welcome to oudtshoorn!

What a weird place this is (a hidden gem with many facets!) during the festival. It really is kind of strange, actually. On the one hand, it’s like a huge frat party in the mainstream festival – lots of drunk guys singing Afrikaans folk songs, walking around like they own the streets, checking out women who all look the same, and generally making a ruckus with each other and defacing public property.

But…

Just upstairs on the second floor, is a whole lot of contemporary art by some of the most talented artists in the country; just ’round the corner are politically savvy dramas by the likes of Mike van Graan; down the block is one of the best restaurants in the country; even in the Cango Caves, a national treasure, there’s a beautiful, considered and projected artwork by our most prolific video artist (Minnette Vari), for tourists and art appreciators alike….

Something for everyone, then?

Like my buddy Franci Cronje said, this festival is more bipolar than our misdiagnosed youth! Maybe later in the week, some of my would-be frat-brothers might go and check out some art?

Our story beings with 4 young artists (myself, Hannes Olivier, Bronwyn Lace and Simon Gush) on a flight to said festival (KKNK). We first encounter lots of meat covered with cheese sauce in George (pretty much the whole menu), and think, ‘this is going to be a long trip.’ I wonder if there are any vegans in the Eastern Cape(?).

That afternoon, after we arrive at our actual destination, we make a plan to work all of the following day on my installation and Hannes’ sculpture. (Check out the brand new text and video documentation of the updated enter: hektor! It’s hot, and Hannes says his favorite work of mine.) We make sure the wood is there, the fabric, our supplies, etc – bloody hell, it’s hot…. And, oh sh!t, Hannes’ huge packaged sculpture, made of metal, glass and granite, needs to find its way to the second floor – but won’t fit up the stairs. D’oh!

The highlight of the next day was when Ruline Spies, the coordinator, had to call in the army. I sh!t you not. This guy in full gear and beret drives up in a crane, takes the railing off the back entrance of the Principia College (our makeshift contemporary gallery) and lifts his art up and onto the second floor. The procedure took hours, and I’ve got a whole roll of great photos. Afterwards, the crew stood around and gaped at Olivier’s artwork, not sure what they had just put all that effort into.

I told them it was an abstract of the Virgin Mary, and they seemed to be OK with it (tho I’m still not sure whether or not they believed me).

That night we were up until around 2 in the morning setting up the space for enter: hektor, and back again early the next day for more. This is when the rest of our curators arrived, including Khwezi Gule, Andrew Lamprecht, Virginia MacKenny, Liese van der Watt and Churchill Madikida (the lattermost two actually did not come themselves, but their work was installed by Simon Gush, and presented by Ralph Borland and Lucia Burger, respectively).

The man above seems really, really nice when he buys you things, but he is actually an evil, evil duckling. He pretends it’s a good thing to buy you lots of tequila, and then when you are not looking, casts a spell that makes your tolerance levels slightly lower than the average, oh, 10 shots + 4 beers.

This is what the majority of the artists present did that next night.

And the next day was hell. Let’s skip it.

The following day consisted mostly of peops running around helping out with the group shows, as curated by the above folks. Solo artists were also pretty much all there by this time, and working on their own. These were:

Sanell Aggenbach: Hoogwater – flying books, sunset tapestries and windows on the sea, a beautiful and fantastic show whose statement I could not understand (it was in Afrikaans), but whose physical presence was more than enough.

Ryan Arenson: Pierneef Too – obsessed with paint, the show felt like Impressionism revisited. His brush strokes look almost like embroidery, or lanyard, and the elegance of light on light, dark on dark, made for a contemporary formalism.

Phillip Rikhotso: Mitsheketo (“mites” in Tsonga) – do I have to say anything about this guy? Shame, he had even more trouble with language than I did, but his sculptures are so rich with stories that he needn’t say a word. He and Cathy (his friend / dealer / translator of sorts) are sweet.

Hannes Olivier: unclaimed, indefi nite … – above.

Nathaniel Stern: enter: hektor – say you love me. go on. say it.

And the invited artists (tho it’s unclear to me what the difference is between these and the solo installation artists) were:
Elmarie Costandius: speech bubbles (body + text: yay!) and Andries Gouws: Bepeinsinge oor die alledaagse (very talented traditional painter: for the less contemporary)….

The next morning started with our own bubbles – champagne and relaxation, followed by a walk-about session with the public. Not too many people came, but also not too few – an intimate session with the curators and artists.

We started with Virgina MaKenny’s show (above far right, followed leftward by Lucia Burger). She began by talking about young and up-coming artist Mikhael Subotzky. He makes beautiful 360-degree images that flip the dynamic between artist and subject. The work shown is in Pollsmoor Prison, and as you can see, since he must stand in one spot in order to accomplish the all-round feat, he is framed by the eyes of those in the image (rather than the other way around), and becomes observer and observed all at once. The white male gaze becomes a guilty voyeur…. ;)

She carried on by talking about Greg Streak’s bronzes, and finally, Carol-Anne Gainer’s installation (pictured, artist in middle). I only briefly covered Gainer’s show at Franchise a few months ago (here), but I did spend some time there, and got to know her and her work a little better this time around. It’s like a rupture in the home, a bleeding out and suffocation, but with what feels subtle because of the materials used – even tho her installations are far from subtle. There’s a discomfort in her choice to build a public home, and not just destroy it, but have it eat itself in front of our eyes….

Following this was Ralphy B talking about Liese van der Watt’s show (which also included Pieter Hugo) and Khwezi Gule’s show (which was very smart, and well curated, including black south african artists exploring gender issues – Nicholas Hlobo’s work is of special note). Lamprecht chatted about BB, toys that take over the world, and James Hertz (sp?), who all did ironic work about consumerism, design, and ownership. Unfortunately, no one stood in for Churchill to speak about his show, but I should mention that Cape Town sweetheart Mustafa Maluka was amongst his selected artists….

Our solo and invited artists talked about their stuff, and then we went our separate ways. Most went on to see the festival artist’s work: two projections rooms at Principia, one (with 5 screens!) up the block, and, as you might have heard, an installation in the Cango Caves.

I can’t stress enough what a prolific artist Minnette is. Absolutely comfortable in her media, and someone willing to take risks in exploring subject matter, space, and conception, her art deserves the widest possible exposure, and a lot of time. It demands us to “look again”.

For a change, I’m finding myself at a loss of words. The juxtapositions are that of flesh and bone, cold stone and warm fire. The morphing and mixing alludes to a formalistic approach, but bear the signs of struggle, discomfort, anger. These videos feature the artist, but don’t feel personal, as if she were the protagonist. She acts like more of a guide through an exploration of our own exploitations of self; she simultaneously reveals and conceals an inside that is morbid, and outside that manifests an out-of-the-norm beauty.

I like her.

One more dinner with the kids, a struggle with the AV guys the following morning (always), then hit the beach in George for 5 mins before hopping on a plane – ah, the Indian Ocean!

And finally, homeward bound. If you have time, check out the second floor at KKNK! Otherwise, quote me and pretend you were there, but please try to make me sound smarter than I am. Or at least you should sound smarter than I am.

Wow, that was a blog.