02-17.06.2022
EXHIBITION IN AUSTRIA
Curated by Dr. Assoc. Prof.Dr. Basak Senova
The first part of the project concluded with the contribution of the “A Research of Doing” project to “the Octopus” exhibition, curated by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova. Hosted by the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the exhibition took place at AIL (Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab) at the historical building of Ehemalige Postsparkasse in Vienna. It was accompanied by a 3-day Public Programme at Tonkino Saalbau.
https://angewandteinnovationlab.at/program/the-octopus
The exhibition presented an accumulation of research and process-based works by its participants, associated actors, and its curated archive. the Octopus also featured prominent examples from certain guest lecturers who have influenced the programme and “A Research of Doing” project.
09-16.04.2022
SPECIAL PROGRAMME IN SOUTH AFRICA
Organized by Dr. Johan Thom and Dr. Assoc. Prof.Dr. Basak Senova in collaboration with The Centre for The Less Good Idea. Accompanied by joint sessions, studio visits, and meetings with the Octopus Programme.
- Workshops and meetings with University of Pretoria MFA and PhD students o Ideation process and Workshops of Season 9 at The Centre for The Less Good Idea: “Translation” with Athena Mazarakis, Mandla Mbothwe, Phala Ookeditse Phala, Bronwyn Lace, and William Kentridge
- Video Screenings
- Meetings with and studio visits to some South African artists and curators o Guided Curator’s Tour o Nirox Sculpture Park o Talk by Mike Schlaich on the Wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe at Nirox o Visiting Museums and Art Centres both in Johannesborg and Pretoria o Working Sesssions and Workshop at Farmhouse at 58.
During the week of 10 – 16 April staff and postgraduate students from the division of Fine Art at the University of Pretoria were joined in South Africa by their counterparts from the University of Applied Arts Vienna for a week-long workshop in art-based methodologies.
This workshop formed part of two intersecting, ongoing research entities as our project “A Research of Doing” and the ‘Octopus Programme’. This special programme, therefore, involved international art institutions, curators and postgraduate students from as far afield as Tunis, South Africa, Turkey, Vienna, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland, among others.
This first half of the project aimed to have the travel and the programme first in South Africa, then starting from October 2022 (with the beginning of the Winter semester), a special programme for Austria will also be realized.
For the workshop in South Africa the 16 participants spent three days at the Centre for the Less Good Idea. The Centre is currently developing and workshopping ideas as part of season 9 of its annual programme of plays and artistic outputs. Workshop participants were given complete access to the particular forms of conceptualisation and practice through which the Centre ultimately conceives each new season’s works. In brief, the Centre is guided by an open ended, collaborative and even playful approach towards art-making. This approach tacitly draws upon the life experiences and existing expertise of each season’s participants, be they visual artists, actors, musicians, poets or even theorists. Central to the Centre’s artistic process is a radical openness to investigating ‘less good ideas ’- ideas that despite seeming less clear, well-conceived or even obscure at first, ultimately offer more fruitful pathways for creative exploration and collaboration than the imposition of a singular, fully formed artistic vision at the start. This ensures that the resultant artistic outcomes are indeed collaborations, often with unexpected even surprising results. In this way participants in our workshop became active participants in the conceptualization stages of this year’s season at the Centre.
Our workshop participants then departed for the Nirox Foundation, a lush sculpture park and art foundation located in the Cradle of Humankind just outside Krugersdorp. Here they were led on guided tours of the facilities of the Nirox Foundation, informing them of its mission, function and curatorial methodologies whilst also engaging in a number of creative workshops led by project leaders Associate Prof Dr Basak Senova (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) and Dr Johan Thom (UP). These workshops were guided by the theme of translation – thus linking back to the central theme explored at the Centre for the Less Good Idea.
