In this project curated by our Director Candice Allison, cyberspace is re-imagined as an alternative venue for the bioscope, a community space from a time gone by. The Covert Bioscope provides the perfect moment to dissect these concerns in the age of Covid-19.
27 June - 3 July: Phumulani Ntuli, Notes from an algorithmic memory (The___bends in the wrong direction. Episode 2), 2018, 22:15 min
The project is composed of a series of components and entry points of found moving images and sound. Episode 2 approaches found material to reposition the gaze of trophy images as Suvendrini Perera states “the trophy body of the nonhuman is the figure of a dense meshing of histories, relations, practices, aesthetics and technologies. A series of crossings and recrossings of speciationand racialization locate the nonhuman body as trophy artefact”. Episode 2_Chapter one attends to the trophy image to comprehend its socio-political conditions within contemporary representations, decoloniality, public space and futurity.
4 - 10 July - Olivia Botha, At Sea, 2019, 02:09 min
The video questions our relationship with a big body of water, in particular, the ocean and the emotions closely tied to it. Stories around the enigma of the ocean have left us wondering about its myth and mysteries. What is it about the ocean that draws us in and what happens when you leave it behind? Who does the ocean belong to anyway? When does a body of water become political? As often as the human body? And what does that do to our psyche? Sucked up, dried-up; an emptied vessel.
11 - 17 July: Neville Starling, Breadth, 2020, 15:85 min
Breadth measures the inner dimensions of our constrained selves at a time when the ebb and flow of our limits are being tested. A moment of uncertainty, dread, and fear but also a moment of innovative affection, altered daydreams, readjusted appreciations and new hopes. An obscure place where the deep love for another keeps us at a distance, challenging a personal commitment to social responsibility and care. Whilst this space holds us in isolation, it also gives us time with ourselves. Clouds build to Rorschach inkblots. We are introduced, once again, to ourselves as we daydream in this small world. When imagination replaces the world beyond our physical limits, we extend our ability to see ourselves in other places.
18 - 24 July: Malebona Maphutse, Fuck Your Fake Ass History Mamoloyi Healing Ministries, 2019, 13:33 min
Welcome to Mamoloyi’s Universe. As we see the world through Mamoloyi’s eyes, she takes us on a journey through History. We see her role as a matriarch, a heroine, and constant looming god power throughout the past, present and future. We are here to travel through time with her. To experience the endless options and possibilities of her versions of history and ideas about the universe. This work is focussed on the ritual and spiritual engagements that take place in different spaces that inform a number of social, economic, religious and relational politics in order to create time-landscapes. By embodying the fictional character of Mamaloyi, I have begun to intertwine these politics in order to emphasise and rethink ways in which these bodies exist within, but are not limited to, a South African context.
25 - 31 July: Helena Uambembe, More shall never be enough, 2018, 04:01 min
More Shall never be enough speaks to the notion of greed and consumption. At the time of creating the video in 2018, the atrocity that was duped the “Dros rape case” had just happened and I had just finished a research trip with the Pomfret community, where I had also heard stories of violence and injustice. This video is my response to the ideas of greed, gluttony, lust and grief; individuals seek power to an excess even if they cannot consume anymore.
This exhibition is supported with funding from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
