Description of “Contemporary Artists from South Africa – residency and exhibition”
An interest in the intervention of globalization on contemporary art and brought up the wish to curate an exhibition with South African artists developing and exhibiting art works in Bergen.
The starting point was to develop site-specific works locally during a research residency, and for the artists to reflect through their works on issues relating to the two countries. These works will form an exhibition at the Gallery 3,14 in Bergen in June 2010. The exhibition will also contain a video screening, as well as an audio program, of selected South African art works.
We have the impression that an active and vital contemporary art scene in South Africa is emerging, where the new media related art is on a high international level. It is therefore a good reason to promote some of these contemporary artists in a gallery that earlier has presented a series of more traditional exhibitions from the African continent. We have invited 3 artists, who use new media in their work, to participate - James Webb, Stephen Hobbs and Marcus Neustetter.
In addition we will also present a video-screening program with four or five selected artists, and ask them to recommend one young and unestablished video artist each, to make the program both a presentation of established artists and interesting newcomers. The video program will be selected due to the quality of the actual works, and how we interpret a relation between them. Therefore it is not a predetermined theme that makes the starting point for contributions to the program, rather an open call for artist’s favorites. This program will be curated in collaboration with ISIS Arts, Newcastle, England, and also shown there some time later in 2010.
This exhibition is not intent to present any form of general reading of the South African contemporary art scene. The creation of site-specific art works has to be meaningful to the artists themselves. We are also focusing on building relations between the artists in South Africa and Bergen. We do not intend to bring a collection of art to be exhibited, but to use the local surroundings as a ground for creation.
For this reason we brought some of the artists here for a research stay early in the process, to start a continuous communication and stimulate that the development towards the exhibition will happen on a local level, and that the works might be specifically adapted to the characteristic venue of Gallery 3,14.
We can offer a two months residency period prior to the exhibition, at USF Verftet through the Artist in Residence program, for 3 of the artists. This will give the artists a great possibility to develop their works in collaboration with BEK and the curatorial team. The artists will have access to a studio, an apartment and the facilities of BEK during their stay. We also hope to be able to initiate workshops with the artists, as well as artist presentations in connection to the exhibition.
The exhibition is supported by Arts Council Norway – Municipality of Bergen – OCA - Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
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