An Insight into the Curatorial Process

The artists ....

The exhibition 'what u say 'bout what?' was designed around a cancellation which included Youth Day 2014. The concept behind the exhibition was to investigate the question of where do South African artists come from? The invitations to participate went out in under a week - which immediately limited the pool of young aspiring artists to those who could be found. Frantic attempts were made to contact both secondary schools and tertiary institutions in and around Durban. Thanks must go to Jannie van Heerden and osmosis Lisa for doing this.

The selection process .....

A young curatorial team worked with the 'mentor curator' Bren Brophy to experience what went on 'behind-the-scenes'. Bren explained that selection could occur using a criteria-based rubric approach or a participatory consensus model. (Participation, dialogue and conversation) The latter was chosen.

Activity 1:

Design a list of selection criteria that could be used for an exhibition of this nature.

Use a rating scale for each criterion e.g. 1 to 10

Put this into a chart and test it out on some works around you in your studio environment.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this model.

Activity 2:

Research the participation model. 

Organize a 'panel' with 3 other members of your group.

Draw up some guidelines for selection, and then test out the model on works from your studio environment.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this model.

Which would you use?

Exhibition Design and installation ...

The concept or overall idea was initially discussed with the curatorial panel. This aimed to present the work in a way that enhanced the exhibition theme 'what u say about what?' - the idea of a conversation by young people about the issues that interest them. This of course implies that the artworks DO have something to say!

The selected work was laid out in the gallery and moved around on the floor until these conversations started happening. Often another selection process occurs when these conversations don't happen, and work has to be 'triaged'. (see the interview with Bren for this)


The technicians then started work with ladders, tools and a well-developed attention to detail! Laser sights projected onto the walls to create exact verticals and horizontals, and secure fastenings were used invisibly wherever possible.

Interview with the mentor-curator ... Bren Brophy

Critical thinking and the KZNSA Gallery educational resources

Critical thinking - especially in a gallery context - is very important in the Grade 12 Visual Art curriculum. Approximately HALF the Theory paper requires you - the learner - to look at previously unseen work and critically think (and write) about it. There are unseen works in each of the questions you will answer.
The more you practise, the better you will get!

The ArtTeam has chosen four works for you to practise on. Each work has its own post which you can use to research, using a critical thinking technique - 'infographic construction'. These infographics can then be used to answer the 'own choice' part of the paper, AND you will have had practise in thinking critically!

Wesley van Eeden
'Secret Country'

Doung Anwar Jahangeer
'Stepping into Freedom'

Pascale Chandler
'Wounded tread of gentle souls'

Sifiso kaMkame
'Letters of Home'

How to make an infographic ....

Example : Pascale Chandler

'Wounded tread of gentle souls'

Step 1: Create THREE chunks by actually cutting up paper OR work digitally.

Step 2: Decide on the content for each chunk. Ask your teacher if you are unsure. Some chunks are always the same. Pencil (or key in) these as chunk headings.

........... Graphic chunk .... paste the picture here. Add the artist's name, the name of the artwork the date and the medium.  (Refer to its relevant theme as well) This will always be the same.

........... Intention of the artist .... read the relevant post and look at the links ESPECIALLY the interview with the artist. Write about 6 sentences into this chunk.

.......... Analysis chunk .... here we look at the elements and principles of Art & Design and figure out how they construct the meaning of the painting. Write about twice as much in this chunk.

Look at this example of an infographic .....

This can then be written as an essay for an exam, and the infographic will help you revise. This example only has (about) 20 sentences.

Sifiso ka Mkame shows some learners how to tackle social issues visually using his unique technique. 

Post-democratic identity in South Africa (including issues of language, ethnicity, globalisation, urbanisation in the new South Africa)

The new 'LEGU' theme in the Grade 12 NCS curriculum for Visual Arts is now Theme 6 ...
Post-democratic identity in South Africa (including issues of Language, Ethnicity, Globalisation, Urbanisation in the new South Africa) 

This exhibition - 20 Years: 20 Artists - has many examples of these issues of language, ethnicity, globalisation and urbanisation. Have a look at the colour coding on the artworks to find some excellent examples.

Wesley van Eerden

'Secret Country'

Secret Country explores the idea of a place that has not yet been found or disclosed because of a lack of education and the opportunities that a government should be providing for its young people. (van Eeden - catalogue)

Wesley van Eeden

Secret Country

Ltd Edition archival print

29.7 x 42cm

From van Eeden's proposal ........
This artwork was originally created for the inaugural Cape Town Art Fair in October 2013. A film is in the process of being edited showing the process of the artwork being produced at the art fair as it was a live painting / installation. If the video is ready it would be great to show the video as well.

The artwork represents an African school girl, her school badge is representative of South Africa as a “school”. The school in this case has taught us very little and our vision is limited with the knowledge we have attained. This knowledge could be the new government, our parents, society etc. The title “Secret Country” is alluding to a place that has not been discovered yet and or been kept under cover for the fear of individuality and self reliance. The artwork is about celebrating our own individuality and self worth and the flowers, fauna and birds are metaphors for this.

Also if there is sufficient funding a live painting could be cool for the opening night. The artwork is digitally produced and wheat pasted onto a canvas at any size with abstract painted imagery under and on top of the design as the photo below. 

