The Dark Cow Live at Bag Factory Artist Studios
Live performance for What Is South Africa, even? Vol 2 art exhibition by Carlyn Strydom (@museumher on Instagram) at Bag Factory Artist Studios in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa by The Dark Cow.
Track 1. Falling (Ultimate BrVtality Mix)
Stream and free download here:
Track 2. The 4th Dimension
Out later this year.
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Artworks by: Thina Dube, Vivien Kohler, Ronald Muchatuta, Jasmin Valcarcel, Neo Gilder, Simphiwe Buthelezi, Andrew Ntshabele
Celebrating 25 years of the Bag Factory
In 2016, the Bag Factory celebrate their 25th anniversary of contributing, inspiring and providing a platform for some of South Africa's greatest artists. Located in downtown Johannesburg, the Bag is primarily an artists' studio, but also runs residency programmes for up and coming artists, as well as workshops for the public. In October 2016 the Bag commissioned a series of videos to celebrate this milestone. These were shown at their anniversary exhibition, as well as at the ABSA art auction to raise funds for the Bag's planned extension and development of their studios.
Wits Art Museum David Koloane [Art of Lithography: 25 September 2018-17 March 2019] [Johannesburg]
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South African painter David Koloane was born in Alexandria, Johannesburg in 1938. He received his art training from 1974 to 1977 at the Bill Ainslie Studios, which later became the Johannesburg Art Foundation. Since the late 1970s, Koloane has been a pioneer in the development of the black art community in South Africa. He co-founded Johannesburg’s first black art gallery and was the head of Fine Arts at the Federative Union of Black Artists (FUBA). He was instrumental in establishing studio space for black artists at The Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (The Bag Factory) and he founded the Thupelo Workshops in South Africa, a concept that spread to Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The Bag Factory founded in 1991 became the studio space which made it possible for black an white artists to work together on a professional level, despite the Apartheid legislation of that time Koloane’s work has been shown in South Africa, Botswana, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. He has work in some of the greatest collections in the world, including the Saatchi Collection. A reflective and well-published writer, Koloane has written on issues pertaining to Black South African art and the racism in the South African art world. He has also been outspoken about the difficulty in obtaining an art education in South Africa. Committed to the visual art world, Koloane’s art reflects a personal struggle to illuminate the experiences of black South Africans to the world. Koloane is an acclaimed artist, educator, writer, curator and facilitator. He has been recognised and honoured internationally for his contribution to the visual arts in South Africa.
David Koloane looks with a lively and perceptive eye at the bustling urban environment that has shaped his works, with a particular focus on the complexities of the South African urban landscape. His work is often recurring and commonly depicts township scenes, dogs, cityscapes and jazz music. His work has been described as “a curious blend of sombre epiphanies and mesmerising celebrations of our collectivity as human beings.” (O’Toole, S., Artbio, July 2003).
A Tribute to Benon Lutaaya 1985 - 2019
Ugandan artist Benon Lutaaya passed away on Sunday afternoon at Edenvale Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa from cancer.
According to Patrick Seruwu, a colleague also based in South Africa, Lutaaya has been battling brain cancer.
Seruwu explained that doctors had told them that Lutaaya had a cancerous tumour on the brain.
Hassan Isilow, another friend of the deceased said many Ugandans and art lovers have gathered at one of his studios in Malvern in Johannesburg to plan for the return of the body to Uganda for burial in Matete, Masaka.
He is survived by two children.
Who is Lutaaya
Benon Lutaaya, a Johannesburg-based visual artist acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with Education from Kyambogo University.
He was born December 4, 1985, in Mengo Kampala. He moved to South Africa after winning an international artist residency award by the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg in 2011.
He was the founder and executive chairman of THE PROJECT SPACE a cultural institution centred on creating spaces, increasing opportunities and access to networks in a bid to encourage and empower more female African artists to engage in the full-time activity as artists.
