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> Johan Thom
artistes en résidence
> Johan Thom <
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
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centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
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Johan Thom’s works
Project
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CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
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> artists
in residence
Johan Thom
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Johan Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
Born in 1976 in Johannesburg, South Africa
(South Africa)
Education
[1999] Bachelor of Fine ArtsA (FA), University of Pretoria
[2003] Master of Fine Arts, Technikon Pretoria
National Group Exhibitions
[1995, 1996, 1998, and 2001] “PPC Young Sculptor's Competition” held
annually at the Association of Arts in Pretoria.
[1996, 1998, and 2001] “Sasol New Signatures Competition” held
annually at the Pretoria Art Museum.
[1995, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004] “Kempton Park Tembisa
Metropolitan Art Competition” held annually by the Ekurhuleni
Metropolitan in Kempton Park.
[1999, 2004] “ABSA Atelier Fine Arts Award” (Catalogue)
[1999] “Gender Day Exhibition” University of Pretoria Fine Arts
Gallery.
“Exit”, Final Year Group Exhibition of the Fine Art Department
of the University of Pretoria, African Window Cultural Museum
Gallery, Pretoria.
“Double Exposure”, Group Exhibition, Vos Gallery, Pretoria.
[2001] “Launch”, Group Exhibition, the Open Window Gallery,
Pretoria.
[2002] “Drawing Conclusions” Group Exhibition curated by Dianne
Victor held at the Association of Art, Pretoria.
Technikon Pretoria Senior Student show at the Millennium
Gallery in Pretoria.
“Sasol New Signatures” Past Winners Exhibition, Sasolburg.
Artists included were Renier Le Roux, Frikkie Eksteen and
Hannecke Benade amongst others.
“Caya Art Festival” Group Exhibition Springs.
“Sasol New Signatures” Past Winners Group Exhibition,
Pretoria Art Museum.
“Fantastic Rubbish” Group Exhibition held at the Ubuntu
Village, curated by Jeanne Hoffman for “Mission Antarctica” to
coincide with the World Summit on Sustainable Development
held in Johannesburg 2002. Other participating artists included
Willem Bosshof, Gordon Froud, Lisa Grobler, Richman
Buthelezi and Jan van der Merwe (Catalogue)
“Exorcism: I am no-one” held at the Snowflake gallery during
the Potchefstroom Annual National Art Festival, Potchefstroom
“Kick-Back” Group Exhibition held at C3 Gallery, Jeppestown
Johannesburg July 2002 with Sotiris Moldivanos, Carine
Zaayman, Cobus Haupt and Sarel Janse van Rensburg.
“The Spacing”, Digital Art Group Show hosted by the
Department of Art History, Visual Art and Musicology of the
University of South Africa (Unisa) in Pretoria. Curators were:
Elfriede Dreyer, Ania Krajewska and Carine Zaayman. Artists
included Wilma Cruise, Marcus Neustetter, Minette Vari, and
Jan van der Merwe.
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
3
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Johan Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
(follow)
[2002] “A Show of Angels” Group Exhibition held at the Open
Window Academy of Fine Art and Design, Pretoria.
[2003] Technikon Pretoria Lecturers Show at the Theo van Wyk gallery
at the University of Pretoria
“The Brett Kebble Art Awards” held in Cape Town (Catalogue).
[2004] “Unititled” group exhibition at the Secret Gallery, Pretoria
“Intervention”, group exhibition in honour of south Africa`s 10
Years of Democracy at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert
Park, Johannesburg - 4 September - 2 October 2004.
The Cube Exhibition at Carfax, Newtown, Friday, 27 August.
“Geslag”, Group Exhibition as part of Aardklop 2004 (The
potchefsroom national Arts Festival) at Snowflake Gallery,
Potchefstroom.
“Arbitration”, group exhibition in honor of South Africa`s 10
Years of Democracy at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert
Park, Johannesburg - 2 October - 6 November 2004.
“Concilliation”, group exhibition in honor of South Africa`s 10
Years of Democracy at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert
Park, Johannesburg - 4 November - 4 December 2004
“Young Vision 2004”, group show of young artiosts work
curated by Kay Hassan and held from 12 - 25 November 2004 at
the Alliance Francais, Johannesburg.
