blank projects

Moving to blankprojects.com

2009-06-19T11:56:00.004+02:00

We are moving to http://www.blankprojects.com/

While our new domain is being updated with information on our previous exhibitions, this blog will still be operational. Please feel free to browse.

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katherine bull - data capture: a muse

2008-10-02T22:12:00.003+02:00

Photo Jean Brundrit

Photo: Melissa Van Zyl

Bianca Baldi: Him & Her

2008-09-10T16:22:00.005+02:00

http://www.biancabaldi.net

Niklas Wittenberg

2008-09-10T16:11:00.006+02:00

Warren Lewis- Telling Fibs, an exhibition of lies

2008-08-20T11:40:00.008+02:00

The opening night

Warren in front of " The digital splits consciousness into discrete units and breeds robot- like behavior; though less functional, the analog is seamless."

Clock frame, disgarded digital watches.

Architects of the Absurd

2008-07-29T22:22:00.010+02:00

Invite. Mental Pictures. de Wet, Gimberg & Nerf. 2008

View in. Mental Pictures. de Wet, Gimberg & Nerf.

View out. Mental Pictures. de Wet, Gimberg & Nerf.

Detail. Mental Pictures. de Wet, Gimberg & Nerf.

Portrait (Press). Mental Pictures. de Wet, Gimberg & Nerf. 2008

"I'm not sure what the occasion was but Christian, Barend and I were braaing wors at the studio. It's the woolies lamb sausage we were owed by Renee Holleman from Carpentry 101. it seems fine despite having sat in the fridge at the AVA for a couple of weeks. Christian decides we should get a picture while the three of us are together, we try to set up the shot to look like the one taken by the suicidal guy on Blouberg beach before our escape. The order is wrong though, Barend is on the right, then me and finally Christian, who has to rush into shot before the timer goes off. I gaze "out to sea" while Barend watches the camera. Christian doesn't quite make it, he's still getting into character when the flash goes off. It's still better than the previous attempt though: the camera (resting on the top of the wall between our building and the next) had fallen over in the breeze." Gimberg

http://mentalpicturesandphysicalspaces.blogspot.com/

Still Raining in CT

2008-07-09T12:16:00.005+02:00

The opening night last Wednesday was attended by a hundred Capetonians that braved the weather to view some "fine art". It might almost be snowing, but it's always spring at blank projects:
Norman O'Flynn's Butterfly Project

Gabrielle Alberts curated a coherent museum-quality show with fleamarket art by Sunday painters...

BUTTERFLIES AND FINE ART

2008-07-01T23:13:00.006+02:00

Opening on the 2nd of July 2008 at 18h00:
The Butterfly project by Norman O'Flynn
and Fine Art - an installation by Gabrielle Alberts

EXPIRED PRODUCTS AND NUCLEAR BARBEQUES

2008-06-30T20:23:00.006+02:00

Visiting Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda is the first artist to use both the blank projects spaces for one show. He presented two bodies of work, Expired Trading Products and The Nuclear Barbeque of Mr Young, which he produced during a two-month residency in Cape Town.

Local and Angolan friends at the opening.

The Nuclear Barbeque of Mr Young.

I AM AN AFRICAN

2008-06-11T12:16:00.009+02:00

"The genesis of creating this work lies embedded in searching for what it means to be white and African. By requesting that my skin be smeared in with black shoe-polish by a fellow African artist (Assane Sar (Senegal)), I hope to raise issues regarding identity within a diverse African cultural environment. Being a soundless video I attempt to force occular engagement of the work, thereby accentuating the visual surface of skin, and by it being looped I am addressing identity as an ongoing and (as yet), unresolved issue."

Sonya Rademeyer was one of five South African artists selected to participate in Dakart 2008. This is the first screening of ‘I am an African’ in South Africa.

(4 screenings only)
4 June: Wednesday 18h00 - 20h00
6 June: Friday 10h00 - 16h00 ARTIST TALK at 10h00
11 June: Wednesday 18h00 - 20h00
13 June: Friday 10h00 - 16h00

Accreditation to Omar Dia (Senegalese film maker) for the filming of this work in Senegal, December 2006.

