The Gugsblog

Native Yard 7 (NY 7)

Scratching the Surface Vol.1 a manje-manje initiative combined new and re-visited visual and performance work by artists creating individually and in collaboration.

As the first curatorial initiative of manje-manje projects, selected artists and their works employed a play on the contemporary that is as current as it is elusive.  “Manje” is a Nguni word meaning “now”. Said once, the word has an urgency that becomes ambiguous once it is repeated. Thus, manje-manje, in relative terms, refers to the immediate past, the present as well as a time to come.

Triggered by a desire to obliterate/reveal/satisfy/mark/damage, Scratching the Surface Vol. 1 facilitates the performance of Hip-Hop rituals, mapping skin conditions, repeated memory repeated, uncontrollably itchy feet and marks made by sound.

Scratching the Surface Vol.1 served as experiential experiment in exhibition making across continuously blurring artistic disciplines.  Much like the dated experience of writing lesson notes onto a slate, the curatorial process became a loop of scratching, re-membering, learning and erasing.

In collaboration with manje-manje projects and as a development of its cooperative curatorial experiment, L’appartement 22 in Rabat, Morocco presented a selection of works from Scratching the Surface Vol.1 by showing the video works of Simone Leigh (USA) and Dineo Bopape (SA).

Performances by Mlu Zondi and Alude Mahali, Gugulective,  Kate Streek & Penny Youngleson were presented at the opening on August 4th, 2008. A collaborative once of performance by Julian Jonker and Garth Erasmus was also presented at the AVA. On Friday 8th August the Gugulective will launch “Native Yard Memoirs” in Gugulethu, KwaMlamli.

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Dineo Bopape
Gugulective
Bandile Gumbi
Julian Jonker & Garth Erasmus
Donna Kukama
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Simone Leigh
Thando Mama
Zanele Muholi
Kalinosi Mutale
Robin Rhode
Ruth Sacks
Sean Slemon
Alude Mahali, Katy Streek & Penny Youngleson
Ernestine White
Mlu Zondi

CURATED BY: Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe – manje-manje projects (m-mp)
ASSISTED BY:  Lerato Bereng – Cape Africa Platform Young Curator

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This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License.