South African Journal of Art History Volume 34 Number 2 2019 Art History Volume African Journal of South South African Journal of Art History A JOURNAL FOR THE VISUAL ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE Volume 34 Number 2 2019 tion i Trad Tradition formation formation trans trans ition Trad Tradition trans trans formation formation& & SAJAHcover34no2.indd 1 2019/12/20 23:50:20 The South African Journal of Art History is a peer reviewed journal publishing articles and review articles on the following subjects: Art and architectural history Art and architectural theory Aesthetics and philosophy of art Visual culture Art and the environment Film and photography History of craft History of design SAJAH does not publish the following: educational issues; student research; architectural designs; popular culture. ISSN 0258-3542 Available on Sabinet Website: www.sajah.co.za Archive: UP Space Indexed by Scopus and Clarivate Analytics i SAJAH South African Journal of Art History Volume 34, Number 2, 2019 Editor Estelle Alma Maré Editorial Board Arthur Barker, University of Pretoria (Regionalism and South African architecture) Monica di Ruvo, Peninsula University of Technology (craft, design pedagogy, interior design, sustainable design) Kobus du Preez, University of the Free State (indigenous architecture, conservation) Adrian Konik, Nelson Mandela University (philosophy, film theory and cultural studies) Estelle Liebenberg-Barkhuizen, University of KwaZulu-Natal (women artists, works on paper) Estelle Alma Maré, Tshwane University of Technology (art and architectural history) Phil Mashabane, Architect (architectural history, theory and conservation) Mauritz Naudé, University of Pretoria (South African architecture) Mbongiseni Nkambule, Tshwane University of Technology (architectural history and theory) Jonathan Noble, University of the Free State (architectural history, theory and criticism) Bert Olivier, University of the Free State (aesthetics and philosophy of art) Johann Opperman, University of South Africa (South African art) John Steele, Walter Sisulu University (ceramics, installation art, ephemeral art) Aletta Steenkamp, University of Cape Town (architecture) Ingrid Stevens, Tshwane University of Technology (art theory, contemporary art, craft) Gerald Steyn, Tshwane University of Technology (African and South African architecture) Ariana van Heerden, University of Pretoria (neuroscience of art making) C.J. van Vuuren, University of South Africa (indigenous architecture, anthropology) International Advisory Board Tsion Avital, Emeritus professor, Department of Design and Art, Holon Academic Institute of Technology, Israel Concha Diez-Pastor e Iribas, ESNE (University of Design), Madrid, Spain Maria Fernada Derntl, Faculdade de Arquitetuia e Urbanismo da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil Pascal Dubourg-Glatigny, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France Aleš Erjavec, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia Antoni S. Folkers, researcher, African Architecture Matters, Amsterdam, The Netherlands John Hendrix, Department of Architecture, Lincoln University, UK Mary Johnson, Department of Architecture, De Montford University, Leicester, UK Constantinos V. Proimos, Hellenic Open University and the Technical University of Crete, Greece Raymond Quek, Leeds School of Architecture, UK Tijen Roshko, Department of Architecture, University of Manitoba, Canada Leoni Schmidt, Director of Research, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou, Department of Architecture, Technical University, Athens, Greece Gert van Tonder, Reki-An Pavilion, Kamigamo Minami Ojicho 5 Banchi, Kitaku, Kyoto City, Japan Alexander Tzonis, Emeritus professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands The SAJAH is sponsored by the Art Historical Work Group of South Africa Chairperson: Gerald Steyn Treasurer and Publication Secretary: E.A. Maré Cover design: Johann Opperman Layout: Silverrocket Publications & Design Printed by: Procopyprint ii South African Journal of Art History Volume 34, number 2, 2019 Contents Research articles on the subject of “Tradition and transformation” Yolanda van der Vyver The role of sculptural tradition in (political) power transformations: the self-contradictoriness of psychosocial repetition 1 Gerald Steyn Designing apartments for changing demographics in South Africa 25 Michael Louw Transformation through reclamation and the repositioning of tradition 43 John Steele Ephemeropolis: urban design and performing land art at AfrikaBurn 2019 62 Estelle Alma Maré Representations of the sun before and after the Copernican revolution 84 iii The role of sculptural tradition in (political) power transformations: the self-contradictoriness of psychosocial repetition Yolanda van der Vyver