The Bag Factory is excited to announce its partnership with Professor Higgins and Professor Dhupa and the Nottingham Trent University. The Bag Factory would like to invite you to join us for the public opening of:
“Clash”
The elements of something presented that immediately precede or follow an event and experience that points towards its taking place.
Time: 5:30pm -8:30pm
Where: Bag Factory, 10 Mahlatini Street, Fordsburg
Contact: 011 834 9181 || info@bagfactoryart.org.za
Genesis
The amount of material and the powerful nature of the material created from the 72 Hour Jam (in Johannesburg in September 2015, at the Ithuba Gallery) has inspired the participants of this project to want to continue the engagement between nations. The ‘Jam’ was hosted at the Ithuba Gallery Johannesburg and the subtext of the 72 Hour Jam was ‘Intercultural Dialogue for the Progress of Art and Civil Society.’ With this in mind we also explored areas such as Cultural Policy, Mobility issues affecting artists and general populations, the potential of the NGO and Charities Sector in South Africa and increasing the knowledge of African nations among the participants from Europe. The content and dialogue was rich, much of it riven with different and exciting tensions.
It was these, which brought about the theme – Clash
The exhibition will feature: Actions, objects, sculpture/materiality and forms, image, drawing, texts, spatial questioning and moving image.
The exhibition forms inter-related relationships that will propose something that is becoming, caught between taking place or has just taken place. The exhibited material is part of an on-going artistic research inquiry exploring themes of intercultural dialogue, the role of the artist as advocate and what role can art practices, artistic methodologies and artefacts play in representing unseen, hidden and overlooked ‘clashes’ of conflict?
This may address or respond to questions inherent in creative production itself or actions to produce art, the use of materials, images or address historical or political episodes. Rather than offering fixed positions the aim is to create an imaginative and creative space through the exhibition for the tension and clash between conflicting ideas and investigation to be explored through discussion. The proposal recognises the urgency of integrating collaborative and cross disciplinary approaches in response and need to address contemporary conflict as it grows ever more complex. Text
Exhibiting Artists:
Andile Buka (SA)
Michael Cheesman (SA)
Professor Venu Dhupa (UK)
Craig Fisher (UK)
Professor Duncan Higgins (UK)
Caswell Lengoabala (SA)
Erica Lüttich (SA)
Tatenda Magaisa (SA)
Io Makandal (SA)
Peter Mammes (SA)
Dr Ana Souto (UK)