This artwork depends on the 'New Media' advent of graphic design. Graphic images have been used in the past in the world of advertising and also of graphic novels and comics. van Eeden's technique moves them into the gallery space as 'painting'. He emphasizes this shift by actually painting onto the digital canvas as seen above.

- what is digital and what is painted? TAKE A GUESS!

Link to an article on graphic novels

All the images surrounding the schoolgirl are metaphors for what is available in the world. van Eeden says that 'the artwork is about celebrating our own individuality and self worth and the flowers, fauna and birds are metaphors for this". 
Do you think schools help or hinder learners in discovering their new identity in the global world? Do they protect learners from too much happening in the world out there or do they keep us insular and unaware? 
The global world 'out there' exposes young people to many attractive possibilities.
Can you define a 'global identity'? Debate this briefly ........

Activity link: This could be used in your school's studio OR at the gallery workshop.

Link to interview with van Eeden (under construction pending artist's response)

Possible NCS Curriculum Theme links:
5. Multi-media and New Media - alternative and contemporary art forms in South  Africa

6. Post-democratic Identity in south Africa (including issues of language, ethnicity, globalization, urbanization in the new South Africa)

Doung Anwar Jahangeer

'stepping into freedom'

stepping into freedom - proposed video installation

stepping into freedom - performance in the Warwick Junction as part of the City Initiative programme

steppingintofreedom - construction detail

Doung's interest in 'anti-form' could be useful in art-making activities in your school.

Link to suggested activity with questions.

Link to dala website

  dala  -  verb to make / create (isiZulu)

Link to interview with doung  

The influence of Dada and Kurt Schwitters  
Link to MoMA

Scwitters - Merzbau  - early 20th century - Germany

The beginning of the 20th Century saw an interest in ‘anti-form’ with the ‘merz-bau’ (maze buildings) of Kurt Schwitters of the DADA movement in Germany. Schwitters was motivated by the trauma of the First World War in Europe, and the resulting chaos in Germany.

Is it possible to comment on the elements and principles of art in Doung's piece - such as composition - when the main interest of the work is its anti-form? 
In the performance piece, the artist resembles a municipal official and so questions the role of of these officials in the regulation of traders in Durban. The maze of gazebo scaffolding has no function as a shelter and makes viewers curious about its purpose. This starts to make them think about what could be going on and  to question the authorities - it 'conscientises' the public. 
Doung's hope is that this gives rise to alternative negotiated solutions for traders in Durban, and as such, the piece has a socio-political purpose.

Possible NCS  Curriculum Theme 

5. Multi-media and New Media - alternative and contemporary art forms in South  Africa

Pascale Chandler

'Wounded tread of gentle souls'

Pascale Chandler

Wounded tread of gentle souls

Oil on canvas

63 x 196cm

Chandler's intention in this work is to raise the  issue of censorship of art works, as well as to look at the function of the creative process in public (social) spaces. It makes specific reference to the censorship of Andries Botha's Three Elephants public sculpture in the Warwick Junction - Durban.

Link to the controversial censorship issue - Mail & Guardian

Central to this controversy - Chandler says - is "a collision of power and multiple egos traded as particular perspectives on social identity".

This raises questions of social identity within our own Durban (eThekwini) environment. Who are we? How do we react to others? What right do we have to impose our views on others - or others on us? What differences in power exist around us? What other collisions of values have you experienced?

Chandler says that "The painting explores (a) metaphorical sombre space where a sinister machine secretly shifts a mass of debris." The debris are the carcasses of the sculpture which Chandler says 'has been held hostage by the eThekwini Municipality." The colours that Chandler uses (dark grey/blues) and their loose application suggests a sombre sad Durban with the identifying horizontal bank of the Bluff in the far background.

The bright orange 'sinister' machine contrasts strongly with these grey/blues and suggests power as it seems to emerge from the sea in pursuit of the scared elephant on the right. The long thin shape of the canvas format could suggest a moment in time in a long narrative.

The title of the painting is extremely evocative. Wounded tread of gentle souls.

It suggests that there is a bigger issue at stake here - that of the elephants themselves and their endangered status in our country. This is the intention of the original Botha sculpture as commissioned by the Human Elephant Foundation. www.humanelephant.org

Link to interview  

Did you know that elephants used to walk down to Durban Bay to wallow in the mud?

Link to Elephants in Durban

“Andries Botha and the municipality have agreed that Botha will complete the sculpture of a small herd of elephants at Warwick Junction on the original site,” Photo from M&G

(All quotes are from the artist’s statement - Exhibition catalogue)

Activity for class:

Issues of social identity - 'Us' and 'Them' discussions as a visual dialogue.

Think of a metaphor for YOU or for something you value. (You can’t use a ‘selfie’ ...... that’s literal, not metaphorical!) Do the same for a ‘sinister’ other. What happens between them? Create a visual image in any medium that explores a moment in time in your story / narrative.

Possible NCS curricular themes:

3. Socio-political art - including resistance art of the 1970s and 1980s(??)

6. Post-democratic Identity in south Africa  (including issues of language, ethnicity, globalization, urbanization  in the new South Africa)