CAPE is a biennial cultural project that’s not just another biennale. Located in Cape Town, it will ultimately provide an African-based counterpoint to the many international exhibitions and conferences that claim to speak for Africa.
Artists, writers, curators, researchers and practitioners representing a diverse set of disciplines and African forums will in the coming week converge on Cape Town for the Sessions eKapa 2005. It will be an inter-national art meeting held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from December 4 to 6.
The meeting is a feature of CAPE’s first two-year cycle, and precedes a major art event to be held in September next year.
Sessions eKapa: On the spot
Gavin Jantjes will be Sessions eKapa 2005’s keynote speaker. Raised in District Six, Jantjes’s radical work South African Colouring Book was banned in the mid-1970s, and was followed by the banning of all his work by the apartheid government. He subsequently garnered international success as an artist, curator, educator and administrator, and is currently senior consultant for contemporary international exhibitions at Norway’s innovative National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (Oslo).
You were born in District Six, educated at the University of Cape Town and in Germany. You’ve lived in Britain and Norway and you work internationally — where is home for you? And how has your status as an exile, immigrant and a global nomad informed your art practice?
For me, it’s always been about being in a place where there was something to do — some form of challenge that I could take on and complete. The reason I left South Africa was that the challenge of defeating apartheid was another thing, it wasn’t related to my intended profession. I do believe there was a possibility to have carved out a career in Cape Town, but it wouldn’t have been anything in the manner I would have liked it to have been.
Aside from obvious political changes — how has the South African art world changed since then? What has stayed the same? What still needs to change?
The art world outside of South Africa has changed very radically in the past few years. How much the art world has changed inside South Africa — well, that’s a different matter. But we’ve only had 10 years of democracy and that’s not a lot of time in artistic terms. The struggle that I’ve been through in the past 10 years in Europe has been the one related to what I call the ”new internationalism”, which is about making the art world recognise that the tiny faction of humanity we call Western Europe and the United States are not the only people who are modern. There is the desire to be contemporary human beings in every single culture on the planet and I think the art world is slowly recognising that.
You’ve participated in a number of large-scale thematic exhibitions and biennales — do you see this as a possible arena for your ”new internationalism”?
The paper I’m going to give at Sessions eKapa is going to address the large-scale exhibition so I don’t want to pre-empt anything … but I will say that I’m going to ask why we make these exhibitions. The reasons for them in terms of African contemporary art seem to fly in the face of what artists really want. So, for me the question is, are they important and relevant to the visual artist and do they offer a better understanding of contemporary art to audiences? As long as we can’t answer that we need to ask ourselves why we are making large-scale identity exhibitions and start to look for other formats.
I asked a question in London at a seminar when the recent African Remix show was on. I asked: ”Can anyone tell me why you’d make an exhibition called Europe Remix in 2005? What benefit would it have to the artists and what benefit would it have to European culture?” No one could answer that! We are treating audiences as fools by saying the only way you can relate to an artist is through his or her identity. You wouldn’t make an exhibition in Africa about African identity. Who would you do that for? We know who we are, we don’t need to be told! Rather, we want to find out more about ourselves: How do we think? How do we feel? How do we love? What are our problems? Those are the things we want to talk about!
Do you think the questions and concerns facing artists and practitioners working in Africa are different to those of artists working internationally? And what are the key differences between African and Euro-American contemporary art practices?
I think if there are differences they are differences of economics. I went to visit the Arts Academy in Havana at the second Havana Biennale and I was shocked because it had no raw materials or equipment, but the work the students generated was 10 times better than what my students in Europe had generated. So for me it’s always been about what would happen if you actually start to support these artists who are so determined to do the necessary work? Therein lies a huge potential and possibility for progress in the arts world.
What most excites you about Sessions eKapa’s programme and what prompted you to agree to participate?
Mostly, I was absolutely shocked when I got the invitation because it was the very first invitation I’d received from South Africa! I mean South Africa has had two biennales and many, many conferences and I’ve never been invited to any of them. I’ve talked at conferences around the world but I’ve never delivered a paper in my home town. This is the first time. It’s mad!
Also, I think the changes that the conference aims to prompt are very important. I think that the South African government needs to start making major investments in culture in this country. It needs to have the vision to recognise that the cultural industries give you the potential to alter major aspects of your culture and at the same time bring huge economic benefits. I have no doubt that, if it were invested in properly, South Africa could create a hugely vibrant arts scene. We have the ”goods and services”. Out of all the African countries, we had seven artists represented in the Venice Biennale — it’s never happened before! It’s an indication that we have at least seven artists in the top ranks of world visual culture right now, who can begin to help us carry this vision forward.
The details
For the full programme, visit www.capeafrica.org. To register for Sessions eKapa 2005, e-mail kashief@tribalco.co.za or Tel: (021) 697 0180. There are discounts for members of the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (e-mail vansawcrsvp@mweb.co.za). CAPE is also offering a limited number of seats to students and practicing artists who cannot afford the fee. Please apply by contacting Julian Jonker at julian@capeafrica.org or Tel: (021) 488 3064.