The Gugsblog

Looking at the Space Through a Magnifying Glass

“Upstairs Downstairs” is being characterized by works dedicated to the theme of space, both public and domestic, it is to be highlighted that the pieces in the exhibition primarily dealing with the discourse of space from a township point of view.

The work titled “A Building is a Man ” to be exhibited at the AVA deals with domestic spaces allotted to generations of black people by the apartheid regime. Scores of families migrated into secluded dormitory housing complexes on the outskirts of the townships of Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga. These people literally, for generations raised their families from dormitory beds. The work is dedicated to their continuing plight, a plight planned in the board-rooms they have never laid eyes on.

The works at TaMlami’s Place “Downstairs Upstairs”are inspired by another crucial space in township settings, the school as a space of socialization and education, just like the domestic space plays a significant role in the social and psychological make up of an individual. The book instillation, the chained desk, and the floating office, demonstrate the disillusionment rife in township schools. The disillusionment with personhood and the disillusionment with the content of the education system echoes the calamitous days of the 1970’s and the 1980’s, buried within the characters of the schools is an imbalance that post-apartheid South Africa has not accounted for, it’s the very same imbalance that the state then, wanted solve with aggression.

The performers are kind of mysterious characters, stuck in an invisible wall, their presence within this wall would bring the book instillation to life. They embody the disillusionment, there is nothing with embodying the disillusionment, for it might be the mystery lurking beneath the condition of the modern day school in the township. The performance is titled “The Birth of the Disillusionment”, the question we have to ask ourselves is whether invisible wall is broken down by the dancers.

The Outreach Program that accompanies the up coming exhibition resonates with countless enthusiastic conversations within Gugulective in implementing such programs within township schools. Working with the theme we are working with at TaMlamli’s Place, this exhibition seems to be tailor made for Gugulective.

The issue of space is our daily bread, it is a legacy forced unto us by apartheid. It has been a legacy we have come to accept, and a legacy that has become difficult to disown, for generations families have grown rooted into the spaces.

An element we hope the audience considers from these pieces is their immediate relationship the scores of people who interact with these spaces. Whether it is the nature of a rigid and austere that affects the collective socio-psychology of families and individuals who where forced into these structures, remains a mystery to us, but a mystery we are yet to uncover.

A Building in a Man

“Downstairs”, the art work at AVA, attempts to make clear to the viewer the degree to which space cages an individual, depending on the architecture of a building. In a building you always interact with space in relation or engagement with other people or person who utilizes that particular space. It becomes clear then that one residing in a small space with other bodies interacts with space in a very constricted manner, in that it becomes difficult to assert oneself through the space, one is barren of the freedom to create a private space for oneself, one is also limited in terms of movement through the space.

The materials on the wall are not commemorating those who residing in such conditions, as a work of art, it seeks to put to the fore their dignity. By utilizing the objects in a space with the social and cultural standing of the AVA, we are traversing spaces, not just physical space, but ideological space as well.

Mamphele Ramphele’s monumental study “A Bed Called Home” is research based in the townships of Langa, Nyanga and Gugulethu, and as she journey’s through peoples’ lives, she stumbles upon the notion of “wholeness”, and words such as dignity, self-respect and individuality connote this notion, what she brings to light to the reader is the lack of such characteristics amongst the people who reside in such spaces. Her work echo and testifies to the voices that acutely eyed black people’s circumstances in the past, but never reached relevant ears, or to be historically correct were barred from voicing their work. It also attests to the fact that no group of people would consciously subject themselves to circumstances disparaging to themselves as a people.

The amalgamation of objects on the wall, their clustered nature, seeks to make clear the extent to which individuals in a single hostel room seek completion or an individual presence within the surrounding atmosphere. The informal settlement is an extension of the conditions of the typical hostel dwelling, as time passed families could not accommodate more bodies within the hostel space, they were forced to erect provisional “homes” to accommodate family members migrating from the Eastern Cape and other provinces. In a typical hostel dwelling the items do not belong to a single individual, they do not belong to a single family, more often than not they belong to individuals within families that are resident on the beds. In an informal home, the security of a family’s valuables depends on the surrounding humanity present, neighbors become more than just neighbors.

