The opening of becoming-animal takes place on Thursday, 7 April, at 18.30
artsouthafrica issues
From the Press Release: “This exhibition presents selected performances, videos, and works-in-progress by Donna Kukama during the course of 2004-2011.The exhibition mostly presents the artist operating in nomadic mode, where she temporarily takes residence within various texts and various territories of the public, inserting her own unfamiliarity through her presence to disrupt established ways of doing.
Thus ‘becoming-animal’ is more re…lated to processes of change as opposed to representing or imitating animals.The exhibition title is borrowed from a chapter in Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattarri’s “A Thousand Plateaus”, the second book in their philosophical series, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, which Kukama re-adopts, re-translates, and breaks apart in order to speak of her own modes of functioning. In her relation to their philosophies, Kukama does not take the position of a Deleuzian- Guattarrian scholar, but rather points out familiar philosophies that possibly originate from Africa and are being applied in a Western context. By recontextualizing these concepts, which remain largely uncontested, she also makes visible the misunderstandings and inconsistencies present within translation. Donna Kukama is a multi media artist whose performances weave major with minor aspects of histories, introducing fragile and brief moments of “strangeness” within sociopolitical settings. Her actions are intended as gestures of poetry with political intent, and destabilize existing canons regarding the ways we look at reality. As an artist interested in the occupation of canonical works, she uses performance as a strategy that allows her to invent as well as apply methods that are outside the realm of what is predictable or expected.
Musical support by João Orecchia João Orecchia is a multi-faceted musician based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Focusing on alternative sound approaches, he has been exploring ideas of randomness, composition based on source material from field recordings and the effect this can have on an audience’s perception of space or image. Prior to Johannesburg, João spent several years in Berlin, where he composed music for theatre, film and dance performances. João is will be performing together with Mpumi Mcata and Tshepang Ramoba. When: Opening on Thursday, 7 April at 18.30. Exhibition runs until Friday, 20 MayWhere: Goethe-Institut, 119 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburghttp://www.donnakukama.com http://www.joaoorecchia.com “
