Dystopia travelling art exhibition

The exhibition has been curated by Elfriede Dreyer of the Department of Visual Arts, University of Pretoria, and Jacob Lebeko of the Unisa Art Gallery. In the light of South African histories of political and cultural turmoil, transformation and shifting ideologies driven by visions of utopia, the exploration of a theme such as dystopia is timely and appropriate. Although often scorned as romantic garbage, the concept of utopia has retained extraordinary buoyancy in contemporary literary and visual texts, possibly as a result of feelings of directionlessness, global nomadism and world-wide economic instability. Largely oblivious of a term such as “dystopia”, many contemporary South African artists - in different ways - have dealt with and rendered various facets of utopia, transmuted into dystopia as manifested in the social order, in personal relationships or in mundane everyday existence.

Dystopia comprises a curated sample of such artists selected specifically for the dystopian content in their work: either displaying dystopian sentiments as a response to foregoing or current utopia, or articulating utopia as a response to dystopian conditions. The exhibition will travel to venues that are very different in size, architecture and spatial layout, which has made it necessary to curate every showing of the exhibition slightly differently. A catalogue on the exhibition has been produced.

There will be walkabouts at the Unisa Art Gallery on Friday 29 May and Friday 19 June at 13h00, and on 30 May from 10h00 - 13h00 there will be a panel discussion with invited speakers on the topic of Dystopia and utopia in contemporary art and society. It is open to the public and entrance is free of charge.

Please RSVP to the Unisa Art Gallery at 012 4296255 to attend the opening (23 May 2009 at 12:00), and/or the walkabouts, and/or the panel discussion. For more information, please contact Jacob Lebeko at the Unisa Art Gallery at 012 4296255 or Elfriede Dreyer at 083 2712342 or 012 420 2353 or 012 3460158