WARREN EDITIONS opening night

2008-05-22T11:59:00.017+02:00

Tom Cullberg, his son and Zhané Warren (Warren Editions)

Angolan artist-in-Residence, Kiluanji, inspecting Hentie's work

Friday Night by Tom Cullberg

Tom Cullberg’s etchings are an extension of his paintings (which explore aspects such as narrative, intimacy and the transient). The artist worked at the Warren Editions studio during March this year, and created three etchings made with soft ground and various aquatint applications. As starting points for his etchings Cullberg used references to his paintings as well as found images. Unsurprisingly, colour was vital in the production of these etchings - to the point that Cullberg mixed his own colours as he would when painting.

Messenger I and Messenger II (below) by Hentie van der Merwe

Zhané Warren approached Hentie van der Merwe June 2007 with the idea of creating a series of etchings, conceptually based on his music theatre project. For this project, the artist developed a series of masks to be worn by the main character namely ‘The Messenger’. These masks refer to various animals from the world of Nama (Khoi) folklore - such as the hare, lion, and eagle.

Introducing WARREN EDITIONS

2008-05-13T11:19:00.004+02:00

Warren Editions, established by Zhané Warren, publishes and prints original fine art prints. The aim of the studio is to introduce contemporary artists who are not primarily printmakers to the time honoured medium of etching. Warren Editions works in etching and other intaglio processes as well as monotype and takes a collaborative approach to develop the artist’s images to their fullest – if need be over an extended period of time.

The Drawing Machine is making (sound)waves

2008-05-13T10:36:00.012+02:00

Behind the scenes...

Brendon installing the machine.

Drawing shapes with sound...

For the month of May the machine will be drawing sounds in thin air.

Sessions every Wednesday evening.

Studio 2666 Catalogue launch...

2008-05-07T11:59:00.002+02:00

This Friday evening (9 May) @ 6 @ blank projects
If the cover is anything to go by...say no more.

BRENDON BUSSY'S DRAWING MACHINE

2008-05-07T11:22:00.002+02:00

A sound installation and performance space by Brendon Bussy.
Opening and performance: 18h00 Wednesday 7 May (ends Friday 30 May).
Performances and Workshops every Wednesday 18h00Viewing: Tuesday and Friday 2.30 – 5pmFor other viewing times, contact the artist (082 4068140)

Brendon Bussy is a Cape Town based writer, electro – acoustic performer and visual artist. In 2003 he released Diesel Geiger (Open Records). He also runs workshops in spontaneous sound techniques and idea development.

Drawing Machine and Brendon would like to thank Jacques van Zyl (www.phi-audio.com) for designing the KnapKas instrument and for inspiring acoustic guidance.

www.brendonbussy.co.za

KUNZ & GLASER video sculpture

2008-04-02T11:54:00.006+02:00

On invitation by Pro Helvetia (the Swiss Arts Council) and blank projects, the Swiss artists Daniel Glaser and Magdalena Kunz are spending some months as Artists-in-Residence in Cape Town.

Voices, the new project by Swiss artists Daniel Glaser and Magdalena Kunz , is a verbal geography that gives a voice to people to talk about their hopes and fears. At blank Glaser/Kunz will show a Talking Head, a video sculpture. From here the work will travel to Zimbabwe.

“A strength of the work by Daniel Glaser and Magdalena Kunz is related to the way in which viewers get confused about their own body perception; in fact, the movement of the images is invisible at first and then just barely perceptible so that we end up doubting our own bodily presence. In a way their images and sculptures are played out within this tension between reality and representation and between presence and absence.
When the viewer makes an effort to get synchronized with the work, it acquires an almost performative quality, giving life to a strange form of art in which the spectator becomes a discursive element in the transformation of meaning.” (Illaria Bonacossa, Curator at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo di Torino /contributor: Label Magazine, Turin and Contemporary, London).

Opening 18h00 Wednesday 16 April (closes 19 April)

Glaser/Kunz are exhibiting internationally and have recently shown some of their videosculptures, the Talking Heads, at various exhibitions in Europe .

PUREN's road trip: the MOVIE

2008-04-02T11:16:00.014+02:00

The car radio played Das Spiegel from Chemical Brothers all the way from Cape Town to Johannesburg. (From the album 'We Art The Night' ...in case you'd like to try this on your next road trip.)

Jeremy Purén and Daniël Naudé recorded their journey and targeted various objects with watermelons.

The movie will be screened (one night only) at blank on Friday 11 April, 18h00.

