Student visit to the Norval Foundation

The Honours in Curatorship students recently went onâ a field trip to the new Norval Foundation in Steenberg. We were excited to be greeted by two graduates of the programme who now work at the foundation, Marc Smith (class of 2016) and Güte Immelman (class of 2017), and just as excited to be taken on a private tour. The tour was led by Kutlwano Mogojwa, curatorial and collections assistant, who took us through Re/discovery and Memory (curated by Karel Nel and on until the 20th of September) which houses work by Sydney Kumalo (South Africa), Ezrom Legae (South Africa) and Edoardo Villa (Italy), an installation by Serge Alain Nitegeka (Burundi), as well as the temporary exhibition Pulling at Threads (on until the 20th of August). We then went on to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes curatorial process and were taken down into Norval's impressive underground storage vaults. Lastly, we wandered around the sculpture garden, marvelling at works such as Ophelia (2012) by Nandipha Mntambo and Again Again (2015) by Brett Murray, both graduates of the Michaelis School of Fine Art.

“It was insightful to be able see the inner workings of the gallery and their curatorial processes. I especially loved going into the vault because of its vastness. It gave us a sense of the potential of archiving and conserving the artworks that we had seen” â- Thembakazi Matroshe, Honours in Curatorship class of 2018â.

ââ"âGetting to see the work of some historic names in South African art, such as Dumile Feni (whose art I remember admiring in high school) was really special, as was the walk through the spectacular endemic garden with a soundtrack of frog calls. The visit was thought-provoking, especially regarding private and public spaces and collections, as well as questions of accessibility." - Melissa Waters, Honours in Curatorship class of 2018â.