Two new exhibitions examine 1920s ideas of “foreign” cultures.
? Despite its title, Eat Me has little to do with food; the exhibition presents works that employ cannibalist processes of consumption to uncover new meanings. Embracing Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade’s 1928 Anthropophagous Manifesto and its delirious vision of a cultural cannibalism in which we devour foreign influences rather than be colonised by them, it brings together local and international artists.
Goodman Gallery, Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock. Until September 3. Tel: 021 462 7573. Website: www.goodmangallerycape.com.
? Ethnography, history, film and art collide in Siliva Zulu. The exhibition features photographs taken in 1927 by controversial Italian anthropologist Lidio Cipriani during the filming of Siliva Zulu in KwaZulu-Natal. The movie was directed by Italian Attilio Gatti, who employed Cipriani as his adviser on Zulu culture. The story combined romance, betrayal and witchcraft with glimpses of indigenous rural life. Although Cipriani’s photographs depict the Zulus who acted in the film, they were later presented as authentic ethnographic documentation. The exhibition unravels the forms of colonial representation, scientific racism and fascist ideology.
Iziko Slave Lodge, corner of Adderley and Wale streets, Cape Town. Opens August 15 until April 30 2012. Tel: 021 467 7229. Website: www.iziko.org.za.