Lutaaya’s work was collected in some of South Africa’s top corporate entities; ABSA Museum, RMB bank, First Rand, Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art, Ellerman’s Contemporary Art Collection, and countless top private collections of major significance locally and internationally.
He was a past recipient of the BASA Creative Grant 2015, Lovell Tranyr Art Trophy 2012, Ithuba Arts Fund Grant winner 2011, The Bag Factory international artist residency 2011, and a finalist of the BBC MyWorld documentary global competition in 2010.
He has been recognised by several institutions globally for his works.
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'Lala la' Art Exhibition by Simphiwe Buthelezi@ Bag Factory Joburgtv Lifestyle 25 January 2019
South African artist Simphiwe Buthelezi's first solo exhibition, titled LALA LA, opened last night at The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Fordsburg. The multi-media exhibition deeply explores the intersection of gender roles, societal pressure and individuality, and is the culmination of the artist's residency as the recipient of the 2018 Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize at the Bag Factory Artists Studios. The artist employs diverse mediums in LALA LA, such as light, sound, and manipulated tactile materials to examine these key themes, as well as to pay an homage to her heritage and explore personal family memory.
'You paint up to the last mark': South African artist talks passion, calling and success
This video is part of TimesLIVE's “On Shift” – a 10-part video series proudly brought to you by 1Life Insurance. Every Monday until the end of May, watch exclusive videos giving unusual insight into the lives and perspectives of people working in interesting professions in South Africa.
For many, the idea of being a full-time artist remains but a dream. For Kagiso Pat Mautloa, it has been a reality for the past four decades. A famous South African painter and sculptor, he aims to create works that raise awareness and get people thinking.
Some of Mautloa's significant works are dotted around Johannesburg. A heavy rock bound in wire stands solemnly outside Johannesburg Central police station – the site of many deaths in custody during apartheid – and his cascade of pick-axes and wheelbarrows tumbles into the atrium at Johannesburg's main Standard Bank branch, representing the pain to labour on which the bank is built.
Based in the smoky labyrinth of Fordsburg, at the Bag Factory Artist Studios, Mautloa does not consider what he does a job – rather, it is a lifestyle. For one, there is no retirement. You paint up to the last mark you can ever make in your life.
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Blessing Ngobeni
Blessing Ngobeni is a visual artist working out of The Bag Factory artists studios in Newtown, Johannesburg. This video was commissioned by Artlogic and created by University of Johannesburg multi-media students.
Art Meets | Joburg Fringe 2015
Intro to this years Joburg Fringe event. (filmed edited by Michaela Limberis)
11-13 September at Arts on Main, Johannesburg
10am - 8pm
FREE ENTRANCE
We proudly present
Philippe Bousquet / Nellien Brewer / Calvin Dondo / Suzanne Duncan / Craig Ferguson / Kezia Gerber / Luke Kaplan / Jenny Marcus / Brent Meistre / James Nilsen-Misra/Babette Noble / Chiedza Nyebera Pfister / Anastasia Pather / Monique Pelser / Francois Pretorius / Elgin Rust / Claudia Shneider / Jeannette Unite / Lynette van Tonder.
ARTIST FUND PRESENTS THE COLLECTIVE curated by Mbali Dhlamini: Phumlani Ntuli/Marie Fricout / Andile Buka / Themba Khumalo / Zanele Mashinini / Tammy Barnes / Sthembiso Zwane / Zwelethu Machepha / Andrew Ntshabele / Charles / Thabiso Kholobeng / Mbali Dhlamini.
ART MEETS CAMERA - THE MECHANISMS OF MEMORY curated by Michaela Limberis: Thuli Gamedze / Alice Gauntlett / Sepideh Mehraban / Heinrich Minnie / Rory Emmett / Emmanuel De Montbron. Performance by Thuli Gamedze / Bonolo Kavula.
