DAY 1 WORKSHOP PROGRAMME: POLITICAL IMAGES AND INTERVENTIONS

Today we shared examples of political images related to South African history and it's influence on contemporary artists working today. We discussed different examples of public images found in SA, Senegal and N. Korea- and the unexpected connections which can be found between them. We also looked at examples of artistic interventions in public space, and finally we watched a video lecture by Thomas Hirschhorn about his Spinoza project in the Bijlmer in Amsterdam. We found his words related to the manner in which he asked the Bijlmer community for help for his project, useful for our approach in the days to come.

Left: Archival poster used to promote the 1955 Freedom Charter gathering Kliptown.Right: Brett Murray, South African artist's interpretation, as part of his show called: Hail to the thief, at Goodman Gallery in Cape Town.

The African Renaissance monument in Dakar, Senegal cost 27 million dollars to build in 2010, and was solely built with laborers from North Korea.

An example of a statue found in communist N. Korea- with a curious similarity to the Senegalese one above.

Left: Statue of Louis Botha in Cape Town. Right: Artist Beezy Bailey transformed the statue as part of the Public Eye festival, which took place in 1998. A proud statesman is transformed into a Xhosa boy on his way to an initiation ritual (Abakhwetha).

At Funda Community Arts College