DOCSLIB.ORG

Ambivalent Realties

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

AMBIVALENT REALTIES: Postcolonial Experiences in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice Marcel Daniels Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) (QUT) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts (Research) 2014 Visual Arts Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology ABSTRACT The contemporary postcolonial condition has been shaped by the sustained legacies of colonial principles of political, cultural and economic hegemony. These principles continue to manifest in different ways because of the complex and often-incompatible transformations incurred by globalisation. Many critical debates have focussed on examining these conditions through their broad ideological structures, processes and ramifications. However new postcolonial conditions require new methods of critique to fully grasp the nuances of real world, ‘lived’ experiences. Contemporary artists contribute to this investigation by exploring how new global realities situate notions of identity, race, ethnicity, otherness and diaspora alongside questions of locality, nationality, and transnationality. This practice-led research project traces the trajectories of these practices and debates to reconsider how creative practice can engage with the complex contemporary ‘postcolonial condition’ and ‘postcolonial subject’. Informed by Dawn Duncan’s flexible model of postcolonial critique, this project aims to creatively and critically examine the complexities, ambiguities and ambivalences of this field of inquiry. Approaching these issues through the lens of my own experience as an artist and subject, it results in a body of creative work and a written exegesis. i KEYWORDS ambivalence; globalisation; heterogeneity; diaspora; hybridity; post-medium; multiplicity; pluralism; postcolonial; globalization; exile; experience; ethnicity; diversity; identity; otherness; modernity; contemporary art; colonialism; creative practice ii FIGURES Figure 1: Gordon Bennett, Self Portrait (But I Always Wanted to be One of the Good Guys)(1990) …………………………………….………………................39 Figure 2: Latifa Echakhch, À chaque stencil une revolution (For Each Stencil a Revolution) (2007)…….……………………………………………………………….….44 Figure 3: Latifa Echakhch, À chaque stencil une revolution (For Each Stencil a Revolution) (2007)…….……………………………………………………………….….44 Figure 4: Latifa Echakhch, Burst (2003)……………………………………………………..47 Figure 5: Latifa Echakhch, Burst (2003)……………………………………………………..47 Figure 6: So We Too (2010) ……………………………........................................................52 Figure 7: So We Too (2010) ………………………………………………………………...52 Figure 8: Installation views of My Names: The Perpetual Paradox of Otherness (Nigger, Wog, Musso, FOB, Coon) (2010) …………………………………………………54 Figure 9: I’ve Always Wanted to be a Coon: Context is Crucial And Irrelevant (RSA 01/01)(2010)…………………………………….……………………..54 Figure 10: Traces of Colour, Welcome to the Jungle and So We Too (2011) ……………….56 Figure 11: Traces of Colour and Welcome to the Jungle (2011) ……………………………57 Figure 12: Effigies (2012) …………………………………………………………………...62 Figure 13: Effigies (2012) …………………………………………………………………...62 Figure 14: Virtual Frontiers: As Sure as God Made Little Green Apples (2012)..………………………………………………………………………..66 Figure 15: detail view of Virtual Frontiers: As Sure as God Made Little Green Apples (2012) …………………………………………………….. …………………66 Figure 16: detail view of Virtual Frontiers: As Sure as God Made Little Green Apples (2012)…………….. ………………………………………………………….67 Figure 17: Mary Sibande, Long Live the Dead Queen (2010) Johannesburg……………......70 Figure 18: Mary Sibande, Long Live the Dead Queen (2010) Johannesburg………………..71 iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma in this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the work itself. QUT Verified Signature Signature.......... Date.................... 27th February 2014 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Project has been an academic, professional and a deeply personal endeavour. It simply would not have been possible without the people who have supported me and provided me the tools and the courage to tackle these concerns head-on. For this I would like to show my appreciation and gratitude. Firstly, my supervisors. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my principal supervisor Grant Stevens. Your tireless and generous encouragement, support, patience and mentorship (not to mention incredible editing) throughout the duration of this project have gone above and beyond the role of a supervisor. I cannot thank you enough! And to my associate supervisor Charles Robb, throughout undergraduate studies and this project you have been encouraging, enthusiastic and insightful. Thank you for your knowledge and passion. You have both directed me to the necessary critical and creative tools to tackle this project and future practice. I would also like to thank the QUT Visual Arts faculty. Throughout undergraduate studies, honours and this project you have helped me in some way that has led to this stage. Thank you Mark Webb, Mark Pennings, Andrew McNamara, Courtney Pedersen, Danielle Clej and Jill Barker. Big thanks to my brother of another Other, Daniel Herberg. Thanks for keeping it real, this collab is far from over! And most importantly, my family. My parents Marc and Ron and brother Rustum. It is your fault that I have pursued this ‘ethical enterprise’(to steal a term from postcolonial studies) and for this I am forever grateful. Your endless support has made this possible. I love you guys. And last but definitely not least by any standard my ever supportive, understanding and cute girlfriend Erin. Thank you for your patience and constant support. I love you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................................i KEYWORDS...........................................................................................................................................ii FIGURES…............................................................................................................................................iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY…....................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................1 METHODOLOGY: PRACTICE-LED RESEARCH..............................................................................3 CHAPTER ONE: FOUNDATIONAL POSTCOLONIAL THEORIES………...………....….......6 1.1 Colonial Discourses………………………………………………...................................................7 1.2 Anti-colonial and Self-Liberation Writings……………………………………….….……....….....9 1.3 Postcolonial Critiques………………………………………………………………………..…....10 1.3.1 Edward Said……………………………………………………………………….…....12 1.3.2 Gayatri Spivak…………………………………………………………………….....…14 1.3.3 Homi Bhabha……………………………………………………………………....…...16 . CHAPTER TWO: CONTEMPORARY POSTCOLONIAL THEORY AND ART………....….20 2.1 Current Global Realities …………………….…………………………...…...….…………..........20 2.2 Dawn Duncan ……………………………………………………………..………….…………...24 2.3 Contemporary Art Theory and Postcolonial Discourse……………………………………….......29 2.3.1 Nicolas Bourriaud……………………………………………….…………………...…...30 2.3.2 Okwui Enwezor .…………………… ……….…………………..……….…..……...…..32 CHAPTER THREE: CONTEMPORARY ART APPROACHES…………………………….….35 3.1 Postcolonial Art Practices .................................................................................,.............................35 3.2 Gordon Bennett ………………………………………………………...........................................38 3.3 Latifa Echakhch...............................................................................................................................42 CHAPTER FOUR: CREATIVE PRACTICE………………………………………………….….50 4.1 So We Too (2011) …………..........................................................................................................50 4.2 Traces of Colour (2011)…………………………………………………..………………..……...55 4.3 Collaboration....................................................................................................................................59 4.3.1 Effigies (2012)....................................................................................................................61 4.4 Virtual Frontiers: As Sure as God Made Little Green Apples (2012) ............................................65 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................76 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................................78 INTRODUCTION This research project focuses on the complexities, ambiguities and ambivalences of the postcolonial condition and its relationship with contemporary art practice. My fascination with this condition comes from a deep desire to understand my own postcolonial experiences as an artist and participant in global culture. My life experiences are an important background to this project. I am of South African
Recommended publications
  • Decolonizing Art Institutions

