Tag: Bogosi Sekhukhuni

INFINITY STUDIO Residency // unpacking privatization, militarization and escapism in South Africa’s urban landscape

“Militarized urbanism” – a term coined by geographer Stephan Graham. A term that describes the existence in South African cities, and is lived through the ubiquity and perceived necessity of concrete and electrified boundaries, pin codes, guard posts and CCTV.

INFINITY STUDIO, a residency curated by Bubblegum Club and CUSS, will see invited artists from various disciplines explore the meaning and everyday operation of privatization, militarization and escapism in South Africa’s urban landscape. The residency taking place from 29 March to 2 April is the first step for the INFINITY STUDIO program at Kampnagel in Hamburg in the frame of the Live Art Festival #8: SUPERSPACES.

This residency is organized as a curated tour which will see participants travelling to various spaces and events around Johannesburg. It is treated as a form of fieldwork or immersive brainstorming, and real life critical engagement with ideas around enclave communities, boundaries and surveillance in relation to fears about real or imagined dangers in urban spaces.

Participants include Bubblegum Club, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, CUSS, Daniel Rautenbach, FAKA, Hlasko, Kerry Chaloner, Michelle Son, Mona-Lisa Namér, PURE, Rich Mnisi, Rose Bonica and Zandi Tisani.

INFINITY STUDIO is produced by Kampnagel and Bubblegum Club, with the support of TURN – Fund of the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany as well as the Goethe Institute.

Freedom Park- Here to Make Everything Perfect

Freedom Park is a lifestyle experience unparalleled in the Gauteng city-region. An oasis of peace and community, our estate residents enjoy both easy access to the thriving financial and business center of Johannesburg, and complete security from the chaos of the urban environment.

It is no secret that Johannesburg is dangerous, and that hard-working, decent citizens like yourself are threatened by depraved and squalid crimes. But it’s falsely believed that only the elite can afford total protection. At Freedom Park, we offer the complete security lifestyle experience at a competitive price. You and your family will wake up to the sounds of bird singing and go to bed smiling, safe in the knowledge that any dangers will be anticipated and removed with no mercy. You don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to enjoy multi-million peace of mind.

Our beautiful facilities cater to all tastes, from the rustic to the modern. Housing units are designed to the utmost architectural standards, and you may never want to leave your home again. But we hope you will come and enjoy our family restaurants, affordable mall space and driving range.

Your children will love the dedicated play areas. And for those looking for adult playtime, our resident’s leisure committee organises discreet thrills, which push the boundaries of sanity and morality. You can even try on a new personality for size, with Freedom Park selected as one of the pilot sites for an experimental augmented reality center, offering experiences that are out of this world.

Freedom Park enjoys guaranteed tranquility. Our estate security committee is prepared to get their hands dirty when the police won’t. Onsite staff bring in a wealth of combat experience from their time in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria and Syria. The recently opened community detention center is on offer to resolve family disputes. And as an exclusive service, our guards are happy to assist in aggressively resolving any offsite challenges.

Freedom Park offers a complete lifestyle paradise, free of all anxiety. Why should you have to die to go to Heaven?

23 March 2018
The New Parthenon

Group exhibitions very often provide platforms for interpretation of art within a broader conversation. Whilst solo exhibitions situate an artist’s work within a concentrated practice and the questions that a particular way of working provokes, group exhibitions allow for a more contextual approach; which artists are working in what ways and how does this locate itself in the wider conversation of art making and culture?

The New Parthenon, which opened at Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town on the 20^thof July and runs till the 26^th of August, takes as its initial starting point the essay film, which has its roots as far back as film began to be a medium explored and interrogated by artists. Rather than simply tracing the history of the essay film or locating contemporary essay film works against their historical ancestors, new variables are added to the conversation through installations that incorporate objects as well as elements of photography, ephemera and performance. The relationships between the material and dematerial, image and object are at the core of the exhibition, and even extrapolate outwards through the use of the internet as the exhibition is also accessible as a tumblr page.

