Lecture Nomusa Makhubu: Socially Engaged Art in Cape Town and South Africa
This lecture is presented in collaboration with the Erasmus+ project and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien. With support by Manuela Ammer, mumok Head of Curatorial Department and Chief Curator. Initiated by the studio for Art and Intervention/Concept, Prof. Marina Grzinic, who will also introduce and moderate this talk.
Nomusa Makhubu, Associate Professor of Art History and former Associate Dean of Transformation in the Humanities at the University of Cape Town, highlights works and theoretical approaches that have emerged in the context of socially engaged art in Cape Town and South Africa. South African visual art during the first decade of the post-apartheid era (1994–2004) has illuminated key tensions in the transformation process. This period saw waves of artistic visions that responded directly to the social imbalances created by apartheid and triggered important discussions on issues of power, particularly in relation to racial and gendered constructions of identity. The discussion also addresses critical terms such as Post-Race and Post-Black (see the work of Qondiswa James). A central point is the remarkable performance and video art (or new media) that signifies a shift in the general perception of ethnicity, art, and transformation in South African cultural practice.
