Woensdag 31 Mei 2023
Ernest Cole House of Bondage: South Africa,
Foam proudly presents the first overview of the work of South African photographer Ernest Cole. The exhibition includes parts of his archive, which had long been considered lost. The overview was assembled in collaboration with the Ernest Cole Family Trust, which in 2017 secured control of Cole’s archive. Cole is celebrated for his tireless documentation of Black lives in South Africa under apartheid: a regime of institutionalised racial segregation that was in effect from 1948 to the early 1990s. As one of the first Black freelance photographers, Cole offered with his work an unprecedented view from the inside. Born in a township, Cole experienced the strains of apartheid first-hand. By having himself reclassified from ‘black’ to ‘coloured’, he managed to access places where most South Africans were banned. He risked his life exposing the grim reality of racial segregation, by documenting miners inside the mines, police controls and the demolition of townships, among others. Cole lived a nomadic life, exiled from his native South Africa for his photographic publication House of Bondage (1967). The chapters from this book form the narrative for this exhibition. The book openly denounced the apartheid regime and was promptly banned in South Africa. In risk of arrest, Cole had gone into exile in 1966. He would never return to South Africa again.
Lebohang Kganye: Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home
Lebohang Kganye verkent de persoonlijke en gezamenlijke 'microgeschiedenissen' van haar familie. Ze onderzoekt dit in de context van de bredere traumatische geschiedenis van Zuid-Afrika van voor, tijdens en in de nasleep van apartheid en kolonialisme. De tentoonstelling benadrukt haar complexe visuele vocabulaire en de diversiteit van media zoals fotografische montages, ruimtelijke installaties/decorontwerp, filmanimaties en patchwork. Kganye beweegt zich moeiteloos binnen de mogelijkheden om het medium fotografie en het Zuid-Afrikaanse culturele erfgoed te dekoloniseren. Lebohang Kganye (1990, Johannesburg, ZA) maakte in 2009 kennis met fotografie tijdens de Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg en voltooide het Advanced Photography Program in 2011. Ze behaalde een diploma in Schone Kunsten aan de Universiteit van Johannesburg in 2014 en doet momenteel haar Master in Fine Arts aan de Witwatersrand University. Naast de Foam Paul Huf Award 2022 ontving ze recent andere prestigieuze prijzen zoals de Grand Prix Images Vevey 2021/22, Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize 2020 en de Camera Austria Award van 2019.
Charging Myths by On-Trade-Off
Charging Myths presents work from the transnational artist collective On-Trade-Off and their long-term research project investigating the mining culture of Manono, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Participating artists Alexis Destoop, Marjolijn Dijkman, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Femke Herregraven, Jean Katambayi, Georges Senga will be present during the opening to discuss their work. Artists: Alexis, Destoop, Marjolijn Dijkman, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Femke Herregraven, Dorine Mokha & Elia Rediger, Jean Katambayi, Musasa, Alain Nsenga, Georges Senga, Pamela Tulizo, Maarten Vanden Eynde. The artist led research of On-Trade-Off was sparked by the large-scale mining of lithium in Manono, DRC. A site of historical extractivism, Manono has also become swept up in the race for green energy as lithium has become a valuable material for electrical technology. The participating artists developed contemporary artworks through on-site research and residences in the DRC and Belgium, exploring the colonial mining past and its future of exploitation. The participation of Jean Katambayi Mukendi is made possible by the Thami Mnyele Foundation Residency Award.
Brave New World - 16 schilders voor de 21e eeuw
De schilderkunst is levendiger en krachtiger dan ooit. Schilders van nu combineren eeuwenoude technieken met hedendaagse thema’s, verhalen en motieven en laten zien dat de schilderkunst in onze tijd het perfecte paard van Troje kan zijn; aantrekkelijk en verleidelijk, maar vaak met een vlijmscherpe boodschap. Brave New World toont het werk van zestien schilders van onder de 40, die behoren tot de absolute internationale top. Een tentoonstelling vol meervoudige perspectieven, gevarieerde geschiedenissen en nieuwe esthetische kaders, samengesteld door schrijver en kunstcriticus Hans den Hartog Jager. Kunstenaars uit Afrika: NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY (Nigeria, 1983); NEO MATLOGA (Zuid-Afrika, 1993); PORTIA ZVAVAHERA (Zimbabwe, 1985)
