Africa's World Cup: Critical Reflections on Play, Patriotism, Spectatorship, and Space

Halakasha! The Time Has Come! : Exhibiting the Art of Football Fandom

77 halakasha! The Time has Come! Exhibiting the Art of Football Fandom FIoNA RANkIN-SmITh The 2010 WoRld CuP provided a momentous occasion for South Africans from across the social spectrum to celebrate this once-in-alifetime event. As the contributors to this book have noted, it was a month of spectacular excitement both on and off the pitch. The upbeat nature of the events permeated all aspects of life. Shopping malls, taverns and restaurants, public spaces and private homes—the entire country seemed to be draped in flags and banners. This popular enthusiasm for the World Cup had first exploded when South Africa was awarded the right to host the World Cup. “To some extent this outburst of euphoria surpassed” what the country experienced when it transitioned to democracy in 1994, wrote Ahmed Kathrada, who spent twenty-six years in apartheid prisons with his comrade, Nelson Mandela; “The scenes of jubilation, the spontaneous outpouring of celebration following FIFA’s decision, the solidarity of pride and unity evoked by a sporting event should serve as a shining example to black and white alike” (see the essay by Daniel Herwitz in this volume).1 Some of the most vivid moments of South Africa’s celebration of nationhood were connected to sporting achievements on home soil: the Springboks’ 1995 Rugby World Cup triumph and Bafana Bafana’s victory in the 1996 African Nations Cup. In 2009, the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg appointed me to mount an exhibition that would run in June and July 2010, concurrently with the World Cup. My primary goal was to present an exhibition that would celebrate the African game, not simply the South 78 • AFRICA’S WoRld CuP African game, and expose fans’ passion to a world audience.The broadranging exhibition, Halakasha!, was framed mainly around the theme of local and African football supporters, imaging the politics and nationalist sentiment associated with football during and after the apartheid era. In addition, the exhibition made room for interpretations by young artists of the subject of football and traced the motif of magical power in the work of several artists. During this period, a series of international football-related documentaries and films were screened, and many other cultural institutions mounted exhibitions and events aimed at the influx of visitors. Steven Dubin, a visiting academic from New York, described how Johannesburg experienced an “unprecedented cultural effervescence in every imaginable venue at every level of production.”2 The constant throng of overseas visitors, together with South Africans and Africans from other countries, exuded a palpable sense of goodwill. More than eight hundred people attended the exhibition opening on June 1. Instead of the usual individual opening speaker, organizers chose to stage the event like a panel discussion of television football commentators, with the speakers seated on a stage against a huge backdrop of Soccer City at night. Speakers included Nigerian football star Jay Jay Okocha, ex-Bafana goalkeeper Andre Arendse, Cameroonian public intellectual and football fan Achille Mbembe, and television host Neil Andrews.Aimed at the international sports-loving audience as well as local football fans, the exhibition sought to foster an appreciation of football not only as a sport but as a social and cultural phenomenon. “Halakasha is packed with art’s stories of the love of football,” wrote journalist Janet Smith.3 in the June 19, 2010, issue of the Saturday Star. Indeed, to paraphrase Trinidadian intellectual C. L. R. James, football “is an art, not a bastard or a poor relation, but a full member of the community.”4 According to the Standard Bank Gallery’s records, a total of 3,316 people visited the exhibition. Although not a large figure compared to the numbers who attend blockbuster art exhibitions in Europe or North America, South Africans are much more inclined to support sporting events than museum and gallery exhibits and other forms of popular arts. It is difficult to gauge the audience’s response to the exhibition, but comments written in the visitors’ book were largely positive. The pupils from Johannesburg’s Northcliff High School, for example, wrote, “SA pride firmly installed and reinforced, thank you Halakasha!!” For Halakasha! The Time Has Come! • 79 Zibuyile Cerisa, also from Johannesburg, “A true African world cup [was] reflected.” The reaction of overseas visitors was similarly encouraging : “Excellent—Out of this world—Unbelievable!” (Manesh from Kolkata, India); “What a superb exhibition!” (Dr. Michael Schaaf, Germany ); “Love the...