Materiality Matters exhibition at Berman Contemporary extended

By CityLife Arts Writer

A group exhibition that has been running at Berman Contemporary Gallery at Rand Steam Shopping Centre inMilpark has been extended. The exhibition titled MATERIALITY MATTERS has been extended to November 15, 2022. MATERIALITY MATTERS is a group show curated by Els van Mourik, featuring the artists Barbara Schroeder, DuduBloom More, Gina van der Ploeg, Kutlwano Monyai, Lee-At Meyerov, Rohini Amratlal and Sivan Zeffertt.

The following is what the curator says about the show:

 ‘Material makes more than one language possible.I am interested in an excess of material, an excess of interpretation’Cildo Meireles (Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1948 – )A new generation of Southern African creatives has been rising up over the last few years, expressing localcraftsmanship, embracing regional materials, recognising ancestral practices, and cultivating local craft values andskills. In the 19th century, there was a strong fear that craft skills, knowledge, quality, and individuality were in danger of being replaced by industrial production and capitalist reasoning. Now, more than a century later, the tables have turned, and craft skills are increasingly in demand, not only within industrial design, but also in contemporary art, which had already abandoned the skill of hands in favour of intellectual skills during the high modernism of the mid-20th century.

This group exhibition features seven female artists whose work both centres on and expands our understanding of the handmade, and its relevance to contemporary art. Building on the various meanings of ‘materiality and matter’, the exhibition makes connections between the processes of making and the role of materials in the visual arts. With a focus on the exploration of the ‘meaning of things’ and how the material and immaterial world of objects, gadgets – and the stuff they are made from – can relate to different contexts, the artists shaped their ideas into artworks, through different experiments and careful and considered materials choices.

The medium and the message

The social consciousness of slowing down the pace of creating products for market purposes only coincides with an important movement where each material is believed to be alive and able to emit currents of energy. Sustainability is important. We cannot merely generate things just to throw them away. Value has to be added, not subtracted.

Resurfaced manufacturing with found, recycled, and reinvented material is a testimony of this change. For any artist nowadays, their practise consists not only of thinking about what their work means, but also taking into account the material through which the artwork presents itself. To be able to tell the (hi)stories, and to engage critically with the used materials. For example, what is the meaning of hyacinth paper in the textile works of Gina van der Ploeg; the use of Incema grass (Ncema in isiZulu) in Rohini Amratlal’s installation; or the recycled plastic shopping bags in the work of Kutlwano Monyai?

The artists participating in this exhibition revived different techniques, which in turn were inspired by ancient African craft traditions, and are seeking a creative dialogue between process and materials. We see this as an important step in integrating old and new techniques with indigenous knowledge and expertise, so that craft is not only preserved as a piece of heritage, but develops along with the innovative approaches and working methods of our time. Beautiful pieces are collaged together in multiple styles – a creative patchwork of new perspectives on contemporary art.

WEBINAR SERIES:

William Kentridge: A South African artist in the global gaze
 

A conversation with Dr Alastair Meredith and Art Tactic’s Anders Petterson around the career and international acclaim of this prolific artist. 


Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at 4pm (South African Time)

Webinar link

Curating Kentridge: Across Three Continents

Strauss & Co is pleased to present exclusive insight from global museum curators involved in showing work of William Kentridge in an exclusive online discussion exploring the challenges and benefits of curating and sharing Kentridge’s work.
 
Convened in collaboration with the Warehouse Art Museum in Milwaukee, Strauss & Co senior art specialist and head curator Wilhelm van Rensburg, the webinar features contributions by, among others, the RA’s chief curator Adrian Locke and The Broad Museum’s curator Ed Schad.

Watch video here

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