    Decolonizing Art Institutions

    Issue 35 / December 2017 Notes on Curating ONCURATING www.oncurating.org Decolonizing Art Institutions Contents Decolonizing Art Institutions 02 78 Public Performance Detox Dance Chasing Colonial Ghosts: by Roma Jam Session art Kollektiv Decolonizing Art Institutions in with participants of the symposium “Post-Apartheid” South Africa Same Mdluli 04 Editorial 82 Dorothee Richter & Ronald Kolb Train to Biennale Michelle Wong 11 Still Here Somehow: Artists and Cultural 87 Activism in Singapore's Renaissance Decolonizing Art Institutes Woon Tien Wei from a Labor Point of View Binna Choi & Yolande van der Heide 24 The Israeli Center for Digital Art 93 Eyal Danon On Cultural Translation Sophie J Williamson 30 What Does the Revolt of Sediments 99 Look Like? Notes on the Archive Thoughts on Curatorial Practices Sabih Ahmed in the Decolonial Turn Ivan Muñiz-Reed 36 Sources, Itineraries, and the Making 106 of a Thicket Decolonising UK World Art Institutions, Raqs Media Collective 1945–1980 Claire Wintle 41 Three Biennials in Asia (2016) 113 Shwetal A. Patel Acknowledging the post_coloniality of Higher Art Education. Considerations 50 from the Swiss perspective On the critical decades and the role of archives Sophie Vögele and Philippe Saner Shwetal Patel in discussion with Shaheen Merali 119 56 How to Be Affected in Postcolonial Cutting and Sharing the “Global Pie”: Public Spaces? Ethnographic Remarks Why History Matters to Discussions on a Multifocal World in the Making … 1 of Contemporary “Global Art” Rohit Jain Claire Farago 129 61 Some Theoretical and Empirical Aspects on Learning from Dhaka the Decolonization of Western Collections Dorothee Richter Marie-Laure Allain Bonilla 72 140 On Blackwomen’s Creativity and the Future Imprint Imperfect: Thoughts, Propositions, Issues Nkule Mabaso 1 Issue 35 / December 2017 Detox Dance Decolonizing Art Institutions Public Performance Detox Dance by Roma Jam Session art Kollektiv with participants of the symposium Detox Dance is a public performance performed in Square Dance manner.
  • Between Colour Lines: Interrogating the Category 'Coloured' in Depictions Of

    Between Colour Lines: Interrogating the Category 'Coloured' in Depictions Of

    Between colour lines: Interrogating the category ‘coloured’ in depictions of District Six in the work of five South African artists Cameron Amelia Cupido Dissertation in fulfilment of Master’s in Visual Studies Visual Arts Department Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof. Lize Van Robbroeck March 2018 1 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. March 2018 Copyright © 2018 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract The Group Areas Act of 1950 radically affected coloured artists of the time, since it resulted in forced removals and the demolition of traditionally ‘coloured’ suburbs, and forced coloured people into mono-cultural suburbs with imposed identities not of their own choosing. This thesis seeks to uncover the complexities and heterogeneity of coloured identity and the effects apartheid ideologies and practices had on the personal narratives and cultural praxis of Lionel Davis, Albert Adams, George Hallett, Gavin Jantjes and Peter Clarke, who all emphasized the significance of District Six in their own articulations of colouredness. I propose that this problematic ascribed identity was at the root of most artworks produced by these artists and that their art helped them deal with their experiences within (and about) the space of District Six during apartheid.

