Reconceptualising Curatorial Strategies and Roles: Autonomous Curating in Johannesburg Between 2007 and 2016
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COPYRIGHT AND CITATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR THIS THESIS/ DISSERTATION o Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. o NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. o ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. How to cite this thesis Surname, Initial(s). (2012). Title of the thesis or dissertation (Doctoral Thesis / Master’s Dissertation). Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/102000/0002 (Accessed: 22 August 2017). RECONCEPTUALISING CURATORIAL STRATEGIES AND ROLES: AUTONOMOUS CURATING IN JOHANNESBURG BETWEEN 2007 AND 2016 VOLUME 1 A full thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree PhD in Art History Department of Visual Arts Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture University of Johannesburg by JAYNE KELLY CRAWSHAY-HALL 200715237 Supervisor: Professor Brenda Schmahmann The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research in 2016 is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. DECLARATION OR ORIGINALITY I declare that this study is my own original work. Where use is made of the work of others, it is indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. This study is submitted for the degree of PhD at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination to any other university. Jayne Kelly Crawshay-Hall (Robertson) May 2019 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2016 towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author, and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. I also extend thanks and acknowledgement towards the University of Johannesburg for merit bursaries awarded, as well as towards the FADA department for the provision of supervisor bursaries granted. I extend thanks to the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, and the Department of Visual Art for the support provided in the processes of writing this thesis. I wish to specifically thank the staff and associated researchers at the SARCHI Centre, for the chats, advice, shared knowledge, and guidance during our weekly seminar sessions. These interactions have been an invaluable resource throughout this process, and served to create a supportive environment, and a like-minded research community. A huge thank you is extended towards my supervisor Professor Brenda Schmahmann, South African Research Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture. I could not have hoped for a better supervisor. Thank you for your knowledge, guidance, integrity, and care each step of this project. You have taught me so much, and have been a mentor to me. I would also like to thank Professor Jeanne van Eeden, my temporary supervisor during Brenda’s absence, for the many dedicated hours towards getting me to the final stages of submitting this PhD. I am extremely grateful to both of you for your support and contributions to this research. I also thank Craig MacKenzie for his editing services. I would like to extend my gratitude to all the curators, artists and researchers who I discuss in this paper, and who I believe have made significant contributions to our local art scene. I especially thank those who made time to sit down with me for interviews: Ricky Burnett, Lorna Ferguson, Clive Kellner, Nontobeko Ntombela, Carly Whitaker, Portia Malatjie, Louise van der Bijl, Maaike Bakker, Ella Křivánek, Stephan Hobbs, Matthew Dean Dowdle, MJ Turpin, and Dalene Victor Meyer. I would also like to thank Tara Walker (JAG Registrar) and Ziphezinhle Gwala (JAG librarian) for assisting me in finding valuable information. Without all of you, the Johannesburg art scene would be a missed opportunity, thank you. I would like to acknowledge The Open Window institute and my colleagues for the support and time afforded towards my studies. I would especially like to thank Maaike Bakker, my colleague, friend and teammate in art, and with whom I have been inspired to curate many shows and partake in many art adventures. I would also like to thank Dalene Victor Meyer, who started NO END Contemporary Art Space with Maaike and I — it’s been an adventure and an inspiration, and in many ways, NO END and Curated by_Collective sowed the seed that led to this PhD topic. I would like to especially thank my family, who never questioned my absence over the dedicated years of writing, but were rather there with me in quiet, gently supporting my endeavours. Lastly, and certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband, Michael Robertson, for your dedication to me during this project. You have spent three and a half years waking me up at 4am every morning, helping me mind-map my chapter ideas, ii encouraging me to start the new chapters, and sitting through countless read-a-louds of my paper. In many ways, I am very aware that your support has enabled me to reach the point of submission. Thank you for reminding me why this journey was important to me during the times when I was overwhelmed, and for believing in me on the days I wanted to give up. Your love, patience, and moral contribution each step of this process reminds me, every day, of how much I love you. iii ABSTRACT There has been a shift in curatorial practice internationally whereby the curator-as- creator, or contemporary curator, is now seen as the art object’s instigator, working with artworks to create meaning. Although interest in curatorial discourse became apparent relatively late in South Africa, accelerated by the dissolution of apartheid and the end of the cultural boycott, I contend that the mega-exhibitions of the late 1980s and 1990s, particularly Tributaries: A View of Contemporary South African Art (1985); Africus: Johannesburg (1995); Trade Routes: History and Geography (1997); Miscast: Negotiating Khoisan History and Material Culture (1996); and Africa Remix: Art of a Continent (2007), were seminal in prompting critical interest in curatorial practice. I discuss how a number of curators in Johannesburg have been reconceptualising their strategies and roles, particularly the shift towards maintaining independence, which I argue was prefigured by these early mega-exhibitions. By analysing curatorial projects and the role of the curator practising in Johannesburg between the years 2007 and 2016, I show that a number of curators have gained the strategic ability to navigate challenges and/or limitations related to socio-cultural, political, or economic imperatives by remaining independent of institutional policy and/or conventional conceptions of curatorial practice. I show how autonomous Johannesburg curators have reconceptualised the conventions of producing, installing, exhibiting and viewing exhibitions, which they do by adopting independent roles that I categorise as: (1) the nomadic curator, (2) the curator-as- artist/artist-as-curator, (3) the curator engaging in collaborative curatorial practices, (4) and the curator-gallerist. Despite some western curatorial strategies having inflected Johannesburg curatorial practices, I suggest that local curators are not simply importing these ideas, but have adapted and reinterpreted them in ways that have enabled exhibitions to respond to social injustice and concerns around inclusion and exclusion; probe socio-political legacies; and bypass problems such as the lack of infrastructure and scarcity of funding and resources in Johannesburg. iv KEYWORDS Curatorial; curator; Johannesburg; independent curator; autonomous curator; nomadic curator; collective curator; collaborative curator; curator as artist; artist as curator; curator-gallerist; mega-exhibitions; independent exhibitions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 1 Page DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………………………………………….. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………….. ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….. iv KEYWORDS……………………………………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………….. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………… ix LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………….. x INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………… 1 Context of the research ………………………………………………………. 3 Methodology……………………………………………………………………. 11 Original contribution……………………………………………………………. 16 Chapter outline…………………………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER ONE: TRACING THE SHIFT IN CURATORIAL PRACTICE AND DISCOURSE IN SOUTH AFRICA…………………………………………………….. 21 Introduction……………………………………………………………………... 21 Tributaries: A View of Contemporary South African Art (1985), curated by Ricky Burnett………………………………………………………………... 25 Africus: Johannesburg (1995), curated by Lorna Ferguson and Christopher Till…………………………………………………………………. 31 Miscast: Negotiating Khoisan History and Material Culture (1996), curated by Pippa Skotnes…………………………………………………….. 39 Trade Routes: History and Geography (1997), directed by Okwui Enwezor…………………………………………………………………………. 44 Africa Remix: Art of a Continent (2007), curated by Simon Njami……….. 53 Chapter conclusion…………………………………………………………….. 56 CHAPTER TWO: THE NOMADIC CURATOR………………………………………. 58 Introduction……………………………………………………………………... 58 Modern Fabrics: Urban Culture and Artists Connected to the City Landscape (2008), curated by Nontobeko