Cape Town - The City of Cape Town on Wednesday announced the end of its outdoor exhibition, Art54, which featured - among others - the work of Michael Ellion and his Ray Ban-sponsored “Perception of Freedom” spectacles.
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Garreth Bloor, called the exhibition a success which had left a legacy.
“Today the project draws to a close and as we look at the successes and lessons learned, it is clear that the project has achieved what was intended,” he said.
“Public art helps to define the spaces around us, making them more welcoming and beautiful. The City is committed to creating inclusive spaces and offering a platform for creative expression for artists. This project gave us the opportunity to do exactly that.”
The Art54 project, initiated at the end of 2013 under the leadership of the then ward councillor and Bloor’s predecessor Beverley Schäfer, could be viewed in areas such as Mouille Point, Sea Point, Fresnaye, Signal Hill, Camps Bay, and Clifton.
According to its call for entries, the World Design Capital 2014 (WDC2014) project was meant to exhibit pieces which promoted “new and innovative ways of thinking about art in public spaces, considers their unique landscape, mix of people and character”, adding to “the public’s experience of the natural beauty and urban vibe of Ward 54?.
Successful applicants were chosen by a committee which originally consisted of Schäfer, OVP Landscape Architects’ Yvette Anderson and Johan Van Papendorp, Creative Cape Town’s past programme manager Farzanah Badsha, WDC2014 director Gillian Benjamin, the City’s Nikita Campbell and Anounel Steyn, street art collector Elad Kirshenbaum, and Makeka Design Lab’s Makena Makeka. Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town Jay Pather was originally on the selection committee but, according the the Art24 website, “was not invited to selection meetings and was not part of any decision making”.
One of the reasons Schäfer gave for the pilot project was that her then-ward valued public art.
The art projects chosen by the committee included Ellion’s “Perception of Freedom”, a mural by Andrzej Urbanski’s on toilet blocks on Sea Point promenade, Haroon Gunn-Salie’s sculptural installation “Kom Oor Die See”, Andre Carl Van Der Merwe’s “Rhinosaur”, “Soft Walls” by photographer Sydelle Willow Smith, and a bench project by Greg Benetar.
However, contrary to Bloor’s conclusion that the project had been a success, the University of Cape Town’s Associate Professor of Media Studies, Professor Adam Haupt, said it was a “missed opportunity”.
“It is tragic that they think the project was a success,” said Haupt.
According to Bloor, the exhibition had initiated public debate. Haupt, the author of “Static: Race and Representation in Post-Apartheid Music” said public dialogue only began when art collective Tokolos Stencils engaged with Ellion’s spectacles.
The collective had, in late 2014, spray painted the spectacles with the words “myopic art” and stenciled an image of the well-known figure of the Marikana massacre, the Man in the Green Blanket, Mgcineni Noki.
“The City’s response was to erase the message and this is when it became interesting politically and artistically.”
The choice of artists was also something Haupt found to be evidence of the project’s exclusivity. According to the Art54 project website, the entire application process had only rendered 90 entrees and was seemingly only based online.
“Who are these artists? How representative are they?” he asked.
Furthermore, the use of a public space – namely the Sea Point promenade – was illustrative of how the city was becoming an increasingly gentrified area simultaneously excluding Cape Town’s black working class. Placing the
However, Haupt said the project was, in theory, a great one.
In order to make it a success, Haupt suggested the City consider including communities such as Langa and Bonteheuwel and artists from more diverse backgrounds.
ANA