Curatorial practice concept Curate. A. Space, reports a successful year of project curation

By CityLife Arts Writer

Curatorial concept Curate.A.Space has reported a year of successful with a number of project that were involved in having been successful throughout this year as well as looking ahead in planning new projects. CITYLIFE/ARTS carries their report here.

“Spring has arrived in the southern hemisphere and as we glory in the fresh blooms and mellow golden sunshine, it’s time to look back at what Curate.A.Space has achieved in the past year.
July 2023 began with Sinje: We Are Like This, an exhibition at the wonderful Stokvel Gallery in Melville where 5 young photographers showcased their works created during the Intermediate Course at the Market Photo Laboratory. Carol facilitated the course and curated the show. There was great support for the young photographers as they enjoyed their very first exhibition experience, with some achieving their their first sales – a fantastic result

In the new year, Sue Clark commissioned us to assist with the planning and production of Frayed Edges, her first solo show, at the Forge in Braamfontein, which would also be the first ever art exhibition to be presented at this venue. This was quite fitting for Sue, an architect who is now making her name as a prize winning artist. The multi-purpose venue was transformed by the immersive installation featuring large scaffolding structures adorned with embroidered, woven fabric strips, with sound accompaniments, augmented reality and animation. These referred to growth and decay, memory and forgetting and the interplay between the city’s past, present and imagined future

Our last project for 2023 was Ephemeral Warriors, an exhibition of drawings by Natasha Jacobs at the State Theatre in Pretoria. The venue it brought a new audience to awareness and appreciation of art. As a South African artist whose cultural heritage, while including Zulu, British and Khoi ancestry, is not fully known, Natasha’s curiosity about her roots drove her to explore the intricacies of cultural identity. Her journey took her to Saudi Arabia, where she found herself immersed in an unfamiliar environment which lead to a profound evolution in her artistic practice

Also in March, we worked on a very important exhibition at the Apartheid Museum, which opened on Human Rights Day. Resilience and Reflection: Celebrating 30 Years ofDemocracy consisted of works from the collection of Ifa Lethu who have been repatriating artworks made mainly by black artists during the Apartheid era. Contemporary artists were invited to show alongside the historical pieces. The exhibition was featured nationally and internationally and brought attention to the historical collection at Apartheid Museum.

Our next exciting showcase was at the 2024 RMB Latitudes Art Fair. Hosted at the spectacular Shepstone Gardens, spanning over three acres in the heart of Johannesburg, the beautiful venue with its marble halls, secret gardens and rooftop pavilions provided a memorable setting for the various art hubs that made up the fair. Our featured artists were Selloane Moeti, Thokozani Mthiyane, Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, Thami Jali and Wayne Barker. The exhibition offered a reflection on the collective psyche of our modern society and its ongoing erosion of selfhood. It was very well received by collectors and visitors to the fair and was a great success – a definite highlight of the year!

Other projects which kept us busy during the past few months included:
 
Curate.A.Space was invited by Prof.Elizabeth Perrill and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, USA to organize Business of Arts workshops in Durban. Faciliated by Zinhle Khumalo, the participants were selected from wire crafters based in KwaMashu, where the project took place.

Five exhibitions and several workshops in the last 12 months have kept us busy and given many opportunities to artists. We look forward to the rest of the 2024/5 period.

A range of Artist development programmes for small groups or individuals are available online. Please contact us at cbrown.durban@gmail.com
Plans are in place to hold more Professional Practice workshops in under resourced communities as well as for mid career artists. We have enabled several mid career artists to take their work to a new level and have solo shows in respected venues”.