SCRATCHING THE SURFACE VOL.1

I finally found time to post [joy..celebration..loud noise]. After an intense two weeks working with Gabi and Mwenya on Scratching the surface vol. 1, it's safe to say the large chunk of the work is done! It was truly an incredible experience and a legendary exhibition. I initially started off working on the artists' bios and necessary documentation. The highlight was when I assisted in installing Ruth Sacks's work, Never Quite There, which is a logo she created of a hybrid mythical creature she quoted from a copy of an engraving she saw at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.

Everything worked out in the end... AVA truly doesn't know what hit it! When walking into the show, you can smell, see and touch the sense of playfulness... the first work being Zambian artist, Kalinosi Mutale's piece, Kali Dictionary. You are greeted, fittingly, by loud (strangely disturbing) sounds of a baby gurgling and babbling. This comes from the video where Mutale invents symbols that compile a visual dictionary. The first traces of the scratching of a surface are revealed with his pencil drawings on the white walls (very labour intensive).

As you walk into the main gallery you are swarmed by the opulence of colour, a stark contrast to the grey and black palette visible in Mutale's work (although there are hints of red ink here and there). You are met by Mlu Zondi’s Experimenta which is a Rubik cube in which the artist performs dressed entirely in white with a projection of black animated text curving with his moving body. The exhibition buzzes with bright colour and animation with three video pieces, Dineo Bopape's By Any Means Necessary, Robin Rhode's Microphone and Simone Leigh's Uhura.

Four sets of performances by Mlu Zondi, Gugulective, the trio comprising of Katy Streek, Alude Mahali & Penny Youngleson as well as Garth Erasmus and Julian Jonker's duo, are part of the shows yummy line-up. The phrase I would describe the show as being is 'a carnival of colour'. The playfulness pumping under the show’s skin was most evident in its rejection of the concept of the untouchable art work. Pristine white gloves are shoved over by unprecious indication to touch... more specifically, to scratch! The white sacred space where the viewer is JUST a viewer is transformed into a place of interaction. The void between the art on display and an ordinary member of the public is bridged through various curatorial strategies such as the labels which are scribbled somewhat effortlessly on the walls in pencil (reminiscent of school days and tagging names on desks and bathroom walls).

The viewers of Scratching the Surface vol. 1 are part of the process and the show, most evident in Bandile Gumbi's pieces Giving up and Giving in. Here the viewers are encouraged to scratch off the colourful spray-painted graffitti to reveal the poetry beneath the surface. Even at the simplest level,there’s no denying that the show is engaging.

Toooooooo cool!