Once Removed by David Mann is decent fiction that cuts into the heart and complexity of South African contemporary arts scene.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
When I attended the launch of arts writer, editor and now author David Mann’s new book, a collection of short fiction in the form of short stories with the theme of art running throughout all of them at Love books in Melville recently, I noticed a number of attendees who are artists. That should not be something surprising perhaps for a collection, 13 short stories which is populated by characters that make the contemporary art scene what is today in South Africa, that is complex and nuanced. If you happen to be part of the contemporary art scene, and might be concerned that you are mentioned in this collection titled Once Removed, well relax. You are not mentioned as this is a work of fiction. But what you might find are characters that the writer has created and built them so well into these stories, so authentic in the depiction of the current state of the contemporary art scene that you might even think that they represent some of the people you know in the art ecosystem. Perhaps it could actually be you.
These stories are well curated, well written and capture the dynamics and nuances of the South African contemporary art scene, where the number of out-of-work critics keep on rising everyday as mainstream media newsrooms keep on shrinking at an amazingly fast rate as the digital space slices large into the advertising cake that traditional media used to enjoy. Art Criticism has now moved into digital space increasingly becoming a home to online publications leading and occupying the space that used to be the preserve of traditional legacy media.
In Once Removed, you will also be given an immense insight into high –end gallery politics and art dealing, which sometimes is not as clean as people would love to see.
I really enjoyed these stories and let me tell you how this book kept me company.
After the launch at Love Books, Mann contacted me with regards to giving me a review copy, an offer I happily accepted. But the thing is he did not have a copy right away, as new copies were being printed as the first print run was sold out. But time these days moves fast.
The National Arts Festival, which this year marked its 50th anniversary was already on in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, and on a Monday morning, there I was in the domestic departure launch at OR Tambo International Airport to catch a FlySafair flight to Makhanda. I needed something to read on the flight, and therefore I entered a small book store, that now goes by a different name, but before was CNA. The small bookstore actually has a good collection of books, mostly dealing with current affairs of this country. Was not sure that was what I wanted to read for the one and half hours flight. Hesitated, but eventually decided that was not what I wanted right there. I Therefore walked out of the store to try and locate my boarding gate, but as fate would have it, bumped on Mann. He was on the same flight on his way to launch Once Removed at the National Arts Festival.
And therefore for the one and half hours, 39 000 feet up, I managed to read four of the 13 short stories by the time we landed at the Port Elizabeth International Airport. The stories kept me company, and it was one of the most enjoyable flights I have been on in recent years. Instead of reading those often boring magazines airlines often stuff in the pouches in front of the passengers’ seats, I read proper fiction, engaging stories about a sector I have come to know intimately for over two decades as an arts journalist. Believe you me these stories are a marvellous read. They are decent fiction, actually very good fiction that cuts deep into the heart and the complexity of the contemporary art scene in South Africa. They are nuanced and so authentic that you are likely to think that you can identify with some of the characters and what they get up to here.
During the festival itself, with back-to-back engagements, such as dinners and attending shows, and of course doing what everyone does during the festival, such as the mandatory visit to the Long Table among other things, there was little time left to to read the book. But I had a plan up my sleeves. No time was going to rob me of the pleasure of reading these short stories even during the festival. I therefore decided every morning, just before breakfast proper, I would have my own breakfast in bed, and that is read at least two stories for the three nights I spent there. That worked properly for ne as by the time I was 39 000 feet high up again on Thursday, 27 June 2024, with the FlySafair plane’s nose pointing in the direction of OR Tambo International Airport, flying back home, I was only left with one short story to read from the collection and it is titled Nothing to be Done. What a beautiful story about the other side of the contemporary art scene in South Africa. I Think Mann here painted a very interesting and nuanced perspective on the other side of the art business in South Africa through this short fiction.
This collection published by alternative literature publisher Botsotso is good fiction, superb even. It will take you to places and scenes in Cape Town, and to Johannesburg. In essence Once Removed is about South African art and performance, told in a creative and engaging manner that will not bore you, but make you look on the South African contemporary art scene differently.