BECOMO ART CENTRE- FOR ART SAKE curated by Madoda Fani: Madoda Fani / Gerald Mahlamvu / Thomas Siziba / Bonginkosi Andries Mahole / Katlego Sebatjane / Anthony Mahlamvu / Zinhle Nkosi / Thembinkosi Madlala / Kamogelo Matlakeng / Lucky Dingani Mudau / Percy Thabang Selai / Lebohang Mphela / Sam Djedje / Derrick Sphamandla Njoko / Osia Mamaciri Mphela.
BELLINGAN SCOTT FINE ART: Ernest Bellingan Scott/Norman Catherine / Tinus de Jongh / Gregoire Boonzaier / Eric Byrd / Claude Hamilton Rowbotham / Claudine Bouzounet Stella/Karl Schwesig.
Johannes Petrus Joop Molenaar.
CURATE.A.SPACE curated by Carol Brown: Mthobisi Maphumulo / Wonder Buhle Mbambo / Mlamuli Mkhwanazi / Modisa Tim Motsomi / Akiko Nakaji / Janet Solomon / Nhlakanipho Mkhize / Karla Nixon / Marianne Meijer / Andrew Roberts / Peter Engblom / Vulindlela Nyoni / Jeremy Wafer / Andrew Verster / Jeannette Unite / Sthenjwa Luthuli / Major Ndlovu / Khulekani Mkhize / Nikhil Tricam.
DEAD BUNNY SOCIETY: Dirk Bahmann / Ronel de Jager / Stephan Erasmus / Laetitia Lups / Peter Mammes / Wayne Matthews / Neil Nieuwoudt / Barbara Wildenboer / Elizaveta Rukavishnikova.
KWASUKA GALLERY curated by Charlie Motale: Jabulani Dlamini / Nocebo Bucibo.
MARKET PHOTO WORKSHOP: Chris Stamatiou / Cornell Tukiri / Jerry Gaegane / Mpho Mokgadi / Phumzile Nkosi / Lebohang Kganye.
REVISITING THE LATENT ARCHIVE IN SITES curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa: Buhlebezwe Siwani / Lethamaga Richard Mabula / Robyn Pretorius / Ronald Muchatuta / Rory Emmett / Nique-Floe Sithole / Palesa Sibiya.
THE DAWID RAS COLLABORATION: Dirk Van der Westhuizen / Dawid Ras / Freddie Claassen.
TWENTY JOURNEY curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa: Sean Metelerkamp / Sipho Mpongo / Wikus de Wet.
Our guest curator show, curated by Zanoxolo Sylvester Mqeku -
MEMORY, ART AND IMAGINATION: presenting Moses None / Zanoxolo Sylvester Mqeku / Mpho Khomari.
Performance by Maleshoane Mputlane / Pheello Rasello / Morena Moabi / Tiki Monatisa / Itumeleng Sethunsa.
VideoART! 2015 William Raban 72-82 curated by Claudia Shneider.
joburgfringe.com artweekjoburg.co.za
Our thanks to: Propertuity / Spaza / Kliphart Sets and Signs of Life.
TROUBLED
'Troubled' - is a portrait of the state of political affairs in South Africa through the eyes of a late political icon, Nelson Mandela - artist benon lutaaya
Controversial artist Ayanda Mabulu shares his views on politics
ART AFRICA met up with South African artist, Ayanda Mabulu at his studio at the Bag Factory in Fordsburg, Johannesburg.
Mabulu was born in 1983 in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape and is best known for his satirical paintings.
He spoke to us about his recent controversial work, 'Spear Down My Throat (The Pornography of Power)' (2015), the role of powerful female figures in his life and how art should be used as a tool to combat corruption.
Sunday Service : J Soto presents ...
11/05/2017 - Video by Stephanie Acosta of Intrinsic Grey
Sunday Service: J.Soto Presents…
Miatta Kawinzi, IV Castellanos and Amanda Hunt, ray ferreira, Keijaun Thomas
Sunday, November 5, 2017 | 7:00pm
Don’t Fall Back
A program dedicated to remaining in the moment, aware, and offering no apologies.
How is Queer (self)love a form of resistance? What shapes and objects does that take on and what images does it conjure?
