Pre-LIFE 1 comprises visual presentations and a panel discussion around one of the themes in the Live Art Festival: The Periphery as Threshold. Speakers will consider notions of periphery and centre – what these mean as concepts in society and then for artists working outside the gallery system. Does the periphery exist by choice, by design, by force or tacit exclusion? These ideas, as well as ideas around fringe art production and traditional gallery systems, how artists may resist definition by the legitimatised space and the limitations of spaces defined as alternative and otherwise, will be pursued. Panelists include Loyiso Mkize, Astrid Gebhardt, Gavin Krastin, Nompumelelo Mamqwathi Rakabe, Kirsty Cockerill and Jarrett James Erasmus, chaired by Jay Pather.
About the panelists:
Born in Butterworth, Loyiso Mkize is an artist and illustrator. After completing a diploma in graphic design, he launched a visual art company Loyiso Mkize Art (Pty). He illustrates the Supa Strikas monthly comic in You, Drum and Huisgenoot magazines. Mkize’s subjects, generally African, explore the complex nature that makes up modern man, his environment, predisposition and culture. He has exhibited at The Framery and Avital galleries in Cape Town and in Johannesburg. In 2014, he travelled to New York and exhibited at a group exhibition funded by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Astrid Gebhardt graduated with a BA in Fine Arts and an Honours in Curatorship from UCT. She currently lives and works between Johannesburg and Cape Town, working predominantly with painting, but including sculptural installation and print media. She is particularly interested in the process of art making – making each work a celebration of obsessive compulsion and repetition.
Gavin Krastin is an award-winning South African performance artist with an interest in the body’s representation, limitation and operation in alternative, layered spaces. His work is inspired by his immediate environment and the history embedded in its shifting socio-political climate. Apart from operating within conventional theatre, Krastin advocates the migration towards unconventional spaces where unknown risk factors are imminent. He has presented works at numerous festivals in South Africa and internationally, has lectured at Rhodes University (from where he obtained his MA) and UCT, and has worked with the First Physical Theatre Company.
Nompumelelo Mamqwathi Rakabe is a multimedia artist, founder of BlackFossil Soul Creation and a curator. She is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in Visual Art at the UNISA, and works in a freelance capacity for MOCCA Museum and Commune 1 Gallery. Her work has been showcased in various open spaces including the Greatmore Studios, Whizz ICT, Polokwane Art Gallery Women’s Journal Annual Exhibition, Limpopo Arts & Culture Association, UNISA, University of Limpopo and Haenertsburg Farm Gallery.
Kirsty Cockerill is currently Director of The New Church Museum, having been the Director of the AVA gallery and Collection Manager at Iziko South Africa National Gallery. Her passion for the development of cultural capital in South Africa motivates her involvement with projects that engage with public space, the development of emerging curators and professional practice in the visual arts arena.
Jarrett Erasmus is a resident artist at Greatmore Studios and a member of Burning Museum collective. He graduated with a BFA from Rhodes University, was awarded the David Koloane Award from the Bag Factory Artist Studios and participated in a residency at Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Erasmus’ work has social leanings that focus on the current state of society in a post-apartheid reality. He works mainly on a two-dimensional plane, but has recently moved towards performance, video and site specificity.
Pre-LIFE 1 will take place on Thursday 14 August at 17:30 at Hiddingh Hall, University of Cape Town (UCT) Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, Cape Town; and is free. Refreshments will be served from 17:00; no booking is necessary. For more information, contact the GIPCA office on 021 480 7156 or fin-gipca@uct.ac.za.
Photo credit: Gavin Krastin – Rough Musick, photo by Mark Andrews.
Pre-Life 1 panel discussion audio recording available for download.
Start: 14 Aug ’14 5:30 pm
End: 14 Aug ’14 6:30 pm
Cost: Free
Category: Discussion
Organizer: GIPCA
Email: fin-gipca@uct.ac.za
Venue: Hiddingh Hall
Phone: +27 21 480 7156
Address: Google Map UCT Hiddingh Campus, 31 Orange Street, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa