By Gameema Salie
Cape Town - Local Cape Town artist Haroon Gunn-Salie is showcasing his artwork in a different way.
The current project, Line in the Sand, will be an experimental open studio at the Zeitz MOCAA where visitors will be able to watch Gunn-Salie at work.
Curator of the Zeitz MOCAA Storm Janse van Rensburg said that the project won't be a conventional exhibition but rather, a space for experimentation and critical engagement.
“We invited Haroon to engage with our audience, and as his work straddles art and activism, and also pertinent issues related to the history and realities of our city, to provide a critical reflection of art and culture. Haroon turns our collective gaze to histories that are neglected and under-represented. He brings attention to social inequalities that remain unaddressed, unspoken and which often hides in plain sight.”
Van Rensburg added that the studio would be used as a work space to develop new work and to also present existing work produced in the last ten years.
Gunn-Salie said that he'd be bringing his studio into the museum where the process of making and re-framing his work will be on show. One such project is the collaboration with Brazilian artist and filmmaker Aline Xavier and the shared history between South Africa and Brazil as part of the global south.
“I work first as an artist and activist. I'm presented with a great challenge to bring people and stories into the museum. I've had to deal with what happens when activism enters the gallery. There's an entrance fee at the museum, so there's a commerciality to activism. Or you could walk into a gallery in Woodstock for free, but then, the art is for sale,” Gunn-Salie said.
Gunn-Salie wants visitors to draw their own conclusions from the process of Line in the Sand and what it provokes in people. “We live in a flawed present. The past is unfinished, but the past is also so present.”
Assistant curator at the Zeitz MOCAA Tandazani Dhlakama said: “The title of the show, Line in the Sand, it's about seeing where the commercial ends and where the activism begins because Haroon describes himself as an activist. What does it mean to have activism in the museum? What does it mean in terms of radical solidarity?
“The space he is occupying is one we've started to envision as an experimental space. That space is experimental in that it allows audiences to engage with the artist in a way where they can follow a specific journey.”
Weekend Argus