Bogosi Sekhukhuni, ‘Soul Contract Revocations; Dream Diary Season 2, Matilda’

A number of established and emerging artists are shown alongside one another, drawing links across a variety of practices that take multiple formal approaches to diverse subject matter. As the catalogue states, “The movement between film and object speaks to the dual nature of practices that work with both the tangible and intangible aspects of images.” It would almost be impossible to discuss all the works on show in this article and do them justice, so I’ll hone in on one specific work which I think begins to speak to the relationship between image and object, especially with regards to the form which film takes in a physical world. Bogosi Sekhukhuni’s Soul Contract Revocations; Dream Diary Season 2, Matilda, consists of three screens playing video mounted on a colorfully framed headboard. The videos depict the artist as orator or role-player against a swirling background of colour. The hallucinatory imagery and the placement on the headboard suggest a sort of dream state, a deeper more fluid state of mind, traversing the space between the conscious and unconscious realms. The intentional use of material and colour by the artist combine as both the form and the content intertwine to communicate something beyond words, a message preceding clear knowledge. The spiritual and the physical coexist and cannot merely be isolated one from the other. Bogosi’s own practice could be considered as an exploration of the ways in which the digital and the image manifest itself in the physical world. Signs and banners make use of digitally manipulated imagery prevalent to internet culture and advertising. The artist’s own Tumblr page serves as a research platform, a digital archive that could be compared to an artist’s visual diary.

Nyakallo Maleke, ‘You have got to fit into the team the team can’t fit into you’

The relationship between image and object is one that has been a point of exploration and contestation for many artists working in the past and present, and will no doubt continue into the future. Whilst film, photography, digital media, and the dematerialization of the art object seemed to spell doom for the physical object, years after the introduction of these debates, objects continue to be made. I find it particularly compelling that Thierry Oussou’s, La Poésie, a chair and stick installation was installed alongside video installations by Penny Siopis, Michelle Monareng, and Simon Gush. The challenge facing artists today is to interrogate these questions with new eyes; working thoughtfully through the tensions inherent in art-making, as through these struggles it may be possible for new understandings of our complex humanity to arise, beings consisting of mind, body and spirit.

Thierry Oussou, ‘La Poesie’

18 August 2017
NTU: UBULAWU // Collaborative Transcontinental Healing Practices in East London’s Auto Italia

Mounds of earth erupt from a soft slate coloured screed floor. Soil cocoons containing rectangular white boxes pepper the project space. Informative posters hang vertically off the walls, divulging details about Ubulawu – a collection of plants traditionally used in South African spiritual practice. The exhibition explores an Afrocentric approach to decolonial healing through ancient systems, disseminated through the digital. A combination of sculptural pieces, video installation and symbolic imagery prompt potential prophetic dreamscapes. Channels for interdimensional communication are activated throughout the art-space.

NTU is a collective of artists including Nolan Oswald Dennis, Tabita Rezaire and Bogosi Sekhukhuni. Their first debut in London is rooted in a larger research project, NTUSAVE which draws on their collective interests and art practices. Nolan describes the project as, “a deep meditation on the psycho-spiritual interspecies alliance between human consciousness and plant intelligence. This project draws on ancient African knowledge and protocols around the use of specific agencies of plant-life to recover technologies that grant access to interdimensional flows of consciousness and information. NTUSAVE is currently working with ubulawu oneirogenic preparations of Southern African plants to recode properties of water as an agent of consciousness.”

In conversation with Marianne Forrest, one of the artists who runs the project alongside Kate Cooper and Edward Gillman, positioned the space as a platform to, “make NTU’s ongoing research public, which has been an exciting provocation, and to bring their practice as a group to the UK for the first time where it feels particularly interesting to have their voice, seeking new dialogues and presenting new modes of research not usually seen or discussed within the London art scene.”

Collectivity and an expansive approach to artistic production and the mode in which it occupies spaces is a common interest. “We were particularly interested in how the group was exploring ideas around networks of production and alternative conceptions of interfaces – thinking through practices for creating connection and community and exploring ideas of healing potential and spirituality online and in digital production.”

