From June until September 2013 Next Future will show  Exhibition and Events with a focus on South Africa.

9th Edition of the Bamako Photography Encounters

Opening: 21 June, 10 pm
22 Jun 2013 – 1 Sep 2013
Main building – temporary exhibitions gallery, Floor 00

It is the exhibition of the 9th edition of the Bamako Photography Encounters that is presented here. The theme proposed to the photographers was “For a sustainable world”. In a continent where, in many countries, they are still far from reaching the minimum levels set by the Kyoto Agreement, choosing a theme of this nature, with all the implications that it has in terms of environmental policy, economic decisions, environmental protection, and agricultural, fishing and industrial regulations, is, to say the very least, a revolutionary proposal. And this was how the scores of photographers that took part in this exhibition with hundreds of photographs and videos, offered visitors the chance to see the state of the world, where, to quote the curators, “being on Earth and living together” remain obvious notions that immediately call for drastic solutions.

Curators: Michket Krifa and Laura Serani

Present Tense

Opening: 21 June, 10 pm
22 Jun 2013 – 1 Sep 2013
Main building – temporary exhibitions gallery, Floor 01

An exhibition with photographers from Southern Africa. Looking at the past, the photographs do not derive from a “constellation of ethnic groups or tribes”, to mention the thesis proposed by Elikia M’Bokolo, and this is an essential premise in the curatorship of this exhibition entitled “Present Tense”. We are quite far removed from the photographs taken of black people who “officially […] were frequently depicted in the same visual language as the flora and fauna”, to quote Santu Mofokeng in “The Black Album Photo”. We are interested in showing and comparing the work of photographers who live or travel through a series of cities situated mainly in the Southern Africa region without there being anything to indicate any visual or cultural identity for the region. Regardless of the genres – portrait, landscape, document, photojournalism – these are photographs about the “Present Tense” that we want to show, and this concept of the “Present Tense” also includes the tension between languages, the choice of colour or black and white and the detail diverging from the panoramic view.

With photographs by Délio Jasse, Dillon Marsh, Filipe Branquinho, Guy Tillim, Jo Ractliffe, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Mack Magagane, Malala Andrialavidrazana, Mauro Pinto, Paul Samuels, Pieter Hugo, Sabelo Mlangeni, Sammy Baloji and Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi.

Curator: António Pinto Ribeiro

Figures 1 and 2 by Nicholas Hlobo

21 Jun 2013 – 29 Sep 2013
Jardim Gulbenkian

During my visit to the Gulbenkian, I selected to exhibit my work on a ledge close to the lake opposite the amphitheatre. I will make two abstract figures / pillars from metal and other materials. These 2.5 – 3 metres tall figures/pillars will be placed by the edge of the lake. The work references ecclesiastical notions from the Bible – Eve and the punishment of child birth (mother giving life to her child). Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt and the garden of creation. The phallic figures/ pillars will abstractly resemble an ant hill. The water plays an important role in carrying through the message of creation as water is a life giving force.

www.proximofuturo.gulbenkian.pt