Valuing Transience in Contemporary African Art: Economic Viability and Challenges of New Media in South Africa

Abstract

Looking at artists stemming from South African cities—as well as examples from other parts of the continent—this article examines the economic viability of new-media art in the realm of contemporary African art production. There has been a noted shift from objecthood to video and digital installation and transient forms of art among artists in both early and later stages of their careers in South Africa and beyond. While the economic viability of new-media art is questionable, especially in various localities across the continent, many contemporary African artists engage with this as their medium of choice. Focusing on major as well as peripheral urban economies in Africa, this article explores how recent generations of South African artists and their contemporaries from other parts of the continent are taking on a medium with fraught economic value within the context of the global art market.

Notes

Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/rcin.

1 Haroon Gunn-Salie has defined himself as an artist who uses the medium of intervention. This involves creating work outside of the traditional gallery setting in public spaces such as the streets of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Some of these interventions are transitory, such as projecting video clips and slides onto buildings over the course of only one night, such as his works Witness (2012) and No Man's Land (2013), or altering road signs to reflect effaced local histories, such as in Zonnebloem Renamed (2013).

2 These include Fak'ugesi: Digital Africa Festival in Johannesburg; The Boda Boda Lounge Project, which featured digital events over 11 spaces throughout Africa; GawLab; VANLagos.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lara Koseff

Lara Koseff ([email protected]) holds a Master's degree in Heritage Studies and Arts and Culture Management from Wits University. She is currently senior curator at Goodman Gallery, South Africa, which has spaces in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Artists with whom she works include Ghada Amer, Candice Breitz, Liza Lou, Minnette Vári, Mikhael Subotzky, and Haroon Gunn-Salie. Exhibitions she has worked on include 14/30 (2014) at the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, The Poetry in Between: South-South (2015) at Goodman Gallery Cape Town; Minnette Vári's mid-career retrospective Of Darkness and of Light (2016) at the Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg; and The Sound of Silence by Alfredo Jaar at the Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg. She has compiled and edited numerous publications including Compendium of Taxi Art Books Educational Supplements (2008), No Romance: Ghada Amer, Reza Farkhondeh & Collaborative Work (2011), and New Revolutions: Goodman Gallery at 50 (2016).