Auto Italia (Marleen Boschen, Theo Cook, Kate Cooper, Marianne Forrest, Andrew Kerton, Jess Wiesner), MY SKIN WAS AT WAR WITH A WORLD OF DATA, performance as part of ‘sunrise sunset’, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2016. Photograph: Frank Sperling

Auto Italia was founded on principles of collaboration. The project space began a decade ago when “a group of recent art graduates came together to try and create an autonomous space to make, produce and show work. No one could afford a studio and there was a desire to see what could be made working collaboratively and self-organising – creating a space in the city that was for us, and striving towards a generative and generous model that would allow us to dream up projects with other artists that we really admired.”

Marianne expanded in the rich history of the project, “from the beginning, there was a desire to understand what it meant to have space; the first ever building we were occupying was a squatted car garage in South London, and from then until around 2014 we operated fairly nomadically… We were constantly thinking through what having physical space might mean, especially with the concurrent shift towards making, producing and sharing work digitally, and the increasingly inhospitable landscape of London as a city artists could actually afford to be in.”

Auto Italia (Marleen Boschen, Theo Cook, Kate Cooper, Marianne Forrest), On Coping, 2015.

Over the last ten years a network of new communities have been established through engaging with notions of “labour, gender, performativity and formats for collective production.” A continuous presence has been maintained in the city. “We often think about Auto Italia as something useful that can enable the artists working within it to access tools, whether that be budgets, different production modes, new networks and so on – and with the work of SA collectives like NTU and CUSS we see that same approach of exploding expectations in what art can be and enact, and using the power of collaborative working to create a scene of producers who support and champion each other in defining their own terms of production.”

Decoloniality is life after death, NTU doesn’t die, we multiply.

– Nolan Oswald Dennis

Auto Italia, Auto Italia LIVE: Double Dip Concession, 2012, live broadcast from the ICA, London, as part of the exhibition ‘Remote Control’. Photograph: Ryan McNamara

15 May 2017
Simunye Summit 2010- The Futuristic Past

Bogosi Sekhukhuni is an artist whose previous work has explored the creeping dominance of the virtual over daily life. Projects such as Consciousness engine 2: absentblackfatherbot, a simulation of a conversation between a father and son, echo classic science fiction themes of artificial intelligence and post-humanism. He is actively conversant with these genre tropes- “I approach science fiction as a narrative style. And as a way of developing hypotheses, imagined environments or simulations of circumstances that speak to various conditions of human nature, usually specifically within the lens of a black body in a pre singularity world”. But, he is equally aware of these tropes limitations , saying “ I’m really not interested in the future in the sci fi sense; science fiction or discussions on technological progress tend to be projected through a western capitalist linear vision that anticipates and packages novelty. I’m more drawn to Bantu philosophical interpretations of space time that acknowledge a cyclical nature of time and in turn, the history of human progress. Our present popular understanding of technological progress is supported by the notion that our time represents an unprecedented height of human intelligence, which is easily refuted by the immense archeological record left all over the world, especially in southern Africa”.

His current solo exhibition Simunye Summit 2010, reverses engineers the past, with a “ a sci fi dystopian reading of Apartheid history and society”. The show presents “ the brand of Simunye Systems; a fictional biotech and genetics research company who offer insurance plans that include treatments that focus on genetic markers responsible for various human ailments. I’ve modelled the nature of Simunye Systems on front biochem companies formed by apartheid military intelligence that were developing experimental chemical warfare directed at the Black population in the 80’s. Its a fascinating part of our history that needs more light shed on it”.

The visual components of the exhibition come with a written backstory, which imagines an alternate reality South Africa, complete with cosmic messages and transformative genetic technology.

The real life history inspiring the show is wild in its own right. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s the Apartheid government embarked on various deranged weapons programs, from attempts to weaponize MDMA to a secret nuclear bomb test in the Atlantic Ocean, referred to by historians as the Vela Incident. Although much of this history has been forgotten, it has had a strange half life in science fiction film. The 1987 classic Robocop begins with a news story about a South African made neutron bomb. The Vela Incident is alluded to in the ultra- tacky Alien Vs. Predator (2004). While these are just stray references, Sekhukhuni is confronting the nightmares of the past head on, generating visual fictions for our disturbed present.