The dormitory architecture typical of any hostel shares the same characteristics as the housing structures in townships in general. This particular architectural style has a destructive feature, a feature proven to have destabilizing affects on one’s being and this is due to the minute distribution of space. Citing research done in other parts of the world on people residing in similar conditions as the township hostels, in places like South America, the favelas in Rio Brazil, one resident states that “One has to be an artist to survive as a poor person…you have to imagine space where there is none”. The point that Ramaphele is making is that the energy that can be utilized in improving one’s being, one is forced to focus his or her energies on surviving. The issue of space then, it becomes clear is a global issue.

Through violent coercion generations of people learnt to call these tiny spaces home. From these destabilizing conditions a number of brilliant individuals emerged, masters of their differing endeavors, from these conditions emerged masters of political rhetoric, artists, musicians, business men, proves that before one triumphs over challenges, one has to first learn to call with pride and humility – even a bed – home.

Our acute collective eye also spies, the dormitory character of the township house-hold, is present in the architectural execution of the typical school, the typical jail-house, your typical psychiatric ward. It’s all there, in the diminutive rigidity and the uniformity.

During our last exhibition last year at TaMlamli’s Place, Kemang Wa-Lehulere stated when he was opening the event that our work deals with issues affecting our community. Downstairs is no different. We feel the need to mention this for the purposes of reminder to those who attended the event, and we appeal for understanding in this regard and would prefer that our work be criticized or intellectually engaged with, with that particular context in mind.

We would like to introduce ourselves as the creative intellectualism of a society whose value system is grounded on notions of community or the collective. We do not to claim to be pioneers, no, like every aspect of a society or community, we have inherited this. Our acute collective eye, spies a grave lack of change in these times of transformation. This lack of change also has a stance in spaces outside our community, even in institutions of higher learning. Post-apartheid South Africa is failing to realize transformation; such an exhibition provided space for interrogation and scrutiny for this lack of change. At this point in this country’s history we need to ask ourselves, how do we learn and teach each other that the ideologies that divide us are not necessarily a basis for ostracism or prejudice. Such an exhibition, with it’s freedom to traverse ideological space destroyed the superficiality of division we seem to think is the basis of our ideologies.

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Customarily, when a baby is born, a ceremony for the child’s naming is performed. This may explain why names seem to carry an almost supernatural power to capture and define identities. Names and labels play an important role in the struggles of marginalised people to assert themselves. For Gugulective, a collective of artists based in the Cape Town township of Gugulethu, historical naming of places and people represent a starting point for most of their artistic activities.

I took a Sunday off to visit the collective in Gugulethu and meet Ta Mlamli who has given the group a “home” in his hebeen, an informal drinking establishment called Kwa Mlami. My taxi ride to Gugulethu – this Nguni word means ‘our pride’ – was shared with people heading home from the city. There were also others who were en route to Mzoli’s, another popular shebeen that seems to have replaced the culture of visiting malls, markets and churches on weekends. Later on I will also discover a hip-hop Park Jam Session where a group of more that 100 young people from different communities, gather outside the Gugulethu Indoor Sport Complex most Sundays. It is clear that Gugulethu (or any other township for that matter) is no longer the margin it is purported to be.

During the taxi ride I pondered about the meaning of names given to places. As people alerted the driver of their drop-off
stops, I observed that every single location begins with the abbreviation “NY” followed by a number: my stop was in NY1. From the Gugulective members – Unathi Sigenu, Themba Tsotsi, Kemang Wa Lehurele, Ziphozenkosi Dayile, Dathini Mzayiya, Loyiso Qanya, Lonwabo Kilani, Khanyisile ‘Minto’ Mbongwa and Ta Mlamli – I learn that “NY” is acronym for “Native Yard” – an apartheid residual. This identity of a place is important to the collective members as they are presently researching the recent
street name changes in the area, names that nobody utilises, at least not yet.

Gugulective questions the consultative process and the financial resources exhausted on this venture and have plans to produce a documentary of their findings and their activities. For the collective it is startling to see NY1 replaced by Biko Drive when the same street is in an appalling condition. They ask: “Thirty years after his assassination, what then does the legendary late Black Consciousness leader Steve Bantu Biko stand for currently?”

The collective’s artistic activities have a strong focus on the environment. They are contemporary and edgy in nature but do not aspire to erase or forget the atrocities of the past. With Gugulective, the political past that shaped them awaits to be re-enacted. They trace their narrative back to the forced removals of the 1950s, which have led to and continue to underline the poverty and human decay that overwhelms their environment.

