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Rites of fealty/ Rites of passage' at the Bag Factory 2008thomjohan
8 min - 20 aug. 2008
The Bag Factory presents: Rites of Fealty/ Rites of Passage A one-night exhibition of performance art Date: 18h00, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 Venue: Bag Factory Gallery, 10 Mahlatini Street, Fordsburg, Johannesburg The Bag Factory's About Art program presents 'Rites of Fealty/ Rites of Passage', a one-night exhibition of new performance artworks by a group of emerging South African artists. The exhibition follows an intensive 10-day workshop in performance art presented by Johan Thom. The workshop was structured as a non-hierarchal laboratory, with each of the artists selected for participation already having established a visible presence in the South African cultural sphere. Artists like Ismail Farouk, Anthea Moys, Kemang wa Luhere and Murray Turpin all share in a multi-disciplinary approach to artistic expression, freely mixing elements of fields as far as urban geography, digital sound sampling, video, public performance, dance and theatre into their oeuvres. New works have been commissioned by each of the participating artists. Artists include: Bronwyn Lace, Nadine Hutton, Anthea Moys, Mlu Zondi, Ntando Cele, Rat Western, Ismail Farouk, Murray Turpin, Kemang wa Luhere, Dinkies, Sithole, Johan Thom The theme 'Rites of fealty/ Rites of passage' stresses the transformative capacity of art where the artwork is envisioned as a rite of passage through which both artist and viewer may plot alternatives to existing modes of relating to our familiar surroundings, ordinary social interactions, physical gestures and use of language. In this way art may act as a gateway that embodies the possibility for personal and societal change through direct action and physical participation. The workshop and exhibition is made possible by: The Ford Foundation The Bag Factory Special thanks to the Nirox Foundation The exhibition is curated by: Johan Thom Bronwyn Lace
Ismail Farouk
9 min - 17 aug. 2008
Informal trolley pusher route between Noord Taxi Rank and Park City Taxi Rank in Johannesburg - Research conducted for the Johannesburg Art Gallery as part of the Urban Concerns project.
Ismail Farouk
18 min - 17 aug. 2008
Informal trolley pusher route between Noord Taxi Rank and Park City Taxi Rank in Johannesburg - Research conducted for the Johannesburg Art Gallery as part of the Urban Concerns project.
ismail farouk
5 min - 17 aug. 2008
Urban Concerns: video clip highlighting injustices towards undocumented migrants at the Johannesburg Art Gallery vehicular gate
8 min - 27 apr. 2008
Protest Action organised by Ismail Farouk in collaboration with the Trolley Pushers of Joubert Park in downtown Johannesburg. www.urbanconcerns.org.
3 min - Nov 8, 2007
City walk from the Johannesburg Art Gallery to the Drill Hall - led by Ismail Farouk.
Ismail Farouk
14 min - Jul 16, 2007
This is the route taken by Reginah Msundiwa, a student at Vuwani Secondary School in Chiawelo. Msundiwa is a qualified nurse an currently works as a research assistant at Baragwnath Hospital.The importance of Msundiwa’s story is that she represents a participant who had not prior knowledge of the march and was surprised when she got to school on that fateful Wednesday morning. Msundiwa elaborates, “ I got to school in the morning and during the assembly students began to sing and we addressed by one of the student leaders - I don’t know his name. He said that today we are marching against Afrikaans. I was surprised, really, I was surprised!” Vuwani Secondary School is located in Chiawelo in the far south western corner of Soweto. Students planned to march all the way to Orlando West and hoped to collect other students from neighbouring schools along the way. Their plan was to collect students from Sekano Ntoane before proceeding pass Morris Isaacson High School in Central Western Jabvu. However, the plan did not work out as intended as students from neighbouring schools left already. Students from Vuwani Secondry School were the last group marching on 16 June 1976. They covered a fair distance, avoiding main roads as they ambelled towards Mputhi Street in White City. When the students got to Morris Isaacon High School the school grounds were empty. Msundiwa’s group was adressed by a student leader (not Tsietsie) who warned them about a looming police presence and called for a peaceful and calm protest. The Vuwani group proceeded on Mputhi Street but a short while later they were met by police. By the time Msundiwa got to the corner of Mputhi and Roodeport Roads, news of the killing of Hector Pieterson and of the white socioogist Dr. Melville Edelstein reached her. Msundiwa remembers running for cover from police who began an assault on her group. The Vuwani group dispersed into the White City landscape, running into adjacent yards and houses in order to avoid gun fire. Msundiwa’s march along with most students from Vuwani Secondary School ended here, outsdie Sizwe Stores about 10 Km away from Orlando West. A small group from her school continued through Mofolo Park in order to get to Orlando West. Their fate is still unknown.
