Johannesburg Art Gallery

Listings

'Cemetery'

'Cemetery' is a collection of thinkers, makers, and individuals of significance that have had a profound impact on collective thought. Starting from his own mental archive, it is an investigation into how mutual thought processes are formed, how canons are created, how they form themselves into communal inspiration, and how rehearsals of canons have the tendency to reinforce the power of particular thought. Canons are not necessarily going to be the same for all people: geography, social position, education, class relationships, and the list can go on, have an impact on the way that individuals structure their imaginations, and deal with their lives.

'Cemetery' is made up of two hundred and fourteen stainless steel panels listed with the last name of salient individuals, and dates of their birth and death where known. These will be installed in the gallery, along with nine 'Ceremonial Flags of The Republic', and three tombstones that relate to Raimi as an individual addressing questions of artistic im/mortality.

07 December 2014 - 29 March 2015

'The Refusal of Time'

William Kentridge is delighted to be showing The Refusal of Time at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The work is a collaboration with composer Philip Miller, projection designer and editor Catherine Meyburgh, choreographer and dancer Dada Masilo, Peter Galison, a scientist from the United States and machine-makers, costume designers and set designers from many parts of the world.

'The Refusal of Time' was first shown at Documenta (13) in 2012 and has since been seen in Japan, Italy, Australia, the United States, Brazil, Holland and Finland. Since the piece was made in the artist’s studio in Maboneng, he is very happy to be showing it in Johannesburg for the first time.

The project was made in a series of workshops over two years. It started as a series of conversations between William Kentridge and Peter Galison, looking at different theories of time from Newtown through to Einstein and black holes; in each case finding the metaphor for the science rather than trying to illustrate it. In the end the piece deals with the transformation of time into material objects, sound, images and mechanics. It consists of five video projections, a multi-dimensional soundscape created by Philip Miller, four megaphones and a large breathing machine. It has a running cycle of 30 minutes.

The soundscape for 'The Refusal of Time', with spoken text, has been produced on a special limited edition of vinyl records as well as on CD. These will be available from the Goodman Gallery.

09 November 2014 - 01 February 2015

'Condition Report'

'Condition Report' is a group exhibition that offers visitors a rare opportunity to glimpse the fascinating world of curating. Produced by postgraduate students from the Curating Exhibitions course at the Wits School of Arts, the exhibition offers a series of responses to rarely seen objects from the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) collection, including German Gothic wooden sculptures, Chinese ceramic roof tiles and Indian temple figures carved in stone.

According to JAG’s contemporary art curator, Musha Neluheni, “these are the oldest objects owned by the museum. They were brought to South Africa under mysterious circumstances in the 1950s and 1960s and do not fit in with the rest of the JAG collection, which mostly comprises European and African art from the 17th century onwards”.

The student curators interrogate these objects, their position, and histories, grappling with the truths about the objects, and revealing the realities of curatorial processes that are often hidden from the audience.

'Condition Report' consists of twelve individual statements within one exhibition. It offers individual interpretations of these objects whilst at the same showcasing the students’ collective thinking in putting this show together. The displays extend to other collections within JAG, allowing the audience to view more pieces from this world-class collection.

The title, 'Condition Report', refers to the conservation and presentation aspects of a curator’s relationship with artworks. As an artwork moves from dealers to collections to exhibitions, curators make notes through “condition reports” that are used to track aspects of the physical condition of an artwork. The term also refers to the collection within which these objects have been placed for over fifty years, and the effects of the collection policy on artworks and the institution itself.

Cost: Free Entry

For more information... Megan t  011 447 6543 e  megan@intotogallery.co.za

Please note: this event does not take place on the following days: 03 November, 10 November, 17 November, 24 November

29 October 2014 - 29 November 2014

'Also the Real Thing'

TEN YOUNG ACTORS, just having graduated from their acting school. Their education has been about creating emotions, taking on a character, being credible. They have learned techniques of shifting and becoming someone else.

In the vast rooms and corridors of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, a holder of cultural history, between historical portraits, sculptures and landscape paintings, the actors now portray themselves. Live. It’s the day of their audition.

Also the real thing: The Johannesburg Auditions documents the actors' personal histories as well as their ability to manipulate, swinging between reality as tactic of confusion and authenticity as a matter of technique.

READ MORE - http://www.prohelvetia.org.za/Also-the-real-thing-Johannesb.3526.0.html?&L=4&id=3526

CREDITS - Also the real thing: The Johannesburg Auditions is a collaboration between the Swiss director Boris Nikitin and the Indian director Zuleikha Chaudhari, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Market Theatre Lab and its graduates of 2014.

With Lindani Dlamini, Musa Mhlophe, Sibongile Fisher, Katlego Letsholonyana, Busi Letwaba, Thandi Ramashi, Thando Mahlangu, Lawrence Simelane, Teboho Thuswa, Reneilwe Mashitisho, and Arya Lalloo

Supported by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS - Performance on Saturday 25 October, at the JAG, 12pm-4pm.  Reception from 3pm.

25 October 2014 - 25 October 2014

'The Foundation Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery and the re-launch of The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Johannesburg 1910'

The magnificent foundation collection assembled by Sir Hugh Lane for the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) has been reassembled in its original home for the first time in many decades, to huge anticipation.  The exhibition will be held from 14 September 2014 until February 2015.  The most celebrated art collection of the 20th century in South Africa was established in 1910 by Sir Hugh Lane, as advisor to Lady Phillips, the founder of JAG and wife of the mining-magnate, Sir Lionel Phillips. ? 

The JAG foundation collection is the largest art collection created by Sir Hugh Percy Lane (born 6 November 1875, Cork, Ireland – died 7 May 1915, at sea off the Cork coast), a renowned art collector, dealer and connoisseur of Old Master paintings. . JAG is the second modern art collection put together by Lane, after he had collected works for the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, now known as the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, which opened in 1908. Thereafter Lane fashioned his third collection, the Michaelis Collection in Cape Town in 1914, consisting of 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings. ? 

Lane was one of the most important curators of his time because he was the first to curate displays showing the development of modern British art and the earliest to collect French Impressionist paintings for British public collections.  He was knighted for his services to Irish art in 1909 and is renowned for his contested Lane Bequest of 39 French Impressionist paintings to the National Gallery in London. ? 

Lane first met Lady Phillips in 1909, after which she attempted to find suitable accommodation for the planned foundation collection.  Lane was responsible for curating and mounting the foundation collection’s first exhibition at JAG, and also for producing its first accompanying catalogue, dated 1910.  Sadly he drowned with others on board the RMS Lusitania, off the Cork coast, after the Germans torpedoed it.   ? 

JAG’s foundation collection includes primarily works in different media by famous British and French 19th century artists, as well as by some lesser-known European artists.  Famous names in the collection include Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Dame Laura Knight, Sir John Everett Millais, Henry Moore, Sir David Wilkie, Augustus John, and Alfred Sisley, amongst many others.     ? 

The Hugh Lane Collection exhibition will recreate the foundation collection’s original splendour and will act as inspiration to all those who admire art.  It will be exhibited at JAG accompanied by a facsimile copy of the original 1910 illustrated catalogue, with Lane’s Prefatory Notice.

14 September 2014 - 28 February 2015