the silences between / 2017

About

Goodman Gallery Cape Town
24 August – 29 September 2017

Curated By Emma Laurence

Candice Breitz • Broomberg & Chanarin • Nolan Oswald Dennis • mounir fatmi • Kendell Geers • David Goldblatt • Haroon Gunn-Salie • Alfredo Jaar • Samson Kambalu • William Kentridge • Grada Kilomba • Paulo Nazareth • Mikhael Subotzky

the silences between brings together major works by a selection of pre-eminent contemporary artists who use varying modes of storytelling to rethink, rework and reimagine the world and our place within it.

The title is taken from the Maori poetry book, The Silences Between: (Moeraki conversations) in which writer Keri Hulme prompts the question: ‘What is recorded in the writing of history and what is left out?’

The exhibition considers the role of the artist in questioning how meaning is made and what is recorded in visual memory. Works by artists such as Paulo Nazareth (Brazil), William Kentridge (South Africa), Candice Breitz (South Africa/Germany), Nolan Oswald Dennis (Zambia/South Africa), Grada Kilomba (Portugal/Germany) and Samson Kambalu (Malawi/UK) confront this process and offer alternatives to the ‘grand narrative’ of Western thought.

This exhibition takes its cue from Donna Haraway’s influential book Staying With The Trouble (2016), in which the prominent academic argues that the world cannot be understood ‘as the heroic story, told yet one more time, of the privileged signifier moving across time and space to bring back the prize at the end and die’.

the silences between presents works that expose the layered scaffolding of ‘meaning-making’ through the telling of everyday stories of ordinary people and seemingly insignificant events that have been left out of the dominant narrative.

‘The show seeks to activate the small but crucial stories that are so often forgotten, and in so doing offer new ways of crafting sensibilities,’ says curator Emma Laurence. ‘Through interfering with systems of knowledge production and archiving, the works puncture the overarching narratives of our globalised world.’

Performance Programme
Wednesday 13 September at 19:00

Co-curated by Tendai Marima and Emma Laurence

Tendai Marima / Sons of the Mbira
Kutala Chopeto / Crocodile Love
Grada Kilomba / Plantation Memories: Lecture performance
  • Be Afraid of the Enormity of the Possible

    Alfredo Jaar

    Be Afraid of the Enormity of the Possible, 2015

    Neon

    120,6 x 182,9 cm / 47,5 x 72 inches

    Edition of 3

  • Soft Dictionary

    William Kentridge

    Soft Dictionary, 2016

    Single Channel HD Video

    Edition of 9

  • Profile

    Candice Breitz

    Profile , 2017

    Single-Channel Video

    Edition of 25

    Image still – Buhlebezwe Siwani

  • Sticky-tape Transfer 20 - R. Wye (or The British Isles - political)

    Mikhael Subotzky

    Sticky-tape Transfer 20 - R. Wye (or The British Isles - political), 2017

    Pigment inks, correction tape and J-Lar tape on cotton paper

  • Trace fiber from Freud's couch under crossed polars with Quartz wedge compensator (#2)

    Broomberg & Chanarin

    Trace fiber from Freud's couch under crossed polars with Quartz wedge compensator (#2), 2015

    Unique jacqured woven tapestry

    2...

  • Evolution or Death

    Mounir Fatmi

    Evolution or Death, 2013

    C-Print

    136.5 x 205 cm

    Edition of 5

  • 500 Meters of Silence

    Mounir Fatmi

    500 Meters of Silence, 2004-2005

    Coaxial antenna cable, saw-horses, white textile, wall painting, soundtrack

    Edition of 5

    ...
  • Sugar Walls Teardom

    Tabita Rezaire

    Sugar Walls Teardom, 2016

    Gynaecological chair, mechanical arm, HD video / HD Video / HD video (without gynaelogical chair)

    Install...

  • Illusions

    Grada Kilomba

    Illusions , 2017

    Dual channel video installation

    Edition of 1

  • Ecliptic (Black Liberation Zodiac)

    Nolan Oswald Dennis

    Ecliptic (Black Liberation Zodiac), 2017

    Wall paper and drawing installation

  • Untitled

    Paulo Nazareth

    Untitled, 2011/2012

    Photo printing on cotton paper

    Edition of 5

  • Untitled

    Paulo Nazareth

    Untitled, 2012

    Photo printing on cotton paper

    Edition of 5

  • Untitled

    Paulo Nazareth

    Untitled, 2011/2012

    Photo printing on cotton paper

    Edition of 5

  • Untitled

    Paulo Nazareth

    Untitled, 2010/2012

    Photo printing on cotton paper

    Edition of 5

  • [Twin]... the sky and an ocean are the same

    ruby onyinyechi amanze

    [Twin]... the sky and an ocean are the same, 2015

    Graphite, ink, photo transfers, colored pencils, metallic enamel and resin

  • Remnant of a wild almond hedge planted in 1660 to prevent livestock from being taken out of the European settlement in South Africa by the indigenous Khoi. Kirstenbosch, Cape Town. 16 May 1993 (4_7667)

    David Goldblatt

    Remnant of a wild almond hedge planted in 1660 to prevent livestock from being taken out of the European settlement in South Africa by the indigenous ...

  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]
  • Installation picture [the silences between / 2017]