1 min - Jul 16, 2007
Rock Sale was a public protest and performance in defiance of the Johannesburg City by-laws which prohibited street trading on the sidewalks of Johannesburg. The corporate regeneration programme in Braamfontein instituted in 2002 showed no recognition towards the street traders and applied a heavy hand through persecution and harassment by the Metro Police. Every time a police raid occurred, traders were fined R150 and their goods were confiscated. Sometimes harassment by the police resulted in violent action as traders were often beaten and abused. In response to this situation I devised a performance where I stationed myself on the sidewalk in Braamfontein and, in direct contravention of the By-Laws; I attempted to sell rocks and piles of sand - Objects of no monetary value! I priced these items at R150 (15 Euro) each. The location for my stall was a sidewalk outside a prominent shopping centre in Braamfontein. My performance was carried out over a period of 2 days. My stall was demarcated by existing painted floor markings which marked out trading spaces where trading was possible before the corporate regeneration programme was instituted. The objectives of my actions were to raise awareness to the unequal playing field created by the regeneration program. I also wanted to know if the police would confiscate my rocks - Would they? I was breaking the law after all...
Babak Fakhamzadeh and Ismail Farouk
1 min - Jun 1, 2007
Avalon Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in South Africa and is the final resting place of many political and cultural activists. The cemetery is about 170ha in size and is managed by the City of Johannesburg’s City Parks division. At the entrance to the cemetery, a memorial with the words, “Never Never Again” inscribed on it pays tribute to those who lost their lives in the Soweto uprisings of 1976. Avalon Cemetery is facing severe pressure. With the death rate is increasing by 10% per year and more than 200 funerals occurring each weekend, the cemetery is running out of space. Compounding the problem is the Aids pandemic. With more than 6.5 million of the country's 47 million people infected with HIV, demand for space is increasing. Every weekend, convoys of buses carrying mourners bring the Old Potchefstroom Road to a standstill. This has resulted in special traffic marshals being deployed to deal with the traffic congestion every weekend. Cremation is not considered appropriate for most people so City Parks are encouraging families to consider the “second burial” option, where several members of a family are buried in the same grave. “We Cannot Continue to Die like this” is a short animated movie which responds to the pressures experienced by the cemetery because of the increase of funerals as a direct result of AIDS related deaths. The film frames the dense weekend funeral traffic in relationship to the 1976 memorial located at the entrance of the cemetery. This is done to bring about awareness to the current day struggle our society is experiencing. History is represented by the memorial to fallen heroes of 1976 - history will demand to know where our leaders are now, when this preventable disease continues to kill millions of people.
Ismail Farouk
5 min - Dec 28, 2006
JHB626GP is a representation of Johannesburg city using a unique combination of digital photographs, video and archival film, and kinetic flash animations which illuminate the urban rhythms of Johannesburg singularly. The movie not only deals with the historical legacy of gold mining and apartheiid, it also highlights movement patterns and conflicts associated with informal economic activity. Johannesburg like most developing cities globally is struggling with the contradictory goals of economic realignment and needs of the urban poor. JHB626GP attempts to highlight these contradictions and the endangered vibrancy of Johannesburg street life in the face of the enforced privatised city. JHB626GP was produced for the Venice Architecture Biennale in collaboration with the London School of Economics and features original compositions by Johannesburg based electroacustic composer Dimitri Voudouris
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