Bronwyn Law-Viljoen discusses the content’s of her debut issue as Art South Africa’s new editor
artsouthafrica issues
Untitled photograph from Terry Kurgan’s Hotel Yeoville featured on Flickr, September 13, 2010
CAPE TOWN, November 30, 2010 — The December issue of Art South Africa takes a close look at the intersections between sculpture, public art and architecture. With special feature essays on public art in Johannesburg by Alex Opper and an urban art project in Beijing, the magazine addresses a number of critical questions about the value of artistic intervention in public space. It also considers several innovative urban projects that engage with the ways in which small communities engage with space in the ever-shifting and often dangerous environments of developing cities
In particular, the magazine considers the year-long public
art project by Terry Kurgan called Hotel Yeoville in which the immigrant
community of this bustling neighbourhood shared stories, videos, classifieds in
both virtual and actual sites. Alongside this is Hannah le Roux’s thoughts on
her project Feeding Space, about a food mall in downtown Johannesburg that is
home to a number of Ethiopian restaurants, and a look at an Ogilvy
refurbishment of a children’s shelter in Cape Town.
In-depth interviews with British architect David Adjaye —
who reflects on African cities in a recent photographic project — and Ivan
Vladislavic and David Goldblatt — who have just published a joint project on
Johannesburg — tackle some of the big questions about the evolution and future
of cities in Africa, gentrification, the continued fragmentation of the city,
the role of public art and the possible death of the architect.
Kendell Geers and Anthea Buys contribute the last installments of their four-part columns, and they are joined by sculptor Gavin
Younge whose edgy column on sculpture will run for the next four issues.
Also featured are profiles on the young sculptor Mohau Modisakeng — which serves as counterpoint to Younge’s musings — on the director of the National Gallery Riason Naidoo, and on the Americans in SA, artists Hank Willis Thomas and DJ Spooky.
A range of reviews rounds out the back section of the magazine: photography, film, a graphic novel, the latest album by the Kalahari Surfers, two recent film festivals, the MTN New Contemporaries award, Michael Blake’s Bow CD project, Louis Maqhubela at the Standard Bank Gallery, and a
number of others.
The new Creative and Cultural Review, published as a supplement to the magazine, extendsthe magazine’s reach into a number of arts-related initiatives and industries: on architects and urban planners, web and book designers, musicians, techno gurus, arts resource and management experts, industrial designers and writers. The Review opens the focus of the magazine to include profiles, interviews and features will also contain a number of recommendations for shows, designs, interesting happenings, projects and interventions.
