Melissa Goba to curate !Kauru

This is the second year of this South African-initiated project which aims to stimulate conversations in Africa and internationally, to facilitate a change of perceptions about the continent, using the vehicle of contemporary art.

Goba is a curator and a writer, who obtained her Bachelor in Fine Arts, Printmaking and Photography at Wits University. Goba has been involved in curatorial roles including the MTN New Contemporaries 2008, the SPace Currencies in Contemporary Art 2010, and the Curatorial Exchange 2009 in Visby, Sweden. She has produced and contributed to catalogues and publications, including MTN Art Talk, MTN New Contemporaries, Standard Bank 25-year celebration, Sam Nglengethwa's 2006 Monograph, and Johannes Phokela's KZNSA Exhibition Catalogue. Goba is currently running Assylem Atelje, which is a project- and site-based arts initiative, and also serves as the chairperson of the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT).

Origins and objectives of the exhibition

!Kauru provides a platform for African contemporary artists and cultural practioners to engage around a showcase of contemporary art from the continent. The word !Kauru is indigenous to the Khoi people of Southern Africa. The concept is best described as looking at oneself, looking out of oneself, and seeing other people and things across borders. The exhibition will invite the public to participate in its dialogue and the debate will primarily address issues related to our cultural diversity. !Kauru incorporates the idea that art is beyond words and hence beyond language. This concept invites us to ask: Who is talking? Who are we talking to? What are they saying? Are we listening? Why are we talking? And most importantly, what are we saying?

Explaining the exhibition title, Goba says, "The notion of 'Cultural Brokerage' within an African context received critical attention with Sylvester Ogbechie's 2010 essay 'The Curator as Cultural Broker: A Critique of the Curatorial Regime of Okwui Enwezor in the Discourse of Contemporary African Art' (2010). It would appear that contemporary African culture holds a currency or value that is defined differently in Africa and the West. The 'brokerage', dissemination and interpretation thereof has seen the development of a discourse about African cultural production outside of the continent. The term 'Cultural Brokerage' when referred to in the context of 'Popular Culture' becomes problematic given the intersection and hybridity of cultures as expressed through television, internet social sites and other media."

"The exhibition...therefore intends to firstly situate the dialogue about this currency that is the African cultural product within the continent. This first act or instalment of dialogue through the exhibition, educational programme and catalogue begins in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and intends to grow throughout the continent, perhaps even finding context in the African Union," says Goba.

According to project director Tshepiso Mohlala of Back2Back Experiential Marketing, her "vision is for this project to become a biannual event which will showcase the artworks of top African contemporary visual artists, starting with the SADC region, thereafter touring five other regions of the continent. Ultimately the long-term plan will be to tour these exhibitions internationally," she says.

The strategy aims to incorporate all the regions of Africa over the lifespan of the project, which began in 2012 with artists from the SADC region. This region is once again the focus for the 2013 project season. Contemporary visual artists from the SADC - which includes Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - will be invited to participate. The exhibition aims to promote mid-career artists and to showcase talent from this region.

The project grew from Mohlala's own experience of the way that Africa's different cultures, countries and regions view and engage with one another: "Arising from these often narrow attitudes appears a lack of confidence in the way our visual contemporary art is viewed, both by ourselves and by others. It is still the default view to see 'African art' as primarily tribal, ethnic, traditional, crafty and 'naïve' in genre. This therefore undermines the relevance and importance of our contemporary artists and the sophistication of their practice."

Celebrating Africa and its talent

The exhibition is scheduled to celebrate Africa Day on 25 May 2013 and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU). Through a series of talks, walkabouts, lectures, seminars and other programmes aligned to the exhibition, the project aims to sensitise and mobilise audiences in Africa, the rest of the world and the media in the appreciation of contemporary African visual arts. Art is seen as a means to promote inter- Africa/Diaspora cultural exchange in a direct and meaningful way. In addition, this project could also establish a network and create visibility for the participating artists, art promoters and institutions - all of which will help promote the future sustainability of the sector.

In support of the objectives of the AU, and to foster co-operation between all African states, !Kauru is supported and endorsed by the Department of Arts and Culture International Relations.

!Kauru 2013 will open on 24 May and will run until 30 June 2013 at the Pretoria Art Museum, corner of Francis Baard and Wessels Streets, Arcadia Park, Arcadia, Pretoria. Opening times are Tuesday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm. Mondays and public holidays the museum is closed.