ONS SKRIK VIR NIKS

2008-04-02T11:02:00.016+02:00

ONS SKRIK VIR NIKS - Studio 2666 (group exhibition)
The first group show by the 12 artists from Studio 2666.
Studio 2666 is a group of artists working in Commercial Street, Cape Town.
Opens Wednesday 9 April(18h00) - Friday 9 May. be afraid.

Visit their blog for more info: http://www.studio2666.blogspot.com/

Now, we're in Jo'burg too!

2008-03-14T15:22:00.013+02:00

Yes, for a limited time only, you can visit blank at the Jo'burg Art Fair this weekend!
Jeremy Purén made a film of his road trip from Cape Town to Jo'burg.

So swing with us...

JEREMY PUREN is turning blank upside down

2008-03-05T15:31:00.002+02:00

Jeremy Purin is one of the most exciting recent graduates to emerge onto the local art scene and definitely the most energetic. At blank projects he will show an evolving installation, creating an interactive environment that will hopefully not destroy the space.

OPENING: WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH (18h00)
CLOSING EVENT: FRIDAY 4 APRIL 2008

Barend de Wet's WHITE ELEPHANTS and a group show called VERF

2008-03-05T15:28:00.012+02:00

katherine bull - data capture: a muse

2008-02-10T21:23:00.001+02:00

TRANSFORMASIE/ TRANSFORMATION by contemporary Jeweller INGE MARAIS

2008-01-11T11:30:00.000+02:00

An investigation of materials...
OPENING FRIDAY 11 January 2008 @ 18h00
Open: Saturday & Sunday 11-2
and Monday-Tuesday 11-5
for information 083 256 1170
“In my practical experiments I investigate, through various interactions with material and repetitive meditative actions, the transformation processes that occur in parallel with the transformation of materials. In this way traditional perceptions of value related to time, material and experience is also re-evaluated. The transformation of the material becomes a metaphor for the transformation that the manipulator herself experience during the creative process.”

Fever Jubilee

2007-12-27T18:47:00.000+02:00

Julia Rosa Clark is inviting all interested parties to meet her for tea/beer/a chat and to collaborate on Fever Jubilee at blank projects. Call her (083 4392854)to meet at a time convenient to you...
otherwise join us for the closing on Thursday 3 January 2008 between 18h00 and 20h00 to view the final outcome of this festive installation.

TWO EXHIBITIONS OPENING AT BLANK ON THURSDAY 13th DECEMBER 2007

2007-12-08T14:41:00.000+02:00

FEVER JUBILEE an installation by Julia Rosa Clark
Opening @ 18h00 on Thursday 13th December
• open every Thursday from 18h00-20h00 and by appointment
• ends 5th January 2008
FEVER JUBILEE, is a new installation and performance by Julia Rosa Clark. The artist will turn the gallery into a recuperative grotto-like space. The audience will be invited to just come and relax in this contemporary urban folley, or to grow the space from the inside, with the help of the artist. It is a festive holiday piece: a place in which the artist will spend some quality time resting, with friends and family.

The artist says, "2007 seemed like a long and difficult year for many people close to me. It is finally drawing to a close and it is time to take stock and clear out surplus". A jubilee marks the passing of a period of time, emancipation and a celebration. In this case, the artist celebrates sensuality, colour, music and a move away from sadness and fear. It is a corollary to HYPOCRITE'S LAMENT, her solo show earlier this year ( http://www.artjoao.co.za/exhibitions/exhib2007_clark.html). Whereas Lament was, in part, driven by a response to cycles of addiction and destruction, the artist is now excited by growth and restoration. As is often her process, Julia will use leftovers, clutter, collections of bits and pieces and lots of paper to make up the space.

2) At blank contemporary: WORKS ON PAPER
This group show by 10 well-known SA artists opens Thursday 13th December at 18h00

• Exhibition closes end of January 2008 (open by appointment)
Sanell Aggenbach, Wayne Barker, Jacques Coetzer, Jeanne Hoffman, Lindele Magunya, Thando Mama, Andrzej Nowicki, Linda Stupart, Johan Thom & Kemang Wa Lehulere

(All works on sale for R500 – R5000)

