"SCRATCHING THE SURFACE Vol.1: An Exhibition in Partnership with Spier"
2008-08-05 until 2008-08-21
AVA - Association for Visual Arts
Cape Town, , ZA South Africa

Scratching the Surface Vol.1 at AVA in Cape Town from August 5 to 21 , 2008, combines new and re-visited visual and performance work by artists working individually and in collaboration, between places on the planet that are becoming less and less disparate as we charge ahead to a global imagining. The result of the first curatorial project of Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe as collective manje-manje projects (m-mp), the exhibition functions as a site for research and experimentation. Triggered by a desire to obliterate - reveal - satisfy - mark - damage, the contagious act of scratching suggests contact between surfaces: walls, grounds, steel, skin etc, the proverbial 'itch' transferred to scratch card and suitcase for the gambler and nomad respectively.

Scratching the Surface Vol. 1 serves as experiential experiment in exhibition making across continuously blurring artistic disciplines. Much like the dated experience of scratching lesson notes onto a slate, the curatorial process becomes a loop of scratching, re-membering, cleaning, scratching, remembering, cleaning and scratching further hopefully learning, cleaning, scratching...

Featured artists:

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Kudzanai Chiurai
Gugulective
Bandile Gumbi
Julian Jonker & Garth Erasmus
Mwenya Kabwe
Donna Kukama
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Simone Leigh
Thando Mama
Zanele Muholi
Kalinosi Mutale
Robin Rhode
Ruth Sacks
Sean Slemon
Alude Mahali, Katy Streek & Penny Youngleson
Mlu Zondi

Wine at the opening is kindly sponsored by Spier www.spierwines.co.za

IMAGE
Robin Rhode - Untitled, Microphone

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for South Africa

Other Important Exhibitions in South Africa

Call for Artists : 13th Annual Subtle Technologies Festival Explores Sustainability - Subtle Technologies, University of Toronto Art in Mind : Work by Natalia O'Neill - Brick Lane Gallery The Ione Citrin Collection - Poway Center for the Performing Arts Gallery Parallel Realities : Aishan Yu's First Solo Show in the UK - Peifen Fine Art Secrets and Confessions : Peter Sudar, John Stark, Leonard Vartic, Ioan Cristea - Ana Cristea Gallery Call for Artists : The Beast In Me, Johnny Cash - Art Influenced by the Struggle of a Man' - Nave Gallery Notations - Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni - Philadelphia Museum of Art Beauitful Elsewhere : Fusion and Con-fusion - Migrating Cultures and the Dynamic of Exchange - Universita di Napoli - Partenope Animal Nature : Powerful Paintings, Drawings and Digital Prints by Hyacinthe Kuller-Baron - Computer Arts Gallery