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02 June 2006 by nathaniel

Compressionism WorldWide

I was at Outlet yesterday, discussing my Time and Seeing exhibition of Compressionist prints with Brenton Maart. Maart normally does the Gauteng art listings for the Mail & Guardian, but we met about this show for a small review he’s doing in the next Art South Africa magazine. I never get over how happy it makes me when people respond very positively to my work… Also look out for Franci Cronje’s review of the show in Die Beeld next week.

This chat, and Cronje’s review, are timed really well, given that South Africa finally has the May issue of MacFormat magazine in stock, which has a full-color back page feature on me and the Compressionist series – click here, or on the thumbnail below, to read their take, see the images.

Don’t miss the Time and Seeing closing party at Outlet on 10 June (next Saturday), 16h00 – 24 du Toit Street, Building 10, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria.

Time and Seeing exhibits selections from nathaniel stern’s Compressionism – a "digital performance and analog archive.” Stern traverses bodies, spaces and objects with his scanner face, while the head is in motion. After being Compressed into digital images the size of a small sheet of paper, the files are then stretched, cropped and colored by hand. Compressionism is an exploration of media and perception, a transfiguration in Time and Seeing.

Compressionism in MacFormat magazine

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30 November 2005 by thando

direction cape

it seems that heads are heading to cape town this weekend for the sessions ekapa.
will be coming out from my hide out to join the masses this summer and will try to get some pics whilst there.
i don’t know about the Jozi dudes but cape town seems to be getting a lot of slices of the art world of mzantsi.
is cape town the new big thing and are cape town artist now the big deal? Are cape town artists and galleries in?all eyes on ekapa!!

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16 November 2005 by nathaniel

fun, tired, sickly

hans haacke, news, state of the union show, 1969 / 2005
Hans Haacke, news, 1969 / 2005, at the state of the union show, Paula Cooper Gallery

You may have noticed a little bit of playing by Thando Mama on the blog over the past few days, as he gets to know the WordPress software — he responded to the artthrob article about how I’ve been looking for peops to participate in this space, and is learning how to upload and spell check now (!). Forgive the inconsistencies. If you are interested in blogging (I NEED writers now!!!!), contact me.

I, on the other hand, have been a little sickly, and running around like a headless chicken. Simon, Bronwyn and I have been catching as many of the Marina Abromovic performances as we can (between us, we’ve missed only two), checking out some amazing work at the MOMA and PS 1, running to the Berni Searle and DJ Spooky show on the LES, gallery hopping in Chelsea, etc and so forth.

Highlights include (no time to look up URLs, but by all means, google it!):

  • Lips of Thomas re-enactment/document by Marina
  • Hans Haacke at Paula Cooper
  • James Turrell at both MOMA and PS 1
  • Gary Hill (his stuff at MOMA, but not at PS 1)
  • I had forgotten about the Kentridge permanent stairwell at PS 1!
  • Jon Kessler at PS 1 was not my taste, but it was a very successful installation
  • Chatting to another Staten Islander at Berni Searle’s thing (who knew they liked art?)
  • The New Museum book store

In South Africa? You should be sad if you missed the Colleen Alborough exhibition at KZNSA – shame on you. The eKapa conference in Cape Town is coming up, and looks hot — wish I could make it. Chat to Simon about his trip while there, if you can! Also, tell Franci Cronje hi.

But sooner, and in Joburg, don’t miss Etch A Sketch: “an experience into the unfamiliar edge where art and sound converge. Watch live collaborations between visual artists and musicians for the first time ever in the entire universe.” Wow. That’s awesome.
Drill Hall, Thursday 24 November, 7:30pm, R30, cash bar. Features include Joao Orecchia, mtkidu, Mitch Said and Templar Wales.

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25 September 2005 by franci

Scoring Gold

the jag space goldblatt
I first visited David Goldblatt’Äôs most recent works, shown at the Goodman Gallery, a few weeks ago. Being a photographer myself, I have known his works since I can remember. He started off in the fifties as being a documentary photographer but his work was soon appropriated by the fine art community as ’Äòmore than a document’Äô.
earlier work: if looking for the boy..

In her book Regarding the pain of others, Susan Sontag makes the statement that ’Äòeven to the extent that it is a trace (not a construction made out of disparate photogaphic traces), cannot be simply a transparency of something that happened. It is always the image that someone chose; to photograph is to frame is to exclude’Äô. In Golblatt’Äôs latest works, one feels this exclusion acutely. Not because he excludes essential information, but because he actively uses exclusion of the human form to critically highlight human existence.

With a retrospective in the Johannesburg Art Gallery, spanning practically the whole of downstairs, as well as recent works exhibited in the Goodman gallery, we are living in ’ÄòGoldblatt times’Äô. And rightly so. For information overload, visit the retrospective. If you are looking for pathos, irony, as well as sharply critical commentary on South African society all embodied into empty landscapes, don’Äôt miss the last few days of the Goodman Gallery Recent Works exhibition.

The Intersections series, especially the road between Joh’Äôburg and Cape Town (in the ’Äòtime of Aids’Äô), plays havoc with one’Äôs emotions. I believe that no-one who is living in our country currently can be left unmoved by these works. See it for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

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