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Beyond the Readymade: Found Objects in Contemporary South African Art

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Beyond the Readymade: Found Objects in Contemporary South African Art Beyond the readymade: Found objects in contemporary South African art Alison Kearney A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of philosophy. March 2016. i Abstract The use of found objects is evident in a range of contemporary artmaking practices. The use of found objects can, however, no longer be understood as a rupture from tradition as they were in the early decades of the twentieth century when they were first used by Picasso and later by Duchamp, because found objects have become part of a longer genealogy in art making. A new approach is needed in order to understand the significance of the use of found objects in contemporary art. This study explores the significance of the use of found objects in selected contemporary South African artworks in order to move beyond an understanding of the use of found objects as the anti-art gestures like those of the historical and neo-avant-gardes. I propose that a shift in focus, from the idea of the found objects as anti-art, to an exploration of the changing ontological status of the found object as it moves through different social fields is one such new approach. Chapter one introduces the study, while chapter two outlines the research methods and theoretical frameworks used. Chapter three explores the meanings that objects accrue in everyday practices, while chapter four focussed on the difference between artworks and more quotidian objects. Pursuing the question of the manner in which the ontological status of the object shifts as it enters into and becomes part of the field of exhibition, chapter five considers the ways in which meanings are constructed for objects in the field of exhibition through the conventions of display. I explore the ways in which artists make use of or invert these conventions as a means of challenging the field of exhibition. Acknowledging that the objects are also active agents within this process, in chapter six I explore the manner in which the materiality of found objects contributes to the meaning of the artworks, and by extension, I consider what new possibilities of meaning a focus on the materiality yields. In the final chapter, I use the concept of the everyday to draw the themes that have emerged throughout this study together. I conclude by situating the contemporary South African art practices within the genealogy of the avant-garde. Key words: Found objects, Siopis, Alborough, Seejarim, Materiality, The Everyday, Contemporary South African Art ii Declaration I declare that this is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other university. _________________________________ ________day of ________________2016 iii Acknowledgements This research was made possible through a National Research Foundation Thuthuka Grant (2012- 2014), as well as an Andrew W. Mellon Mentorship Award for emerging researchers (2012-2014), and two Wits University Faculty of Humanities Research Grants (2012 and 2014) that enabled me to present work in progress at international conferences. While there were many lonely nights I spent toiling away at this thesis, my research journey has not been solitary. I am grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Anitra Nettleton for her guidance and insight. I appreciate the high standards she sets for herself and her students, and her insistence on being precise. I thank Anitra for her commitment to supervising this project, and for her support of my (many) funding proposals, applications for research leave, participation in writing retreats, short courses and art projects. It has been a privilege for me to learn from and work with a scholar whom I so deeply admire. I would like to thank my partner Sidney Ndhlovu for his unfailing support; for enduring my frequent absences, and, probably even more trying, for enduring my distracted, fretful presence. In between single parenting, Sidney has put up with excited (or tearful) phone calls from writing retreats, research trips and conferences, as well as listened to endless rants about “the problem with this or that section.” Thanks must also go to Joan, Scott, Leigh and Coleen Kearney for their support throughout this journey. I appreciate Scott’s help in sourcing texts that were difficult to find. I thank Dr. Alta Van As for the support and care that she gave generously from day one. I thank Bronwen Findlay for her support, her willingness to take on my lecturing, and her level-headed advice, such as reminding me not to plan the after party before completing the work. I also appreciate the support and encouragement I received from Dr. Kershree Padayachee throughout this process. Thanks to Michelle Jersky for her support and comments on final drafts. Thanks must also go to Monica Langa who has helped care for my children, and too frequently works the long hours that I work. iv I have gained much from Prof. Jane Castle and Dr. Moyra Keane of the Wits Centre for Learning and Teaching Development. I am grateful for their insights, encouragement and care. Most of this thesis was written on the writing retreats they expertly facilitate. I thank Prof. Sue Van Zyl for her feedback on drafts of my proposal and various chapters throughout my research journey. I am grateful to Prof. Claire Penn for her mentorship and to Dr. Robin Drennan from the Wits Research Office for his advice on applying for funding, and support throughout my research process. I also thank Beverly Manus, Christopher Mahlangu and Vincent Nkosana from the Wits Research Office for the hours they spent assisting me in managing my research funds. I am grateful to my ‘writing buddies’ Kezia Lewins, Sithabile Ndlovu and Bronwen Wilson Thompson, all soon to have Doctorates of their own, for sharing the journey with me; for their support, commiseration, strategies for sorting out structure, and the I-Ching for writers. Thanks must also go to Jakes and Elsie Du Plessis at the Wedgewood B and B in Melville; the fruit salad there is the best I have ever had, and good motivation to keep returning and to keep writing. I would like to thank Jo Burger at the Johannesburg Art Gallery for help with the preliminary research on South African art history, and Neil Dundas at the Goodman Gallery for help sourcing images of Siopis’ss artworks. I am grateful to Usha Seejarim, Penny Siopis, Alan Alborough, Fiona Rankin-Smith, Wits Art Museum, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Stevenson Gallery and the South African National Gallery for permission to reproduce images. Finally, but not least, I would like to thank Siopis, Seejarim and Alborough for their generosity in engaging with me, and giving me access to their artworks. We have not spoken in some time, yet I feel like we have been in constant, deep conversation for years, while I have pored over their artworks daily. Your work has inspired my research, which is for you. v Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………...ii Declaration…………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iv Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..vi Chapter one: Introduction Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 From representation to re-presentation………………………………………………………………………….….3 Duchamp’s readymades……………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 The use of found objects in European modernist art……………………………………..….………………..8 Theorising the use of found objects in contemporary South African art………………………….….12 The significance of the study…………………………………………………………………………..…………………13 Scope and limitations………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 Creating pathways……………………………………………………………………………………………..……………..19 The route………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20 Chapter two: positioning myself Towards a critical art history……………………………………………………………………………………..………22 On context and meaning…………………………………………………………..………………………………..…….24 Establishing a clear position…………………………………………………………………………………………..….27 Social- anthropological studies of material culture…………………………………………………………….28 Discourses on the found object in art………………………………………………………………………..………30 Sociological and philosophical explorations of the everyday………………………………………….…..30 Contextualising this study………………………………………………………………………………………………….31 Textuality………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....32 Political conceptualism………………………………………………………………………………………………………34 The persistence of materiality……………………………………………………………………………………………38 vi South African art in the 1970s and 1980s…………………………………………………………….…………..39 The cultural embargo and its aftermath……………………………………………………………………….…..43 Chapter three: ontologies of objects The objects used by Seejarim, Siopis and Alborough………………………………………………………...47 Objects and meaning…………………………………………………….………………………………………………….59 The psychological significance of objects…………………………………………………………………………..63 Objects shape us as much as we shape them………………………………………………………………….…66 Objects help in the performance of identity……………………………………………………………………...70 The social life of things……………………………………………………………………………………………………..74 The displacement of objects into art………………………………………………………………………….……..78 Chapter four: artworks and other things The incorporation of quotidian objects into art…………………………………………………………..…….80 What differentiates artworks from quotidian objects?........................................................81
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