TEXT:
Between Strangers at Nuweland brings together works as well as thoughts of artists
Sean O’Toole
Nuweland Gallery is delighted to announce news of its summer-fall project, a group exhibition curated by South African artist and curator Morné Visagie. Titled Between Strangers, the exhibition (24 July – 9 October 2021) brings together new work by an extensive roster of emerging and established artists at Nuweland’s physical space in Oosterzee-Buren. The 22 artists selected by Nuweland and Visagie are principally based in The Netherlands and South Africa, although the list includes artists born in Germany, Mexico, Namibia, South Korea, United States and Zimbabwe.
Between Strangers honours longstanding conversations between the invited artists, Nuweland and Visagie. Predating the outbreak of a global pandemic, these conversations inspired numerous plans to collaborate and/or show work in Europe that were either cancelled or postponed due to the major health crisis of 2020.
“The exhibition is a showcase of diverse ideas, attitudes and materialities in contemporary practice,” says Visagie, who in 2019 held a solo exhibition of his work at Nuweland. “It includes striking examples of contemporary printmaking, painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, textile and installation. The exhibition has both physical and virtual components. Alongside the curated showcase of physical work in Oosterzee-Buren, Between Strangers includes dynamic online content documenting various conversations privately engaged in between the invited artists.”
Between Strangers aims to highlight an important aspect of creativity that is not always apparent in the display of art objects, the sometimes casual, occasionally intimate, always insightful dialogues that artists – strangers or not – have among each other. Initiated at the request of Visagie, these conversations – held by telephone, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, video chat and other means – involved small groupings of artists discussing subjects as diverse as time, colour, nostalgia, representation, materiality, geography and taboo.
For instance, B.D. Graft, a German-born artist living in Amsterdam discussed collecting, still life, free association and time in a video call with Stephané Conradie, a Namibian-born artist living Cape Town. Wes Mapes, an American-born artist living in Amsterdam, engaged in an exchange of photos using keywords such as naughtiness, inadmissible desires, underbellies and labyrinths as prompts with Michaela Younge, an artist born and based in Cape Town. Kyu Sang Lee, a South Korean-born artist who lived in Cape Town for a decade and currently resides in Leipzig, spoke with Cape Town-born artist and designer Dale Lawrence by video about methodology, colour, rhythm and gesture.
“It is a real treat after more than a year of cancellations and deferrals to be hosting a summer exhibition showing new work by exciting young artists from South Africa, Holland and elsewhere,” says Anke Bergsma, who cofounded Nuweland in 2017 with Wiebren Bergsma. “Nuweland was established to provide a platform for artists to create important exhibitions. It is also a space for curators to tackle ambitious projects related to practices from Southern Africa and its diaspora. Morné’s exhibition certainly fulfils this objective.”
Between Strangers runs from 24 July until 9 October 2021 at Nuweland and features the following artists: Sanell Aggenbach (Cape Town), Haneem Christian (Cape Town), Imraan Christian (Cape Town), Stephané Conradie (Cape Town), Anne Jaap De Rapper (Lemmer), Dodi Espinosa (Antwerp), Pierre Fouché (Cape Town), B.D. Graft (Amsterdam), Claire Johnson (Cape Town), Michal Kruger (Cape Town), Dale Lawrence (Cape Town), Kyu Sang Lee (Leipzig) & Martin Wilson (Cape Town), Wes Mapes (Amsterdam), Daniella Mooney (Berlin), Musa N. Nxumalo (Johannesburg), Ben Orkin (Cape Town), Gerda Scheepers (Cape Town), Micha Serraf (Cape Town), Shakil Solanki (Cape Town), Marsi Van De Heuvel (Cape Town), Michaela Younge (Cape Town).
Between Strangers honours longstanding conversations between the invited artists, Nuweland and Visagie. Predating the outbreak of a global pandemic, these conversations inspired numerous plans to collaborate and/or show work in Europe that were either cancelled or postponed due to the major health crisis of 2020.
“The exhibition is a showcase of diverse ideas, attitudes and materialities in contemporary practice,” says Visagie, who in 2019 held a solo exhibition of his work at Nuweland. “It includes striking examples of contemporary printmaking, painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, textile and installation. The exhibition has both physical and virtual components. Alongside the curated showcase of physical work in Oosterzee-Buren, Between Strangers includes dynamic online content documenting various conversations privately engaged in between the invited artists.”
Between Strangers aims to highlight an important aspect of creativity that is not always apparent in the display of art objects, the sometimes casual, occasionally intimate, always insightful dialogues that artists – strangers or not – have among each other. Initiated at the request of Visagie, these conversations – held by telephone, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, video chat and other means – involved small groupings of artists discussing subjects as diverse as time, colour, nostalgia, representation, materiality, geography and taboo.
For instance, B.D. Graft, a German-born artist living in Amsterdam discussed collecting, still life, free association and time in a video call with Stephané Conradie, a Namibian-born artist living Cape Town. Wes Mapes, an American-born artist living in Amsterdam, engaged in an exchange of photos using keywords such as naughtiness, inadmissible desires, underbellies and labyrinths as prompts with Michaela Younge, an artist born and based in Cape Town. Kyu Sang Lee, a South Korean-born artist who lived in Cape Town for a decade and currently resides in Leipzig, spoke with Cape Town-born artist and designer Dale Lawrence by video about methodology, colour, rhythm and gesture.
“It is a real treat after more than a year of cancellations and deferrals to be hosting a summer exhibition showing new work by exciting young artists from South Africa, Holland and elsewhere,” says Anke Bergsma, who cofounded Nuweland in 2017 with Wiebren Bergsma. “Nuweland was established to provide a platform for artists to create important exhibitions. It is also a space for curators to tackle ambitious projects related to practices from Southern Africa and its diaspora. Morné’s exhibition certainly fulfils this objective.”
Between Strangers runs from 24 July until 9 October 2021 at Nuweland and features the following artists: Sanell Aggenbach (Cape Town), Haneem Christian (Cape Town), Imraan Christian (Cape Town), Stephané Conradie (Cape Town), Anne Jaap De Rapper (Lemmer), Dodi Espinosa (Antwerp), Pierre Fouché (Cape Town), B.D. Graft (Amsterdam), Claire Johnson (Cape Town), Michal Kruger (Cape Town), Dale Lawrence (Cape Town), Kyu Sang Lee (Leipzig) & Martin Wilson (Cape Town), Wes Mapes (Amsterdam), Daniella Mooney (Berlin), Musa N. Nxumalo (Johannesburg), Ben Orkin (Cape Town), Gerda Scheepers (Cape Town), Micha Serraf (Cape Town), Shakil Solanki (Cape Town), Marsi Van De Heuvel (Cape Town), Michaela Younge (Cape Town).
