The month of June memorialises a historical moment. A fracture. Immortalised in the national narrative. A crucial rupture of resistance. June 16 1976 is the day that the youth rose up, and a massacre ensued. Innocence charged with brutal violence. The protest of an oppressive regime was met with a cascade of bullets. Blood was shed when the youth dared to speak.
Decades later, dismissal of youth continues. Opportunities for self-representation are often scarce. In response to the lack of support, funding programmes and residencies for young artists, Bubblegum Club would like to introduce AUTONOMY WAVE; a new platform for the conceptualization, production and presentation of work by young local artists.
This micro residency will span the month of June, following a series of collaborative workshops and will conclude in the form of an exhibition. The artists will be able to occupy the space through various modes of production. This project will allow for the exploration of self-narration and articulation within a collaborative experience. Artists drawing from different backgrounds and modes of work will engage with the creative processes together.
With a complex history of migratory patterns, Johannesburg continues to exist in a state of bustling flux. A fluidity marked by regeneration and decay saturates stone and mortar. A city captured by pain and pleasure. This project spaces serves as a creative incubator for reflection and fresh understandings of cultural production among young artists. These individuals will engage with the site specificity of the project at 1 Eloff Street, in the centre of the city – navigating self-narration in relation to Johannesburg. The culmination of this creative freedom and collaborative effort will be an exhibition titled Future 76 at the end of June.
“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it, in relative opacity.”
– Fanon