Dedicated to creating existences that are not polite; that are not apologetic and care for each other.
About the Artists
Miatta Kawinzi is a multi-disciplinary artist. She explores the figure, the inner & outer landscape, and culture as sites of re-imagination & possibility. She works with images, objects, sound, space, the body, and language. She was born in 1987 in Nashville, TN to a Liberian mother and Kenyan father. Based in NYC, she received a BA in Interdisciplinary Art & Cultural Theory from Hampshire College in 2010 and an MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College in 2016. She has been awarded artist residencies at the Bag Factory (Johannesburg, South Africa), the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE), Beta-Local (San Juan, Puerto Rico), Greatmore Studios (Cape Town, South Africa), IAAB (Basel, Switzerland), Flux Factory (NYC), and the SOMA Summer program (Mexico City, Mexico).
The artists IV Castellanos and Amanda Hunt explore the continuous catching and falling of one another’s bodies. With this idea, that takes many aesthetic forms, aim to define arrival as reciprocity. This work of jumping, catching, holding, climbing, falling and/or dropping, and dragging one another on repeat, is juxtaposed with task based labor driven work.
Hunt and Castellanos have performed at Highways Performance Space Los Angeles, CA the AHA Festival Santa Fe, NM, Gibney Dance, Dixon Place Grace Exhibition Space, Panoply Performance Lab and at Dance Space, NY in collaboration with the Feminist Art Group.
ray ferreira - w h e n a m i blaqlatinx from occupied Lenape lands called New York, N Y: the illegitimate EEUU. An o t the r Corona, Queens a spacetimemattering a materialdiscusive (dis) continuity: [the Caribbean, the Greater Antilles, Hispañola, the Dominican Republic — Corona, Queens] : history.
ray ferreira b.1991 w h e n a m i a performer of sorts aka multidisciplinary artist aka polymath. She stays playin : the dance between materialitylanguage through her body w h e n a m i where histories are made and remade. She plays with iridescence, text, rhythms (aka systems), to cruise a quantum poetics. Englishes, Spanishes, and other body languages spiral, dance, and twirl to create a banj criticality: that turnup w/the grls; that swerve past white cishet patriarchy. wh e n ami
Keijaun Thomas creates live performance and multimedia installations that oscillate between movement and materials that function as tools, objects and structures, as well as a visual language that can be read, observed, and repeated within spatial, temporal, and sensorial environments. Her work investigates the histories, symbols, and images that construct notions of Black identity within black personhood. Thomas is reimagining, reworking, and reconstructing notions of visibility, hyper-visibility, passing, trespassing, eroticized, and marginalized representations of blackness in relation to disposable labor, domestic service, and notions of thingness amongst materials. Thomas earned their Masters degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Thomas has shown work nationally and internationally in Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR; Portland, ME; Chicago, IL; Saugatuck, MI; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Miami, FL; and Taipei, Taiwan; Paris, France; Mexico City, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; Istanbul, Turkey; Beirut, Lebanon; Saskatchewan and Vancouver, Canada; and the United Kingdom.
About the Curator
J.Soto is a queer brown transgender interdisciplinary artist, writer, and arts organizer. He has curated and performed work for The National Queer Arts Festival (San Francisco), Links Hall (Chicago), as well as Vox Populi (Philadelphia) among others nationally. His collaborative writing project, “Ya Presente Ayer” can be found in Support Networks, Chicago Social Practice History Series (University of Chicago Press). His organizing projects include the Latinx Artists Retreat (LXAR), which he recently launched with a group of Latinx artists and administrators and the Latinx Artist Visibility Award (LAVA) for Ox-Bow School of Art in partnership with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is also a recent Fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Advocacy Leadership Institute (ALI). His recent writing can be found in Original Plumbing and Apogee Journal: Queer History, Queer Now Folio. He is currently Programs Coordinator for Equity & Inclusion Initiatives at Movement Research and Production & Access Coordinator at Eyebeam.
