REINVENTING THE ART SCENE
In an environment that calls for a reinvention of the art scene, Londi Modiko and Lara Koseff consider artist-led spaces in Joburg that are way ahead of the pack
While South Africa is in lockdown during the epochchanging coronavirus pandemic, the art world, much like everything else, is currently relegated to the digital realm. And while interaction (and in some cases a few sales) can continue online, this moment is a stark reminder that art can’t realistically flourish without physical spaces in which it can be experienced. Virtual events are useful up to a point, offering access to viewers but not a realistic operational structure.
US art critic Jerry Saltz recently wrote about the reality of shutdown in his article, The Last Day of the Art World… And perhaps the First Days of a New One, with lay-offs in museums and galleries all over the US. “Viruses don’t kill art,” Saltz writes. “But even successful artists will be pushed to the limits, let alone the 99% of artists who will always live close to the edge.”
His main concern, he writes, is the art world’s decreasing ability over the past decade to adapt, or adapt without extravagant expansion.
But in SA adaptation in the arts has long been a necessity in an art scene perpetually living close “to the edge”. With a remarkable profusion of exciting artists, there have always been few opportunities and platforms for their work to be seen and sold here. This has led, in some cases, to striking ingenuity spearheaded by a young generation of artists. Alternative exhibition spaces, stripped of any extravagance, have been essential to growing the visual arts, creating opportunity and expanding markets for art and artists to thrive.
In recent years artists have founded pivotal spaces centred on increasing opportunities and access to networks in a bid to encourage and empower more South African artists to pursue full-time careers. As we enter a devastating chapter in history these artists offer a spirit of innovation and collaboration worth noting.
In one of the most groundbreaking moves in Joburg, artist Banele Khoza founded BKhz — an exciting combination of contemporary art studio and gallery in Braamfontein. The space’s primary objective is to provide an alternative exhibition space to both emerging and established artists. In the two years of its existence, Khoza and his team have been cultivating a plan to inform and introduce the public to their dynamic vision of voices in contemporary art. The space is as much a commercial enterprise as it is about creating social development opportunities.
“I believe the importance of an artist-led space is the sensitivity that comes with the establishment. We have had to understand where the artist is at and how best to accommodate them to get the best out of them without rigidity. It allows play and spontaneity,” says Khoza.
He illuminates the numerous benefits of an artist-led space. An artist has insight into the challenges that fellow artists face, creating a level of empathy and imaginative problem-solving. Over the years, Khoza has become a successful artist in his own right and has been able to build a trustworthy community of advisers in the arts community able to guide his vision along the way and give their support where they can. Balancing his own career while building other’s is what sets Khoza apart.
Successful artist-led initiatives are generally those run by established artists, such as the Centre for the Less Good Idea, founded by William Kentridge. Khoza is still in his 20s, and by the art world formula, should be focussing solely on his own career in order to prosper. Yet he’s reinventing convention, and through hard work and talent, is uplifting others while figuring out his own career.
BKhz also reveals an interesting approach towards the development of emergent artists — that they must not be relegated to their own platforms. He hosts group exhibitions that integrate the work of both emergent and established artists, some of whom are already represented by major South African galleries, such as Moshekwa Langa, Mary Sibande and Nelson Makamo.
People may be drawn to BKhz by names they know but they’ll learn some new ones at the same time. Khoza has also resisted the formula of a represented “stable”, which has allowed for fluidity and spontaneity.
Another noteworthy artist-led institution that has addressed gaps in the art scene is The Project Space at Victoria Yards, an artisanal working space in Lorentzville.
Founded by the late Uganda-born artist, Benon Lutaaya, in 2016, The Project Space is a non-profit project focussed on offering opportunities to emerging contemporary African women artists and young entrepreneurs. A 2018 article in The New York Times by Todd Pitock reported on Lutaaya’s drive to the establish the space after being appalled by statistics in a 2010 research report by the National Arts Council of South Africa. It stated that 88% of artists in SA who support themselves from their work are male, 12% female, and of that group, only 3% are women of colour. Pitock elaborated that “in the eight years since that report the gender imbalance hasn’t changed much in the South African art scene”.
The space is now run by artist Keneilwe Mokoena, who’s always viewed art management and artmaking as interlinked, both requiring a strong sense of creating and a tendency to feed off each other. Since Lutaaya’s death, the space has struggled to find ways to stay afloat but Mokoena has implemented programmes that are aimed at developing a sustainable collaborative way of art-making and exhibition opportunities for young female artists. Like Khoza, she has deep insight into the enormous challenges young South African artists face, specifically young female artists of colour. And, like Khoza, she’s balancing the creation of opportunities for other artists while making and promoting her own work.
Khoza, Lutaaya and Mokeona reveal both a level ingenuity as well as an approach of empathetic collaboration and altruism that’s been part of their modus operandi for years. They all offer a crucial sensibility to keep in mind as we enter a new and scary reality and the art world is forced to adapt and reinvent itself if it’s going to survive.