  • Marlene Dumas Born 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa

    This document was updated February 26, 2021. For reference only and not for purposes of publication. For more information, please contact the gallery. Marlene Dumas Born 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives and works in Amsterdam. EDUCATION 2015 Honorary Doctorate, University of Antwerp 1979-1980 Institute of Psychology, University of Amsterdam 1976-1978 Ateliers 63, Haarlem, The Netherlands 1972-1975 University of Cape Town, South Africa SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Marlene Dumas – Double Takes, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp [catalogue] 2018 Marlene Dumas: Myths & Mortals, David Zwirner, New York [catalogue published in 2019] Marlene Dumas – Rosemarie Trockel: Werke aus der Sammlung Garnatz, Städtischen Galerie Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany [two-person exhibition] Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch, Munchmuseet, Oslo [curated by Marlene Dumas] [two-person exhibition] 2017 Marlene Dumas. Die Entstehung eines Altarbildes/The Creation of an Altarpiece, Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden Marlene Dumas: Dresden Mural, St. Anne’s Church, Freiberger Platz, Dresden [permanent installation] Marlene Dumas. Hope and Fear, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden Marlene Dumas: Oscar Wilde and Bosie, National Portrait Gallery, London [part of I Am Me] Marlene Dumas. Skulls, Albertinum, Dresden 2015 Marlene Dumas/Juan Muñoz: Drawings, Frith Street Gallery, London [two-person exhibition] 2014 Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam [itinerary: Tate Modern, London; Fondation Beyeler, Basel] [each venue published its own
  • Recordings: a Select Bibliography of Contemporary African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British Art ■

    Recordings: a Select Bibliography of Contemporary African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British Art ■

    Recordings: A Select Bibliography of Contemporary African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British Art ■ , Recordings: A Select Bibliography of Contemporary African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British Art Institute of International Visual Arts and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London 1996 Written and Compiled by Melanie Keen and Elizabeth Ward Acknowledgements Published by the Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) in collaboration with Chelsea College of Art and Design, 1996 Copyright © the Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) and Chelsea College of Art and Design, 1996 Institute of International Visual Arts Kirkman House 12/14 Whitfield Street London W1P5RD All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN 1899846 06 9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Compiled and written by Melanie Keen and Liz Ward Design: 8vo, London Printed in the UK by G&B Printers, Middlesex Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. institute of in te rn a tio n a l v isu a l a rts LONDON ARTS BOARD Preface: Stephen Bury, Chelsea College of Art & Design This publication would not have been possible without the work of Elizabeth Ward who created the archive at Chelsea and the previous in-house editions of this bibliography.
  • Fruitmarket Exhibition History to February 2020

    Fruitmarket Exhibition History to February 2020

    Fruitmarket Exhibition History To February 2020 11Da: Eleven Dutch Artists 17/08/1974 – 15/09/1974 An exhibition initiated by the Richard Demarco Gallery, and organised by the Scottish Arts Council and the Netherlands Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Welfare. Edinburgh International Show 1974. Toured to Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum. Artists: Mari Boeijen, Sjoerd Buisman, Gerrit Dekker, Paul van Dijk, Pieter Engels, Wim Gijzen, Jan Hoving, Rob van Koningsbruggen, Hans de Vries, and Lex Wechgelaar. A Choice Selection 01/03/1975 – 29/03/1975 Scottish Arts Council exhibition chosen by Scottish painter John (‘Jack’) Knox. Scottish Sculpture ‘75 12/04/1975 – 03/05/1975 Scottish Sculpture '75 was presented by the Richard Demarco Gallery. The artists shown were Fred Bushe, Michael Docherty, Jake Harvey, Jake Kempsell, John Kirkwood, James McGlade, Tam MacPhail, Glen Onwin, Alistair Park, Bill Scott, and Ainslie Yule. The Manifestations of the Obsessions and Fantasies of Bruce Lacey and Jill Bruce 17/05/1975 – 14/06/1975 Exhibition by British artist, performer and eccentric Bruce Lacey and Jill Bruce. After completing his national service in the navy Lacey became established on the avant garde scene with his performance art and mechanical constructs. Allen Jones: Recent Work 21/06/1975 – 12/07/1975 Exhibition by British Pop artist Allen Jones. Organised by the Scottish Arts Council and Welsh Arts Council. Ian Patterson: Paintings 21/06/1975 – 05/07/1975 1 Exhibition of paintings by Scottish artist Ian Patterson. 4 Scottish Realists 19/07/1975 – 09/08/1975 Exhibition of work by John Bellany, Neil Dallas Brown, Bill Gillon, Alexander Moffat.