That for most people shebeens represent recreational spaces is of utmost importance. Their use of a shebeen to hold meetings and exhibitions is aimed at activating the space (and other similar spaces) by using it for creative and positive approaches. They are also mindful of the fact that most shebeens are situated close to schools, Kwa Mlami no exception. Ta Mlamli’s place is only open in the evenings and has an age restriction of 23. A sober minded family- and businessman, Ta Mlamli is passionate about youth and sees his support of the collective as something that comes logically and is essential. That the shebeen is activated intellectually also adds value to his space; it becomes much more than a drinking place – a site where ideas are formulated and made real utilising literature, art, music and poetry.

On entering Kwa Mlamli one is confronted by a piece of writing on a concrete wall. It is from Bell Hooks’ 1990 essay, ‘Postmodern Blackness’, and reads; “… racism is perpetuated when blackness is associated solely with concrete gut level experience conceived either as opposing or having no connection to abstract thinking…”

This introduction to the space becomes integral to the reading of the collective’s activities, particularly in view of a recent review of the group’s activities, which placed emphasis on something I feel was intended for members of a different audience but used in ways that may be harmful to the collective’s intentions.

In his Artheat review, Robert Sloon focuses on an installation by Unathi Sigewu, a display of empty drink bottles. “In the middle of this devastation was a tiny, perfect replica of a Johnny Walker billboard, rewording the ad to say “KEEP ON DRINKING / JOHNNY WALKER IS A BLACK MAN” … Further on was another more exaggerated version of the sign, evoking
a rapidly advancing state of drunkenness. A simple enough strategy and probably not nearly ‘serious’ enough for most people, but this work had me rooted to the spot. For a moment a mental picture of the sheer scale of the alcohol trade overcame me…”

In this way Sigewu’s work was easily turned into an almost murderous weapon. That nuances can be irresponsibly taken out of their context is telling of the dangers of spectatorship. It becomes important, therefore, to consider the environment in which the work is seen and to be sensitive about who the work was intended for before ascribing it with any meaning.

It is also important to note that, by nature, artists’ collectives aim to be independent from mainstream dialogues and aspire to become a new and challenging voice by breaking set rules, thus upsetting those dialogues and facilitating transformations. As a black collective based in a township, Gugulective faces the dangers of spectatorship but that
does not take away the dangers of self- absorption, which may easily lead to self- destruction. Having said that, it is clear that these young lions are learning to speak with the intention that, in future, accounts of their hunt will not always glorify the hunters.

Text by Gabi Ngcobo, first published in ART South Africa V6.2.

Gabi Ngcobo is a Cape Town-based artist, curator
and writer

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Titled/Untitled
Exhibitions by Gugulective

Titled and Untitled are two exhibitions by Gugulective running parallel to each other. Gugulective is a collective of seven artists based in Gugulethu, Langa and Khayelitsha. The group operates from a Gugulethu shebeen; Kwa Mlamli where they held two past events Akuchanywa and Akuchanywa Apha respectively.

Untitled opening at Blank Projects on Thursday, November 8 will feature a collaborative installation by the collective. The installation at Blank Projects is aimed at directing focus back to Titled to take place in Gugulethu on Saturday, 10 November. For the Gugulethu leg of the exhibition the collective will create site-specific installations, videos and performances that speak to issues within that location at the same time demonstrating that anywhere could be the centre of the earth if we chose to see it that way.

The Gugulectives are Ziphozenkosi Dayile, Kemang Wa-Lehulere, Lonwabo Kilani, Khanyisile “Mintho” Mbongwa, Dathini Mzayiya, Unathi Sigenu and Themba Tsotsi. Curator Gabi Ngcobo has provided curatorial assistance.

Untitled
Opens: 6pm, November 8 (Thursday)
Closes:

Blank Projects
198 Buitengracht Street
Bo-Kaap, Cape Town
Tel: 083 256 1170
Email: HYPERLINK “mailto:blankprojects@gmail.com”

Open by Appointment

Titled
Opens: 2pm, November 10 (Saturday)
Closes: This is one-day and night event

Kwa Mlamli, Gugulethu, NY 146,
Exhibition and performances from 2pm till late
Tel: 078 3985 574

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Talk ’bout art outsyd da gallari space. It’s been ages since I’ve bin 2 Langa & on this particular day Unathi, Themba & Myself were on our way back from dropping off Zipho afta a shoot 4 Art South Africa. As we were drivin out of Langa I cud not help but 2 get a picture of this amazing artwek. This is a tin house, typical of informal settlements in Azania. The owner of da house runs a bussiness selling second hand car & mini bus taxi bumpers, he had me fooled tho’. Cud hav sworn he is a sculptor, collector or an architect. Big ups man!
Picture and text by Kemang Wa Lehulere

Message Centre:
+27831 000002

Message Pending….

