[curatorial.net] Cape 09 Biennale - Convergence

[Lerato Bereng]

CAPE 09 BIENNALE

May 2 - June 21, 2009

Cape Town, South Africa

*Media release – for immediate release *

April 2009



*CAPE 09: Cape Town’s second biennale exhibition of contemporary African
Culture transforms the city this winter *



Cape Town will be transformed into an interactive art hub when artists,
curators, writers, performers, art lovers and members of the public converge
for *CAPE** 09*, the second biennale exhibition of contemporary African
culture, taking place in unusual venues and outdoor sites throughout the
City from May 2 to June 21, 2009.



*CAPE** 09* comes at a crucial junction, as the global economic turndown
prompts a questioning of the art market and a revival of community spirit in
the art world. It follows a series of conversations held by CAPE throughout
Southern Africa, and precedes a *CAPE 2010 Special*, a major exhibition to
coincide with the 2010 World Cup.



As such, it asks: How can we reinvent a way of creating, speaking, thinking
and interacting? How to rethink the forms of art and exhibitions, to
experiment with new methods and to produce *new alliances?*

* *

Under the theme "Convergence," the biennale explores networks that
accentuate the contemporary characteristics of Africa and highlight the way
we create, consume, learn, share resources and interact with each other.



In contrast to the prevailing biennial tendency to feature a single
unilateral curatorial vision, *CAPE 09* comprises a multiplicity of
interconnecting exhibitions, events, incursions and gestures conceived and
created by a number of different curators and artists. Among them are
newcomers from CAPE’s Young Curators Programme who present projects
alongside established international and local curators and artists chosen
for their inventiveness.



Movement - the impulse to connect and cross borders, a desire for change and
seeing the world differently - is a strong feature of the biennale. Many
projects are participatory, encouraging visitors to step inside art and
discover new ways of looking and thinking about life today.



Participating artists come from across the global South and the world and
include recognised artists such as Jane Alexander (SA)  and Meschac Gaba
(Benin/Netherlands) as well as new voices, young designs, street artists,
musicians and writers.



They employ diverse techniques including installation, performance, site
specific work, film, photography, food art, procession, sculpture,
documentary and video. Their art presents divergent themes and points of
view, referencing local issues within an international artistic discourse.



In order to reflect these connections and differences, the curators of *CAPE
** 09* have selected an array of unusual venues and sites that challenge the
boundaries of the traditional gallery space. *CAPE** 09* leads its viewers
across a variety of environments and experiences, from the Metrorail
Station, the city centre, to Langa and Khayelitsha. It traverses the
socio-economic and geographic divides of Cape Town, opening doors into new
spaces, and dispersing art in the places that represent the every day that
is our common ground: schools, taxis, the station, the library and the
street.



The biennale launches with a 1 hour-long procession curated by Claire
Tancons (New Orleans/USA). Inspired by the history of the Cape Town
Carnival, *A Walk Into The Night *stages an inventive shadow play by visual
artist Marlon Griffith (Trinidad) and composer Garth Erasmus (CPT), together
with a hundred local participants, to tell the story of the forced removals
in Cape Town. But it is also an “invisible masquerade” that reveals a day in
life of the migratory inhabitants of the city and a stroll along the spaces
that punctuate our existence.



Our everyday interactions also form the starting point of Cape Young Curator
Loyiso Qanya’s exhibition, *Umahluko *at Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha. A
multimedia celebration of difference, the exhibition features work by Jane
Alexander (SA), Antonio Etona (Angola), Rosy Sbrana (Botswana), Cremildo
Walter Zandamela (Mozambique) and more.



Lookout Hill also hosts the *Temporary Fynbos Museum*, a repatriation of
environmental heritage featuring a transient botanical garden curated from
indigenous fynbos by Anthea Buys (SA).



Routes of a different kind come under the spotlight in CAPE Young Curator
Lerato Bereng’s *Thank You Driver *in which 6 taxi busses are converted into
“artworks on wheels” that integrate art directly into the urban environment.
Take a ride and experience moving works by writer Lebohang Thulo (SA);
painter and sculptor Edwige Aplogan (Benin); Mozambican video artist and
writer Gemuce; composer, sound artist and singer Isa Suarez (France/UK),
performance artist Donna Kukama (SA), and performance collective Gugulective
(SA). A sound installation titled *'in living memory of what never happened'
* by artist James Webb (SA) will be audible at the Langa taxi rank.



Brenda Fassie’s real roots are revealed in CAPE Young Curator Nonkululeko
Mlangeni’s *So who is Brenda Fassie*, staged in Langa. A site and
context-specific, oral history, “pop” art exhibition, the project brings
together artists and members of the community to explore Fassies’ legacy:
from her early days in Langa, to her development into a fashion, music,
political and gender icon and an international star.



Meanwhile visitors to the Cape Town Station will by surprise to find TV
appliance vendor stalls converted into galleries screening the *One Minute
World Exhibition, *featuring 1-minute videos by 840 different artists from
around the world. Cape Town’s new community TV station CTV will screen the
same movies througout May and June.



The Cape Town Station also plays host to a range of interventions and
performances by artists and curators including Nicole Grobler (SA) Meschac
Gaba (Benin/Netherlands) and Phakama Collective: Mwenya Kabwe (Zambia/SA)
and Katy Streek (SA/Netherlands).



Nearby at the Cape Town Central Library, the *Chimurenga Library* engages
the library as a space for experimentation, creativity and knowledge
dissemination. Highlights of the project include reading routes, an
exhibition of sex scenes from pan-African literature, and regular Chimurenga
Sessions featuring music and poetry performances, dialogues, screenings, and
more.



Elsewhere, Church Square hosts an impromptu banquet presented by Penelope
Youngleson (SA), Katy Streek (SA/Netherlands) and Alude Mahali (SA), as well
as South African artist Mary Faragher’s *Musical Statue. *



GENERAL INFO: For more details about the exhibition, venues, artists and
events watch www.capeafrica.org and the local press.



MEDIA: Media updates and information are available from the website or from
the CAPE Africa Platform offices.



Media enquiries:

CAPE Africa Platform

8 Spin Street, Cape Town 8001

tel: 021-4612325/ fax: 021-4616873

mailto: info at capeafrica.org

www.capeafrica.org


-- 

Lerato Bereng, Young Curator
CAPE Africa Platform
8 Spin Street
Cape Town 8001
tel:   +27-21-4612325
fax:+27-21-4616873
mailto: lerato.bereng at gmail.com or lerato at capeafrica.org
www.capeafrica.org
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