Lessons in transformation_

May 27th, 2016 | 2 comments

Lessons in transformation_ is a recent exhibition in the upper gallery at the Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town 5-20 May. The exhibition was set up as a site for conversation around my creative practice over the last two decades. There were various prompts for starting a conversation about my practice from photographic and video documentation to painting and collaging actions.

documentation from performance 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation from opening 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation at opening 12 May 2016
(photograph by Martin Kruger)

The photographic documentation was displayed as a cluster on the wall with a corresponding printed map that included a chronological list if the work. A showreel of selected video documentation of performances, processes and source material was playing on a television screen outside the main gallery space. This was paired with a reclining chair and painting tray used in data capture_LOST (2011) and visitors were invited to try painting from the moving image on the TV screen.

Lessons in transformation_

documentation from performance 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation at opening 12 May 2016
(photograph by Katherine Spindler)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation from performance 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

A trestle table and chairs with two computers were set up in the main exhibition space. Visitors had access to my Google Photos account and were asked to create a digital collage from their own selection of images. This was printed out and stuck onto the wall. This collage collection grew for the duration of the exhibition and formed a counter-archive to my survey selection of photographic documentation on the opposite wall.

Lessons in transformation_

documentation from opening event 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation from opening event 12 May 2016
(photograph by Kyu Sang Lee)

Lessons in transformation_

documentation of collages made by visitors
(photograph by Katherine Bull)

Lessons in transformation_biographical notes

documentation of preparing for performance 12 May 2016
(photograph by Katherine Spindler)

On the 12th May I did a painting performance that also provided an entry point and experience of an aspect of my practice, namely painting live from multiple and moving visual media. The source material for for this painting performance consisted of a selection of personal 35mm slides from my family archive and a digital video edited from a series of videos sourced from a Youtube search for material from Cape Town over twenty years from my date of birth 1974 to 1994. The digital video and slides were rear projected simultaneously in different scales onto a canvas. The format of the projections echoed the interface of online video chat platforms. The performance action involved me painting with both hands in an attempt to capture the two ‘narratives’ from personal and public archive simultaneously. The hour and a half performance continued until the source material became obscured by the layering of painted marks.