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What life has come to these days is, after a gruelling national festival, stage managing, partying, one comes home to an art workshop in a shebeen. What makes one proud is the fact that the workshop takes place in his neighborhood. It doesn’t matter that none of the participants are not from his own neighborhood, one cannot be selfish like that, a communal event, besides Guguletive is only laying the foundation.
On this early Thursday afternoon, two painters and a film-maker namely Dathini Mzayiya, Unathi Sigenu and Kemang Wa Lehulere, assemble to take enthusiastic ghetto on a three day art workshop. The two painters and the film-maker are friends of mine, we are part of an artist collective called Gugulective.
Gugulective is an organization established early 2007. In this short period of time Gugulective has hosted two sucessful exhibitions at the very same shebeen i am currently writing this entry. This is their first workshop.
One might wonder why we host our events in a shebeen, well despite Ta Mlamli giving us a home, we avoid the buearacratic process facilities like community centers require. Here the environment is relaxed, the ghetto youth is relaxed, how can they not its warm blue sky day in the middle of winter, the owner is an open minded businessman who understands the value of art, with his love of business ideas he shows compassion for artists ideas. As a businessman he understands in order to reap rewards one has to lay a solid foundation, just like an artist or athlete has to practise his art or his game. Gugulective’s decision to host their functions at this venue proved to a blessing in this regard. This week’s workshop is a portion of that foundation, just like the two previous exhibitions.

Patients is the pillar that keep organizations like Gugulective strong, the ability to listen to older, wiser business mind like Ta Mlamli keeps them grounded. After having had serious conversations with Ta Mlamli one detects that being grounded is important to him. As artists, knowing the pressures an artists faces as his or her career sprouts, it is important to have someone older to keep you grounded, more importantly he is someone that hails where you hail.
The ghetto youth’s presence in the workshop makes a significant statement about our communities. It provides a platform for their hunger to practise art at the same time it breaks the stereotype that young people in post-apartheid South Africa are waiting for hand-outs. They are evidence of how important it is to do for your self. They should be careful of course, because they could the next pillars of strength in their community.
The word ‘important’ or significant seems to rear its pertinent little head. We live in a time in South Africa when communal endevours are significant, not only because of the ’significant’ statements they make, communal endevours in mean a people coming to terms with their conditions and transforming them for the better. In this globalised world, in this fast technological revolution and evolution, the onus in on individuals and communities to improve their conditions. When individuals and communities take their matters in their own hands in this regard, they are able to determine their own socio-economic concerns, a lesson the capitalist, globalised world does not teach.
So its clear that colloborations such as Gugulecitve and Mlamli’s place are ’significant’.
Text by
Themba Tsotsi

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politically minded…
abducted by sketches
whilst you hear screams
ignoring the dreams?

With every drop,
history is writing a recipe book
of every earthly pain to the true story of what was.

Real is real regardless, relentless.

“Slaves of Capital punishment, in the shadows of coloniser’s white ancestry living standards, in shades of rand’s tail, heads shine high in Cape surburbs, what’s this freedom means to me in slums?”

im sick of this game trying to figure who’s who and why they to blame. Everything is either a scam or a shame. Thrz so much greed, Sirens in da nyt fight da plyt, powder means power at the kings tower, prayers shower. pistols press, she is out her dress. this is the song i will never sing, coz her screams still rings>>>

Kemang wa Lehulere. Meeting the invisible man. Video still. 2007

Kemang wa Lehulere. Arrest the Art!! Paint on wood. 2007

Kemang wa Lehulere. Don’t steal. Government doesn’t like competition. Paint on wall. 2007

Dathini Mzayiya installing his work.

Unathi Sigenu. Bus Stop. Mixed media installation. 2007

Unathi Sigenu and Themba Tsotsi. Untitled. Mixed media installation. 2007

The Gugulective presented a rapid follow-up to its April 2007 X-Cape multi-arts event, “Akuchanywa” on Saturday, 23 June. Again hosted by one of Cape Town’s newest patrons of the arts, Kwa-Mlami in the heart of Gugulethu, “Akuchanywa Apha” saw the ambitious artists collective bring another vibrant, even more diverse spread of artists, writers, poets, dancers, instumentalists and turntablists to bear on the venerable South African institution of the shebeen.

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