University of the Free State E-mail: [email protected] The sculptural tradition of communicating power and ideology in marble and bronze is one that is copied from one civilisation to the next. In the fifth century BCE Greek sculptures idealised the human form in its youthful perfection and more than four hundred years later, Romans modelled sculptures of their political leaders on those of their Greek predecessors. In this way the Romans connected themselves in mythical fashion to the Golden Age of Classical Greece, which marked the height of Athens’s influence and power. The sculptural traditions of the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations were reinvented during the Renaissance and found global expression in nineteenth century monumentalism. But with each significant socio-political transformation, a new power strives to reformulate its predecessor’s memory practices, and when a new society lacks certain traditions, these are often invented or constructed in mythical fashion, based on selections and exclusions from its predecessor’s cultural and political traditions. The prevalence of “Western” statues in post- independence Africa illustrates this form of self-contradictory psychosocial repetition. Despite being alien to traditional African culture, monumental objects that grab back to ancient civilisations and mimic Western cultural and sculptural traditions, strive to express and exercise political power. They are self-contradictory, because they copy and create a mythical, cultural and political tradition on the one hand and simultaneously attempt to erase and replace the memories of their colonial predecessors. The aim of this article is to situate sculptural tradition in its wider historical context and to investigate the social-physical phenomenon of psychosocial repetition within its complex context. Key words: sculptural tradition, psychosocial repetition, political transformation, reformulation of memory practices Die rol van skulturele tradisie in (politiese) magstransformasies: die self-weersprekendheid van psigososiale repetisie Die skulpturele tradisie om mag en ideologie in marmer en brons te kommunikeer word van een beskawing na die volgende gekopieer. In die vyfde eeu vGJ het Griekse beelde die menslike vorm in sy jeugdige perfeksie geïdealiseer en meer as vierhonderd jaar later het die Romeine beelde van hul politieke leiers op dié van hul Griekse voorgangers gemodelleer. So het die Romeine hulself op mitiese wyse verbind tot die Goue Eeu van Klassieke Griekeland, wat as hoogtepunt van Athene se invloed en mag beskou word. Die skulpturele tradisies van die antieke Griekse en Romeinse beskawings is tydens die Renaissance herontdek en het globale uitdrukking in negentiende eeuse monumentalisme gevind. Maar met elke beduidende sosio-politieke transformasie, strewe ’n nuwe mag om sy voorganger se geheuegebruike te herformuleer, en as ’n nuwe gemeenskap sekere tradisies kort, word dit dikwels opnuut bedink of op mitiese wyse gekonstrueer, gebaseer op die seleksies en uitsluitings van sy voorganger se kulturele en politieke tradisies. Die voorkoms van “Westerse” standbeelde in Afrika na onafhanklikheid illustreer hierdie self-weersprekende psigososiale repetisie. Ten spyte daarvan dat dit vreemd is aan tradisionele Afrika kulture, strewe monumentale voorwerpe, wat teruggryp na antieke beskawings en wat Westerse kulturele en skulpturele tradisies naboots, om politieke mag uit te druk en uit te oefen. Hierdie monumente is self-weersprekend, omdat hulle aan die een kant ’n mitiese, kulturele en politieke tradisie kopieer en skep, en aan die ander kant gelyktydig poog om hul koloniale voorgangers se herinneringe uit te vee en te vervang. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om skulpturele tradisie in sy wyer historiese konteks te plaas en om die sosiale- fisiese fenomeen van psigososiale repetisie binne hierdie komplekse konteks te ondersoek. Sleutelwoorde: skulpturele tradisie, psigososiale repetisie, politieke transformasie, herformulering van geheuegebruike SAJAH, ISSN 0258-3542, volume 34, number 2, 2019: 1-24 ith every (political) power transformation, the new power adopts certain cultural traditions of the old power. These cultural traditions may be adapted and elaborated Wupon to suit the new power’s cultural requirements. It is also not unusual for the new power to perform a cultural reformulation ritual on the old power’s memory practices in an attempt to control what the transformed community remembers and what it forgets. The result is a cultural layering of the old with the new, which still bears visible evidence of the attempts to scratch off or alter some of the old layers. This article focuses on sculpture and specifically monumental sculpture as such a cultural tradition. It relates the cultural