Gugulective

2007-11-05T11:33:00.000+02:00

Untitled
Opens: 8 November 2007
Ends: 30 November 2007

Gugulective is an artist collective consisting of 7 members. The name Gugulective derives from the Xhosa word for pride (gugu). Although founded and developed in Gugulethu in 2006, artists from Langa and Khayelitsha have joined the group in the meantime. Due to a number of organisational and financial obstacles, the collective could only take up its practical work in the form of creative projects this year. Two exhibitions were put together in Gugulethu as well as a painting workshop with the local youth.
Gugulective is clearly not aiming at reactionary intervention, but is born out of the need for creative projects in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Art is seen as a means to promote development and create social cohesion within communities. Unfortunately, it is often neglected when crime and economic troubles are prevalent in everyday life. Many township schools for instance do not teach art any longer, and extracurricular activities in this field are largely lacking, too.
To date, their work have been realised in Gugulethu. Untitled is a group exhibition working in and with the blank projects space to create work which will create a conversation between two locations (blank projects in Cape Town and Kwa Mlamli in Gugulethu). The installation piece will consist of tables and chairs taken from Mlami's shebeen and installed at blank projects. Along with the chairs and tables, items of clothing will be installed.

“We aim to challenge the pre-conceived visual representation of shebeens in institutional and gallery spaces. In recent years, the shebeen has been portrayed as a negative and loud space, covered with wall paper, filled with people sitting on beer crates and lacking aesthetics and recreational values.
This piece is symbolic of absence in many ways: the absence of black artists and audience in gallery spaces, and also the fact that mobility structures hinder accessibility to institutional spaces and the city centre itself for individuals residing in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.”

blank gains weight...

2007-11-02T11:28:00.000+02:00

blank is expanding!!

We are opening a second space this month (as from 7 November).
In the room adjacent to blank, we will host a retrospective of past projects. The first show is simply titled: 'blank projects: selected work 2005 - 2007'.

Work by the following artists will be showcased:Nomthunzi Mashalaba, Pierre Fouche, Kerim Seiler, Abrie Fourie/Ella Ziegler, Gabi Ngcobo, ChristianNerf/Douglas Gimberg, Jackson Hlungwani and Barend de Wet.

This space will also be used by our residency artists and for blank admin.

Abrie Fourie & Ella Ziegler

2007-10-14T22:58:00.000+02:00

See2 by Abrie Fourie & Ella Ziegler opens this Wednesday 17 October. The Show ends on Friday 3 November.

Image # 1

Unknown man climbing down the façade of Dianahof, Sunnyside, Pretoria, August 2007
Digital photograph

Image # 2

Untitled
Hyena Tail bought at a muti shop

Image # 3

Invisibility by mirrors

Mirrors and stoneware potters clay

CARPENTRY 101

2007-08-14T13:54:00.000+02:00

Douglas Gimberg and Christian Nerf present CARPENTRY 101.
The artists will be attempting to dismantle traditional wooden sculptures, you are welcome to join them. A book will accompany the show with contributions from Ronald SureshRoberts, Bettina Malcomess, Nuno Sacramento, Robert Sloon, Ed Young, Andrew Lamprecht, Bianca Baldi, Johan Kritzinger, Dan Halter, LizzaLittlewort, Gimberg and Nerf.
The artists invite you to one final night of Carpentry IOI. Gimbergand Nerf plan to get rid of all the bodies on August 29. Gates open at18h00. The artists will be accepting IOU's for works and prices arenegotiable. Many people participated in the IOI process which producedover 70 works and some great fires. Some are beautifully gold-leafedand others plain crude, but it is the thought that counts.An IOU is a note and acknowledgment of personal debt (from the phrase"I owe you" or "I owe unto") that is generally limited to casual usagebetween acquaintances. 1] Select a work, 2] make a reasonable offer,3] negotiate, if successful 4] sign an IOU and 5] exchange it for thework. Simple. Only bodies will be available, left arms have beenarchived and right arms burnt."There is something beautiful about reversing the process of making.Of undoing something, of taking it apart. Of returning the object towhat it was originally made of. And yet on returning it to the'wood', one may be left with the little arms, remnants of the objectfor which there is no use, a kind of surplus. I do not mean the kindthat brings profit, this is not the 'surplus value' of capitalistexchange. It is rather that which sort of escapes the contract ofexchange. In reality our relations are so much defined by exchange, socompletely rationalised that maybe this is not even possible.It is the little branch Dante plucked, and dropped in fear and leftbehind, like a trace."Bettina Malcomess, Carpentry IOI ISBN: 978-0-620-39272-3"

Visit http://www.artheat.110mb.com/ to download the free online catalogue.