Kunsthalle at Lipsiusbau, Dresden, Germany
26 Oct 2013 - 05 Jan 2014
The exhibition My Joburg, designed by and previously shown at La Maison Rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert in Paris, presents the current art scene of Johannesburg. Renowned artists such as Jane Alexander, Kendell Geers, Candice Breitz or William Kentridge, but also promising newcomers such as Kudzanai Chiurai, Zanele Muholi, Mary Sibande or Mikhael Subotzky reveal their insights on the South African metropolis of Johannesburg, a city that is home to eight-million people.
Johannesburg was marked by apartheid until early 1994. Since the first free elections in the same year, the metropolis has been subject to rapid and far reaching social changes. Regardless of age, social origin, education or skin colour, artists documented their physical as well as intellectually complex city with the help of photography, painting, sculpture, video art and installation. They dealt with questions of identity and power, took up traditional art forms, but also refered to folk customs and interpreted them anew. Herewith, they discuss the history and the cosmopolitan city of Johannesburg as a meeting place, source of poetry and dreams.
My Joburg is the second part of an exhibition series at La Maison Rouge which deals with cities that are wrongly regarded as “more peripheral” in the art world. The exhibition’s transfer marks the first step for more exhibitions on Africa in the Dresden museums.
With: Jane Alexander, Wayne Barker, Jodi Bieber, Delphine de Blic, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Willem Boshoff, Candice Breitz, Kudzanai Chiurai, Steven Cohen, Paul Emmanuel, Jerry Gaegane, Kendell Geers, David Goldblatt, Simon Gush, Nicholas Hlobo, Stephen Hobbs, William Kentridge, Akona Kenqu, Lebohang Kganye, David Koloane, Dorothee Kreutzfeld and Bettina Malcomess, Moshekwa Lange, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Lawrence Lemaoana, Winston Luthuli, Zen Marie, Gerhard Marx, Titus Matiyane, Sabelo Mlangeni, Nandipha Mntambo, Santu Mofokeng, Zanele Muholi, Brett Murray, Marcus Neustetter, Sam Nhlengethwa, Jo Ractlife, Robin Rhode, Johannes Segagola, Mary Sibande, Christos Stamatiou, Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse, Guy Tillim, Tracey Rose, Andrew Tshabangu, Sue Williamson, Billie Zangewa