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FRESH ART IST 'S RESI DENCY PRO GRAM Sout h Af r ican Nat ional Gallery Cur at or , Edit or E M M A BEDF ORD 2 0 0 1 - 2 0 0 3 Fresh, new, innovat ive, young. Not st ale. The bold t it le of t his residency and cat alogue series showcasing young art ist s on t he Sout h Af rican art scene begs an int errogat ion int o t he meaning of t his word and t he f reshness of t he proj ect as a whole. Does Fresh meet t he expect at ions of it s t it le at a t ime when int ernat ional curat ors and art inst it ut ions insist on pushing t he somewhat st ale t rend of "New Sout h Af rica" exhibit ions beyond it s apparent expirat ion dat e? Is t his proj ect fresh in t he sense of being excit ing , energet ic, and inclusive of some less-experienced art ist s at a t ime when many inst it ut ions laboriously regurgit at e a small group of est ablished names? Does Fresh successf ully speak t o a local audience when writ ers and curat ors worldwide posit t hemselves as t he surrogat es of Sout h Af rican art ? My own response t o t hese quest ions is primarily "yes. " One of t he most appealing aspect s of Fresh is it s t enor of col l aborat ion bet ween art ist s, writ ers, curat ors, research assist ant s, viewers, and sponsors . The proj ect was made possible by Marlene Dumas, who won t he David Roell Prize and chose t o share t he money wit h art ist s from her count ry of birt h. Each Moshe kw a Langa, Rome, 2002 art ist was grant ed t he freedom t o select t he aut hor of her or his monograph, which largely prompt ed a f resh escape from t he handf ul of writ ers t hat t end t o dominat e t he field of cont emporary art in Af rica. Unf ort unat ely, Kelly Jones's essay "Tracey Rose: Post -apart heid Playground" relies t o such a degree on quot es from t hese few writ ers t hat it lacks a reciprocal engagement wit h Rose's compel l i ng body of works. Regret t ably, Jones i gnor es The Kiss ( 2001) —a phot ographic sat ire of Rodin's "m ast er p i ece"—t hat Rose produced specif ically for Fresh. Most of t he aut hors, however, ef f ect ively address t he art ist s' residencies in light of t heir respect ive oeuvres and reflect t he art ist s' own voices in t heir writ ing. (Bot h Tracy Murinik and St ephen Hobbs use t he personal st at ement s of Langa and Rhode as springboards for t heir essays, "Art ist always on t our" and "Using my yout h t o t ell t he t rut h"). In a similar spirit of cooperat ion, t he art ist Dorot hee Kreut zfeldt invit ed a group of researchers and art ist s t o share in her int eract ion wit h t he broader communit y as she collect ed oral t est imonies of survivors and eyewit nesses from six of t he t went y-t wo bombings t hat rocked Cape Town bet ween 1998 and 2000. Furt her, she encouraged t he viewers/ list eners of her sound and phot ographic inst allat ion In view of you ( 2001) t o f ormally respond t o her work, creat ing a space of int eract ion bet ween public and personal react ions t o urban t rauma. As Rory Best er observes, she int errogat es t he borderland bet ween art ist ic and curat orial pr oduct i on. 1 In her phot ogr aphi c mont ages, Kreut...

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