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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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One Topic, Many Strategies: Urban Change observed by Visual Artists in Contemporary Johannesburg
| Panel |
40. Contemporary African Art: A Rhetoric of Change
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| Paper ID | 652 |
| Author(s) |
Siegenthaler, Fiona
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The city of Johannesburg is undergoing a strong impact of social, urban and cultural change, often labeled as “africanisation”. Some do so cheeringly, others rather sceptically.
Artists in particular are very aware of these dynamics and deal with them in a number of media, by means of several strategies, from many points of view and often on pathways that lead far beyond the city walls or even the country frontiers.
I would like to present two to three artists / art groups and their particular way of dealing with change in Johannesburg within different modes of expression. Hobbs/Neustetter i.e. investigate the migration paths of Senegalese traders in Hillbrow in a rather performative-conceptual way, whereas the latest works by Sam Nhlengethwa continue and modify in a unique way the tradition of Township art by presenting the social changes as well as by leading the techniques of painting/collage into new directions. Artists like Dorothee Kreutzfeldt choose to find a balance or rather a synthesis of the own artistic concerns and a social engagement in areas of strong poverty and high crime rates.
Thus the presentation will not focus on South African photography which is often shown in a rather documentary setting at European exhibitions about contemporary South African art. It will prefer to consider art that evades documentation and seeks for other means, within the visual arts, to express the observation of and the engagement in the changing city of Johannesburg.
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