28 February 2017
Bubblegum Club Stories Ep4

In this week’s episode of Bubblegum Club Stories we feature Bogosi Sekhukhuni for his first solo exhibition with Stevenson gallery in Johannesburg, titled Simunye Summit 2010. We chat to founder of the online store RHTC, Mpumelelo Mfula, about their recently opened space in Braam and his vision for local streetwear. We also visit artist Blessing Ngobeni’s studio and he lets us in on what he has planned for the this year’s Joburg Art Fair. We bumped into the co-founders of fashion label Prime Obsession, the lovely Shelley Mokoena and Keneilwe Mothoa, at the Levi’s 501 launch in Sandton and they share some styling tips with us. We also feature young photographer Phumzile Khanyile’s first solo exhibition Plastic Crowns currently showing at the Market Photo Workshop.

17 February 2017
Recovered Files – Bogosi Sekhukhuni

Recovered Files is a series where we share throwback footage of creatives and their work. This gives the opportunity to see these creatives at a point in their lives and make connections to how their work has evolved technically and conceptually. As a continuation of a collaboration between Bubblegum Club co-founders Jamal Nxedlana and Lex Trickett, the recovering of footage they thought was lost speaks to themes on the overloading and crashing of technology. This series reflects that through its filtered and glitchy aesthetic.

In this episode of Recovered Files we feature Bogosi Sekhukhuni and the show he put together for his graduation. Here we see the beginning of his interest in the connection between biology and technology through genetics, as well as his reflections on being a black man in South Africa. With Bogosi having his first solo exhibition titled Simunye Summit 2010 at the Stevenson in Johannesburg on the 2nd of February, this episode offers an opportunity to see him come full circle. His new work critically examines South Africa’s history and the imaginary of the rainbow nation through the creation of a parallel world, cosmic references and playing with temporal realities.

2 February 2017
Videonomad – exploring the continent through interconnected engagements

A multiplicity of pixels emerges in waves radiating through the digital screen. Virtual information trickles onto foreign shores, extending telegenic space. The wondering travelers congregate together, bound beyond borders to construct reciprocal relationships in an increasingly globalized world.

In 2013, VIDEONOMAD was born. The project stemmed from a desire to create a visible platform for video art, specifically engaging in work from the continent and its diaspora. Director, Tobi Ayedadjou, and Co-ordinator Lucia Nhamo, “love the idea of itinerant screenings around the world because it mimics the global reality and relevance of our transnational interconnectedness.”

Various iterations of the project have been explored around the globe – having been invited to participate in exhibitions and screenings in Tokyo, Pesaro, Salvador and Kalamata. VIDEONOMAD were also at Dak’art OFF during the biennale in Senegal.

My story, no doubt, is me/older than me, 05:57, 2015, Kitso Lynn Leliott, South Africa

The latest manifestation, taking place between the 13th-15th of October will be held in the heart of Harare’s city centre at the Njelele Art Station. “With this iteration we are not only screening in southern Africa for the first time, but we’re also hosting a multi-faceted programme over the course of three days. We saw an incredible opportunity from the Pro Helvetia ANT grant to invite a select group of artists from countries around southern Africa to engage with the arts community in Harare.”

The selection of artists seeks to facilitate the “mobility of a strong group of artists both from different countries in the region, and who are at different stages of their careers.” Part of the process will include a reciprocal exchange, as the group will contribute to and be enriched by the lineup in Harare.

Lazy Nigel , 11:41, 2014, Simon Gush, South Africa

The artists based in South Africa on show include Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Kitso Lynn Lelliot, Lerato Shadi, Simon Gush and Tabita Rezaire. The thematic thread linking this exceptional and eclectic group of artists predominantly revolve around notions of power, identity, and a sense of located context. These prominent names often interrogate the multifaceted geo-political fabric of the South African context.

Peppered amongst this cohort are the names of other artists situated conceptually and geographically in southern Africa: Berry Bickle, Cosmo Zengeya, Fransix Tenda, Kombo Chapfika, Lucia Nhamo, Mario Macilau, Masimba Hwati and Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

Through the collective engagement of these individual artists VIDEONOMAD hopes to, “widen the definition of what is possible in the art space context, both conceptually and in terms of video art as a medium.” In establishing and extending dynamic relationships between video art makers from the continent, VIDEONOMAD greatly enriches a globalized art scene. “Communing together in one space as artists from different countries and practices can only serve towards that goal.”