Ronald Machatuta
Ronald Muchatuta is a Cape Town-based contemporary artist from Harare, Zimbabwe. In his paintings he deals with the African context, that is, the issues dealt with or the folklore he grew up hearing. Using painting, drawing and mosaic, he is inspired by artistic forces that survive in all human beings, no matter how different we are, and reveals his emotional connection to issues affecting Africans.
Nelson Makamo for Gallery iZArte
Interview with talented painter/artist from South Africa, Nelson Makamo. For Gallery iZArte, Zutphen, the Netherlands, by Sara Rebergen. January 2010.
Beads Mine
Beads Mine
Open Studio by: Ali Honarvar
Presented at the Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa
During an artist exchange residency between Kooshk Residency (Tehran) and Bag Factory (Johannesburg)
May – Jun 2018
My first impression of African handicrafts made by beads was this, I was captivated by different patterns and beautiful color schemes.When I was selected for south Africa’s art residency,I was eager to see those handicrafts again in order to use beads as my main material and experience something new in my art works.
During my presence in Johannesburg as I’ve been working on my bead’s project ,I was wondering how African artists have made optimal use of these small pieces of glass(beads)and create numerous masterpieces.
In my opinion ,whereas existing different mines of gemstones and precious metals have caused myriad of problems on environmental issues and native people,Bead art has had an outstanding influence on Africa’s art economy and people.
For me Africa is a mine of arts,I appreciate this mine because it has been an inspiration to me in many aspects and has given me many new and different experiences.
Young 14 Exhibition
The Bag Factory Artists' Studios invites you to
YOUNG '14
A selection of work from young South African Artists
Featuring: Farieda Nazier, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Lebohang Kganye, Ishkar Richards, Gavin Wynford, Philiswa Lila, iEntity, Yael Feldman, Bongani Njalo, Murray Kruger, Jarrett Erasmus, Marcus Viljoen and Kathleen Sawyer
Exhibition runs: 13 March - 25 March, Monday - Friday, 9:30am - 4:30pm
Walkabout: Saturday 15 March, 2pm-3pm
10 Mahlatini street, Fordsburg, 0118349181, info@bagfactoryart.org.za, bagfactoryart.org.za
David Koloane Final
David Koloane, founding member of the Fordsburg Artists Studios, talking about starting the Bag Factory and Thupelo workshops.
Ronald Muchatuta these things exist
Visual Language at Greatmore Studios February 2014
Everard Read London Blessing Ngobeni - A Note From Error
Everard Read London present a solo exhibition by Johannesburg based artist Blessing Ngobeni. Fuelled by the social injustices of post-Apartheid South Africa, Ngobeni joins a distinguished lineage of artists who dare to critique the status quo. His work is said to “borrow from the language of Surrealism, the anarchy of Dada and the figurative violence of Neo-Expressionism. *
Usha Seerajim on Public Art
Public Art, although a concept that is fairly new to South Africa in the contemporary context - it is slowly but surely proving a solution to the walls and boundaries galleries and museums have created, leaving other sectors of society referring to art as illitist. And while we all warm-up to the idea of art in our everyday and open spaces, spaces that we all have access to, visual artists too are still trying to get the hang of this art-form. While it may look like something that is easy to execute, a lot goes into putting the best art in the best place for the best meaning to the best observers and the upcoming public art workshop to be facilitated by artist Usha Seerajim at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg aims to address all of that and more.
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Still Looking, 2019
'Lost & Found', Group exhibition.
The Bag Factory Artists Studios, Johannesburg.
Curator: Candice Allison.
(Please listen with headphones).
This video is shown on a television monitor pointing skywards, which forms part of a larger installation with the same title. Both the collection of found objects within the installation and captured footage were mostly accumulated around the Fordsburg area. The artist also gathered personal narratives, asking each participant what they have possibly lost and found that was significant to them. Currently, two narratives can be heard. There is a possibility of expanding on the narratives, found objects and footage depending on the site.