Yes, I know I said it’d be a few days until my next post, but it actually calms me to blog. (Dunn Hirschowitz is still a big fat incompetent poopyhead, who is aggressive in all the ways you don’t want anyone’s lawyer to be – yours, or your “opponent’s”. I’m wondering if I should write about how much I dislike him every day on my blog, just cuz I can.) Unfortunately, it may be a few days until my next post on turbulence’s networked_performance (sorry, Jo!).
Despite a terrible end to yesterday, midday saw a great meeting with Christo Doherty (pictured above), the Head of Digital Media over at Wits School of the Arts. No, that picture is not from our meeting, but doesn’t he look cute (photo credit to his partner, Rita)? It seems I’ll be giving a 2.5 day workshop on Interactive Video using Jitter (things like body and motion tracking, as well as real-time mixing and audio effects), beginning Friday 10 September, at the school and open to the public. We also finalized the dates for the Interactive Media Design end of year MA show (power to my students!), which will be from 10 December to 15 December. Watch this space for more on that!
Today, I met with Tracey (I don’t know her surname) about a video festival that will be happening over in Melville on 9 September. I’ll have more info a bit later this month, but save the date – we’ll see some great South African digital video art outside in a park, as well as a hekTech interactive piece (see freelance stuff).
I followed that with a visit to the JAG (Johannesburg Art Gallery), where I met with the ever-helpful artist/curator Pitso Chinzima (see some of his work over at gallery momo for another 2 weeks) about my upcoming solo show there. He’s proved to be a pleasure to work with, and seems to be on the ball; I hope the show is as good as we both are excited about it!
While there, I ran into Hanli Becker, one of the masterminds behind a current Jag show, negotiate (site designed by a former student ;). The larger show actually consists of 3 exhibitions, the first of which is on now, and the third of which will cross over with my own. If I have it right, the whole point is to intervene in the JAG’s permanent collections and other exhibitions – so we are currently in negotiations to have some kind of performance using step inside as a stage for one of her artists.
It’s a great show, with an interesting concept, and one of the more outsanding works is Hannes Olivier’s latchkey memorial (pictured). It’s set right next to one of my favorite South African contemporary works, Wim Botha’s Commune: Suspension of Disbelief, a life-size crucified saviour, sculpted out of bound bibles (follow link for images). Olivier’s intervention included industrial-like sculptures prohibiting us from approaching Christ, and decorated with edited obituaries.
The Brett Kebble Art Awards have a new site up, and their first featured artist is Richard Scott, who makes mobile phone art!!! May wonders never cease! Go Clive, go (featured in one of my blogs earlier this month)!
Finally, thanks to turbulence’s Jo-Anne Green for the following links to SA new media artists:
A great new read by Aryan Kaganof, who has been seen recently in this artbio feature and this mail & guardian article; he’ll also be a finalist in this year’s Kebbles.
Radarboy – collaborations between a South African and Japanese net.artist (I have been informed that they just got a lo-fi grant)
Then there’s this article about broadband in Africa, singing hype about Sentech (which, from what I’ve heard, sucks – but at least it’s a way to get away from using telkom; see hellkom)
