yes, developers continue to put their money where their mouths are and the iconic Ponte City Towers is being revamped and sold off as part of the ongoing urban regeneration in Jozi. You, yes you, have the chance to abseil or rap jump down the 173m2 high building. What can we say? Rather you than us…. we’re a little scared of heights but it sounds like a remarkable marketing idea. Enjoy! The Johannesburg Development Agency and Investagain property developers would like to invite you to a once in a lifetime opportunity to abseil or ‘rap jump’ down the side of the tallest residential building in the southern Hemisphere!. On Saturday October 13th, 2007, from 10h00-17h00, you will have the opportunity to be taken to the top of Ponte City and released- face first or feet first- down, down, down the side of the building. A number of ropes and several well-trained, qualified professionals will assist you on the descent- so it’s all perfectly safe and…whoooooosh, what a rush! Refreshments, music and kiddies entertainment will be on offer while your family watches breathlessly as you make your way down the 173 metre high building. There is also secure underground parking and signage so you won’t get lost. (see attached map). Even better than knowing you’ll have an unrivalled experience is the fact that this is a charity event. The R500 fee for each jump will go to the Creative Inner City Initiative, a fantastic organization that works to develop artists in the inner-city. You may have already seen some of their work – the mosaic balls in Harrow road, the Faraday taxi rank mosaic, and the graphics at Drill Hall. The CICI is also the initiators of the Hillbrow carnival and runs a number of art programmes for children in Joubert Park. The event also serves to hi-light a number of new developments happening in the inner-city. This area is being revitalized at an incredible pace- from the conversion of Ponte City into upmarket luxury apartments (see http://www.newponte.co.za/), to the Ellis Park Precinct Development which aims to regenerate the Greater Ellis Park into a secure, safe, vibrant and sustainable leading destination of choice for sports and recreation within Johannesburg. Other great new projects in the environs, includes the new Alhambra theatre, not to mention a plethora of initiatives by the City of Johannesburg including the newly approved JDA-led Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville Public Environment Upgrade. On the day, we’ll be taking people on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. But we’ll be doing jumps throughout the day so everyone will have a chance. You’ll also get a sneak preview of the much talked...
Do not miss Kudzanai at the Obert!
You can count on the Obert gallery in Melrose Arch to give you cutting edge, visionary African artists. DO NOT MISS the expo of one of the artworlds rising golden boys, exiled Zimbabwean Kudzanai Chiurai. He’s in his mid twenties with a brilliant future ahead, get to the Obert before the 30 September. “graceland” is chiurai’s highly anticipated third solo exhibition and follows his acclaimed sell-out exhibitions “the revolution will be televised (2004)” and “y propaganda (2005)” and his participation in the dakar biennale in 2006. chiurai is an innovative and controversial young artist who has been banned from his home country of zimbabwe for his politically inspired caricatures of president robert mugabe. reminiscent of basquiat, chiurai’s mixed media works are intricately layered with stenciled characters, poetry and graffiti. his works have recently been procured by top private and public collectors including bhp billiton in london. this exhibition will consist of nine new, variously scaled mixed media works that explore pertinent issues related to mass media, inner city rejuvenation and xenophobia. More on Kudzanai: born in 1981 in zimbabwe, kudzanai chiurai is an internationally acclaimed young artist now living and working in south africa. he was the first black student to graduate with a BA (fine art) from the university of pretoria. regarded as part of the “born free” generation in zimbabwe because he was born one year after the country’s independence from rhodesia, chiurai’s early work focused on the political, economic and social strife in his homeland. seminal works like “presidential wallpaper” depicted zimbabwean president robert mugabe as a sell-out and led to chiurai’s exile from zimbabwe. chiurai’s large mixed media works now tackle some of the most pertinent issues facing southern africa such as xenophobia, displacement and black empowerment. his paintings confront viewers with the psychological and physical experience of inner-city johannesburg, the continent’s most cosmopolitan melting pot where thousands of exiles, refugees and asylum-seekers battle for survival alongside the never-ending swell of newly urbanized south africans. the actuality of these environs is reinforced by chiurai’s use of photographic transfer. boldly stenciled figures and anonymous text provide running commentary, leading viewers on a journey through his intricately painted turn-of-the century buildings, bustling streets and congested transit...
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