11 October 2016
Open Time Coven – Mxit and Mythology

Bogosi Sekhukhuni consolidates millennial media technology and inherited cultural practices – creating complex modes of identity in the digital age. Although geographically located in Johannesburg, the web of his reach extends far beyond the metropole. “I was raised to understand myself as an African first, and secondly as a South African. My grandmother is from Botswana and I grew up regularly visiting Gaborone. From a young age I was surrounded by my mother’s peers, a lot of whom were visitors from around the continent.”

Aspect of heterogeneity precipitate through other elements of his life too. Over the course of his career Sekhukhuni has constructed a visual language matrix. He refers to this process of historical excavation as “throwback visual culture mining”, drawing on his own subjective experience as well as a larger discourse of popular culture. Influences are drawn from his experience of the “black aspirant middle class” and growing up with early South African social media technologies such as mxit. “I mainly draw influence from other artists or people through the attitude they present their ideas in more than the content itself.”

As a conceptual artist, his practice orbits around notions of dismantling oppressive and outdated knowledge systems. “It’s tragic that our curriculums pay homage to the ideas and histories of others more than our own. To me, this is a fundamental problem. Our obsession with the future is based on a materialist approach to space-time. I’m interested in learning about how my ancestors understood reality and applying that to my practice and life.” Sekhukhuni aims to amend the Pan African agenda and shift its focus to spiritual development. “I think we need to draw more from African spirituality and realise the potential for social transformation that’s inherent in it. We need more right brain female energy in African leadership.”

Sekhukhuni engages with the information economy in his work. His recent launch of Open Time Coven serves as a new platform of access and intervention. As a manifestation of his online presence, the site is a direct conduit to share his ideas to a global audience. Art products and a store will be hosted on the website by Sekhukhuni and his collaborators every new moon. He will also be participating in an annual studio residency exhibition at the Bag Factory – exploring the trauma culture in Johannesburg. Restore the Feeling opens on the 28^th of July.

3 July 2016
Battle of the CBDemons; The spiritual-synaesthetic-sound and Afro-anime-tinge of a revolutionary new club culture

Fuck your false sense of reverence as you snort and swallow for sensation, lapping up the glitter of smashed glass in sweaty rooms. Different artillery is required for these cities where hate can be placed on a heart through the harsh angles of the grind through grimey streets. In a summoning by the Open Time Coven, and as a unit of the tribe Angelboyz Choir (comprised of Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Angel-Ho, Fela Gucci and Desire Marea of FAKA, and Neo Mahlasela of Hlasko) artists Angel-Ho (of NON Worldwide Collective) and Bogosi Sekhukhuni have joined forces to create Battle of the CBDemons, a sonic narrative that churns the metaphysical in an archetypal battle to purge the hostile and desperate infestations of life in the CBD.

The Battle of the CBDemons discharges cloud-ground lightening to reassemble ancient mythologies with modern technologies, cleansing the way that meaning is crunched between foreign teeth. It bleeds a shield for shallow love, staking a space to reassemble all the parts of self that have been so thoughtlessly dispossessed. It is a synthetic Lebombo Bone burning clean, a fever-dream to blaze through the night at accelerating speed, the 3D printing of a sacred chant. Sounds and samples are manipulated on the edge of a sword, refracting light to a frantic phantasmagoria where the avatars gleam in dirty constellations. There is something of the complicated African orchestral filtered through pixelated pop culture to create a new sonic cosmology, a new technology of healing. Not only does the mix cleanse and create anew the makers, but it also acts as a physically affecting interface for the listener; vibrating Kemetic force to strengthen their engagements with the world.

Battle of the CBDemons is an answering-back to the vampiric energies of stagnant representations; it kicks Tay AI in the shins and looks the Sakawa Boys straight in the face. It’s a digital, crystalline, plastiglomerate rooted in a genetically-evolved contemporary Africa. This is redefinition of club culture. Listen through. Don’t be embarrassed of the things it touches. This is the love-child of a communion of future sounds.

6 April 2016