23 KILOGRAMS

West, Den Haag, 2013

Siemon Allen, Francis Burger, Donna Kukama and Zen Marie

curated by Bettina Malcomess

January 21 - March 9, 2013

The title, ‘23 Kilograms’, is a starting point to ask these questions and about how our practice as artists participate in the transfers, delays and connections that define the contemporary transfer of images across virtual space. Or of our own bodies and works as they travel to participate in the residency or the group show.

In South Africa, two events in the year of 2012 situate the question of information and its transfer: the Protection of State Information Bill and the Marikana Massacre. This project responds to the power of ‘information’ to project an image of a place or an event, but will also reflect on what it is that does not translate. What exactly does it mean to make work as a South African based artist for a European audience? What are the complexities of that audience’s national identity? Where is the potential for mistranslation and misunderstanding.

The artists will set up a series of situations, services and exchanges within the exhibition space and in the city of Den Haag. The project will unfold over the course of 6 weeks with the space evolving all the time, with elements (text, objects, pamphlets, printed works) travelling to the gallery from outside The Nether- lands culminating in a publication. The exhibition includes a parallel event in Johannesburg at the Parking Gallery and an exchange with the project ‘Fundburo’ at the University of Lyon.

Sourced from Press Release.

For more information visit West.

Newspapers (Six Weeks), 2013
selected articles referencing South Africa from The New York Times
collection period: January 14 - February 25, 2013
newspapers, mylar, pins