The ‘apocalyptic’ is a saturated field of representation comprising stock imagery and a worn currency of metaphor and metonymy. How might art face up to droll dystopian fantasies of social and environmental collapse? How might it challenge the oddly consoling idea of absolute conclusion? How, in doing so, might art subvert theological logic and, in doing so, help to secularize the imagination?

A group exhibition will be hosted by the Michaelis Galleries, opening in August 2016. We have selected a small number of artists who we feel work in contexts and/or methods consistent with ‘End Times’ musings. The exhibition represents a variety of media – painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and video and, without compromising the selected artists’ freedom, we would like to achieve an exhibition that is at once varied, coherent and cogent.

Confirmed artists:

Jane Alexander (SA), Willem Boshoff (SA), Stephen Cohen (SA/France), Cyrus Kabiru (Kenya), Volker März (Germany), Michael MacGarry (SA), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe/SA), collaborators Mario Marchisella and Marianne Halter (Switzerland), Jacki McInnes (SA), Jyoti Mistry (SA), Mohau Modisakeng (SA), and Diane Victor (SA).

In addition, we intend to include one or two appropriate works from the WAM permanent collection.