tankwa artscape residency at stonehenge private reserve
TRANSCRIPT
Tankwa Artscape Residency at Stonehenge Private Reserve
Imagine a desert floor, undisturbed by human traffic. It’s not the
absence of life that is so dramatically visual. It is a few million years
old retrospective of ancient seabed and cataclysmic geological
events in Earth history, and the footprint of storms and water flow
in the riverbeds. Vast pans nudge aside scrub and vlei and gentle
hills and land, which drop outside of the quick glance, towards a
perimeter of deep-set mountain horizon.
Across some of the expanse of tight scrub and dark flatland there is
a bicycle track that may have traversed this space anytime between
two weeks and twenty years ago; a rut has embedded itself into
spongy soil between the rocks. Weathering has deepened the
impression, the impact from which erosion has begun.
You could say it defines the beginnings of consciousness, that
bicycle track. It represents a challenge that will always be here: to
what extent should this kind of impact be acceptable. And where is
the compromise?
As an artist how do we respond to this landscape in a way that pays
respect to the unique desert aesthetic?
The original ‘gate-keepers’ of the land here lived light on the
ground. Who should be the present and future ‘curators’ of this
landscape, and what responsibility comes with that curatorship?
It is the artist who is able to leave another kind of impression, a way
of seeing that can affect the conscious gaze of anyone passing or
experiencing their work. In the end, if the art is offered with the right
intention, the aim of this project has been fulfilled.
Considering what is the ‘right intention’ is where the work begins.
FRONTSonya Rademeyer, South Africa“Please forgive me” 2019
Collaboration and ConversationWe encourage collaboration between artists. Everyone who participates
at and contributes to Tankwa Artscape is perceived as a creative – this
specifically includes caterers, supportive assistants, photographers
and videographers – we all come together to create something very
special. This “sanctifies” the creative space, ensuring consideration and
participation from all as well as appreciation for all contributions.
We encourage conversation across all art forms, Tankwa Artscape is
a chance for all participants to converse, to ask questions, to discuss
concepts, to laugh loudly, to share your experiences and to tell stories.
Sonya Rademeyr2019
Marguerite Neethling | Maia Lehr-Sacks2020
Elyle Borcherds | Marguerite Neethling | Maia Lehr-Sacks“The Singing Mantis” 2018
Quentin Dibley Green 2020
Kim Goodwin, South Africa 2020
Leli Hoch, South Africa“A Broken String” 2020
Janet Botes“The Tankwa DNA” 2019
Julia Drouhin, France | Australia“The Pink Rope” 2019
Ashley Dowds | Kim Goodwin | Robert Koch2020
AKUNZO, The NetherlandsKarola Pezzaro & Aris de Bakker
“Echo of the Desert” 2019
Ettiene de Kock2020
Marcelino Manhula“Venus of Tankwa” 2018
Niël Jonker“Tankwa Whatwat” 2018
Ledelle Moe“Anthropomorphic Figures” 2019
Leli Hoch “Obstructed Portal” 2018
Kim Goodwin“Capsule” 2019
Hanien Conradie2019
Stonehenge Private Reserve is a Nature
Reserve, therefore locations for artworks
are carefully chosen so as to not disturb
the unspoiled terrain. The selected sites
are attractive and interesting in a variety
of ways, and have all experienced prior
disturbance or human intervention.
Maia Lehr-Sacks, South Africa“The Little Paper House” 2019
Julia Drouhin and Janet Botes“Licking Stones” 2019
Kimberly Burger and James Mader, South Africa“Eensaam” 2019
The Tankwa Artscape Residency takes place in the desert. There is no gallery, no studio, no cellphone reception, and no luxurious accommodation.
The reward is a vast Otherland of the imagination, set in a timeless landscape. It is a challenging landscape that will confront your preconceptions about yourself and your practice. Its timelessness offers the meditative space for venturing beyond your horizons, and for the engagement and confluence of ideas with other artists at the residency.
The desert will wake you up, shake you up, open you up, and force you to rethink your relationship with the Natural World. New work, new thoughts, new approaches will emerge, unexpectedly.
Nature, earth, our planet, or whatever you want to call it, is elemental to our art. The Tankwa Karoo reveals a geological landscape of Beginnings, and it’s where we, as artists are offered an opportunity to revisit our own relationship with our creative vision, and to grow.
No artist leaves the desert unchanged.
Robert Koch “Orchestrate” 2020
Selectors:
Leli Hoch, organiser, land artist, Stanford, WC
Kim Goodwin, land artist, Goodwin Foundry, Howick, KZN
Niel Jonker, sculptor and painter, Baardskeerdersbos, WC
Ledelle Moe, Sculpture Department, University of Stellenbosch
Simon Max Bannister, sculptor and land artist, New Zealand
JP de Villiers, Stonehenge Private Reserve, NC
Images courtesy of Bronwen Trupp, Josie Borain, Lyn Mossop, Jaco Uys, Tegan Green, Kleoniki Vanos, Robert Koch and the artists
“Artist in Residence South Africa” NPO AiRSA 243-824
@tankwaartscape