Workshop participants explored the theme of translation in relation to their own artistic practice through a number of creative and written exercises. These conceptualization exercises were all aimed at exploring the creative methodologies that underpin a multitude of artistic forms of expression, from painting, drawing and writing to other socially engaged art forms. The exercises will now also form the basis of a number of forthcoming publications and exhibitions, including a group exhibition to be held beginning of June at the Academy of Fine Art, Vienna.
We also visited the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria. Here workshop participants had the opportunity to closely engage with head curator Gabi Ncobo and to explore the current exhibitions on display in detail. After a brief tour of the Visual Arts division and UP’s main campus workshop participants were treated to a much-deserved lunch courtesy of the School of the Arts, UP. In the afternoon, participants were taken to the Pretoria Art Museum. Here senior curator Dirk Oegema led them on a tour of an exhibition of artworks that are all included in the current education syllabi of South African high schools and discussed the complexities of curating within a South African context.
The workshop concluded on Friday the 15th with a final dinner and farewells at Farmlife 58 – the beautiful space we also called home for the last few days of the workshop.
All the institutions involved in this trip were:
University of Applied Arts Vienna
The School of the Arts at the University of Pretoria
The Centre for the Less Good Idea
The Nirox Foundation
Farmhouse 58
The Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria
The Austrian African Research Network (Africa UniNet)
01.02.2022
WORKSHOP & EXCHANGE ACTIVITY
Conducted by Dr. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova
A selection of stories accompanied by still and moving images, shared and discussed by the participants. These stories were accumulated through a “Story Telling Workshop” in collaboration with SAHA Studio Artists, University of Pretoria Fine Arts MFA and PhD Students, and the Octopus Programme and a Booklet was produced. (Zoom, close session)
11.01.2022
LECTURE
“The Zone” by Marcus Neustetter (artist from South Africa) and Johannes Jaeger (scientist from Switzerland/Austria)
(Zoom, close session: ARD // Students of University of Pretoria and University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the Octopus Programme)
11.01.2022
TALK
A talk on biennials with a specific focus on the upcoming Istanbul Biennial by David Teh, curator of the Istanbul Biennial (2021/2) and Bige Örer, director of the Istanbul Biennial moderated by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova
(Zoom, close session: ARD // Students of University of Pretoria and University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the Octopus Programme)
30.11.2021
WORKSHOP
Conducted by Dr. Johan Thom
EXCHANGE ACTIVITY
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova and Dr. Johan Thom
(Zoom, close session: ARD // Students of University of Pretoria and University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the Octopus Programme)
08.10.2021
LECTURE AND WORKSHOP “Practicing ‘agency’”(Zoom, open to the conference attendees)
Conducted by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova and Dr. Johan Thom for the Art, Access and Agency—Art Sites of EnablingConference, organised by the School of the Arts, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria in collaboration with the Transformation Directorate, University of Pretoria.
06.09.2021
MEETING #6 (Zoom, close session)
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova and Dr. Johan Thom
21.08.2021
MEETING #5 (Zoom, close session)
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova, Dr. Johan Thom, and Bronwyn Lace
29.06-02. 07.2021
CONTRIBUTION TO THE PUBLIC PROGRAMME of PLAY Exhibition
ANGEWANDTE FESTIVAL 2021
“Chapter II: On A Research of Doing” Assoc.Prof.Dr. Basak Senova, Dr. Johan Thom, and Bronwyn Lace
21.06.2021
MEETING #3 (Zoom, close session)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova, Dr. Johan Thom, and Bronwyn Lace
08.06.2021
WORKSHOP
Conducted by Bongile G. Lecoge-Zulu, the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg
(Zoom, open to public: 52 participants)
08.06.2021
WORKSHOP/ EXCHANGE ACTIVITY
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova and Dr. Johan Thom
(Zoom, close session: ARD // Students of University of Pretoria and University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the Octopus Programme)
18.05.2021
MEETING #2 (Zoom, close session) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova, Dr. Johan Thom, and Bronwyn Lace
03.05.2021
MEETING #1 (Zoom, close session)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova, Dr. Johan Thom, and Bronwyn Lace
