Kathryn Smith will be giving a talk on 'Something Happened on the Way to the Gallery: Experimental Practices In South African Art from the 1960s to Now' at the monthly meeting of the Arts Association Stellenbosch on Wednesday 27 October at 17h30 at the Sasol Art Museum, Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch. Members free, guests R30.
This talk attempts to unravel the notion of the experimental in art, alongside related concepts of the avant-garde, the contemporary and the conceptual. It refers to so-called 'radical' positions in recent South African art that demonstrate an awareness of international concerns,while attempting to find their own specific language (that may not appear immediately or directly political) in response to the particular conditions of cultural isolation and an emergent democracy.
The talk attempts to offer new ways to think about this work, which is poorly documented in available publications about South African art, and suggests that experimentation is a form of resistance in itself.
Kathryn Smith (b. 1975) is an artist who operates at the interface between studio work, curatorial projects and scholarly research. [Her studio practice has been described as demonstrating a 'forensic aesthetic', incorporating camera-based media, drawing and text into installation environments that investigate the relationship between violence and space. Her scholarly and curatorial projects are focused on developing the histories and discourses of historical avant-garde and experimental/radical practices in South Africa in relation to contemporary practice, with particular focus on new media, dialogical/situated practices and performance.]
Recent projects include researching and writing the artist's monograph 'Barend de Wet' (SMAC, 2010) and co-curating 'Dada South? Exploring Dada legacies in South African Art, 1960 to the present' with Roger van Wyk (Iziko South African National Gallery, 2009 - 2010).
She is senior lecturer and co-ordinator of the Fine Arts studio practice programme at the Department of Visual Arts, University of Stellenbosch.
The 12 finalists were examined by a seven-member panel of internationally trained and certified sommeliers and wine educators. Competitors came from the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, the US, Canada and South Korea, all countries which import South African wines and that enjoy an established culture of professional wine service.
The November edition of The Month features a review of three popular picnic destinations.
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