The Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP) is launching SCENORAMA a new collaborative platform for artistic experimentation and new commissions working with artists and transdisciplinary researchers from different locales connected to pan-African experiences. This pilot version of the project features research and artistic positions by Amanda Mushate, (ZIM) Luana Vitra (BR),  Manyaku Mashilo (SA), Nolan Oswald Dennis (SA), Nyakallo Maleke (SA), Oscar Murillo (COL), Paulo Nazareth (BR), Simnikiwe Buhlungu (SA) & Tessa Mars (HAT) in collaboration and Thierry Oussou (BEN) and Zara Julius (SA).

SCENORAMA combines the words ‘panorama’ and ‘scene’ in order to present a viewpoint of shared networks of experiences, belief and knowledge systems across different localities in Africa and the Diaspora. The artists included in this version of SCENORAMA are interested in creating new ways of thinking about the accessibility of individual and collective experiences. With research focuses that oscillate between historiographical impulses and systematic formation and transformation they provide possibilities for the emergence of multiple statements that mark the present by engaging our experiences and perceptions of historical time.  

In SCENORAMA the gallery space is choreographed as a living and changing space, with some of the works set to change in form over the months and, at times spilling out into the outside areas of the Javett-UP. The project will be layered over ten months allowing for situations and propositions sitting adjacent to each other to shift and morph, giving space for performances and other actions to mark and transform the space and therefore our ideas about concepts explored by artists and their collaborators.   

This curatorial project is made possible through the assistance, partnerships and collaborations with the Frequencies Institute and Oscar Murillo Studio, Stevenson Gallery, Insite/ Commonplaces, First Floor Gallery and I’ve Seen Your Face Before via Goethe Institut, Sao Paulo.  

SCENORAMA is curated by Javett-UP Curatorial Director Gabi Ngcobo working closely with the Javett-UP curatorial team.  

About Javett-UP  

Javett-UP  is a partnership between the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Javett Foundation. All share a firm belief in the emancipatory potential of the arts in society through multidisciplinary curatorial and pedagogic initiatives. It is a project that is collegiate as it is philanthropic. With one foot firmly rooted in academia, and the other imbedded in the public, Javett-UP will critically respond to histories of Africa’s creative outputs and the future aspirations of the continent and the diaspora. Central to Javett-UP is our commitment to continuous de-colonial dialogues that respond to the present whilst considering the historical and the future implications of our political and social actions.  Javett-UP is committed to sustained critical enquiries  where activities of writers, artists, researchers, advocacy groups, educators, historians, politicians, farmers, scientists, musicians, etc can intersect. 

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