International Shows
[2003] “Recycling the Future: viverevenezia2”, a group show curated
by Angela Vetesse as part of the 50th Annual Venice Biennale,
“Dreams and Conflicts”, curated by Francesco Bonami
“Nemo Separitat: Nothing separates us” curated by Alex Zika
as part of his MA show at Central St Martins, London.
[2004] One Night Show, Group show held at 291 Gallery, East End
Gallery District, London, February 2004
“Lost In Translation” curated by Ales Vaupotic and Narvika
Bovcon as part of The Tenth International Computer Arts
Festival, Maribor, Ljubijana (Slovenbia), Graz (Austria), Zagreb
(Croatia), May 2004 organized by the Artnet.Lab and the
Mladinski Kulturni Center (MKC), Maribor.
“X”, an Exhibition in Celebration of Ten Years of Democracy in
South Africa, curated by Kelly O`Reilly at the Stephen Lawrence
Gallery, Greenwich, London.
Solo Shows
[2003] “The Exorcism Series”, a Masters Degree show held from 9-30
April 2003, to fulfill in the requirements of the Masters degree
MTech Faro, Technikon Pretoria, at the National Cultural History
Museum, Pretoria.
[2004] “bind/ontbind series” at Outlet, Pretoria from 6 - 31 March 2004
Performance art/Interventions
[2000] “strip/peeled/pack/sealed”, Kempton Park Tembisa Metropolitan
Art competition.
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
4
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Johan Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
(follow)
[2001]
[2002]
[2003]
[2004]
“Risen”, performance at Gordon Froud`s exhibition Plastic by
Nature, African Window Cultural History Museum in Pretoria.
“Probing the Epiphany” at Drawing Conclusions curated by
Dianne Victor at the Association of Art, Pretoria
“Enfantada” held at the Snowflake Gallery on the 25th of
September, during the Potchefstroom Annual National Art
Festival.
“i am no-one” as part of the “Violence and Happiness Series”
held at the National Cultural History Museum, Pretoria on the
9th of April 2003 to coincide with the opening of The
Exorcism Series, the Masters Degree show of Johan Thom
“bind/ontbind”, a series of 13 performances held in Venice to
coincide with the 50th Annual Venice Biennale 2003.
“bind/ontbind”, 2 performances held at the Potchefstroom
Annual National art Festival as part of the “Art Under
Construction” project curated by Abrie Fourie
“teaching art teaching life”, solo performance held at
Magnolia Dell, Pretoria
“here/now”, a 24 hour intervention as part of the “Violence
and Happiness series” at Outlet, 26-27 November, Pretoria
“excogitations”, a group sound performance curated by Abrie
Fourie, as part of Outlet Currents!, held at the Pretoria Art
Museum. Participating artists included Gito Baloi, James
Webb, Thomas Barry, Joao Orreccio, Nathaniel Stern.
“minotaur series” (an ongoing series), 3 public performances
held as part of the DI.E.N.S. project, curated by Lise Grobler
and held at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival,
Oudtshoorn
“minotaur series” - single performance held at the Bag
Factory, Johannesburg, 11 May
“minotaur series” - single performance held in Johannesburg
as part of a 24hour residency with Christian Nerf at the
Nelson Mandela Bridge, Newtown.
“minotaur series” - single performance held in Johannesburg
as part the Cube Exhibition at Carfax, Newtown
“minotaur series” - Three hour performance held at the
Johannesburg Art Gallery to coincide with “Intervention”, a
group exhibition in honour of south Africa`s 10 Years of
Democracy at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert Park,
Johannesburg - 4 September - 2 October 2004.
“minotaur series” - Single performance in Soweto,
Johannesburg held as part of the Playtime Festival held
annually, curated and organized by Henri Vergon of the
Alliance Francaise - 7 October
“minotaur series” - Single performance commissioned by
SASOL and held at their headquarters on Monday 8
November 2004, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Awards/Residencies, Grants and Fellowships:
[2001] Judges Award, Frank Ledimo, “Sasol New Signatures
National Art Competition” for the multimedia installation
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
5
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Johan Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
(follow)
[2001]
[2004]
“Thula-Thula Baba! Post-traumatic stress disorder”
Merit Award PPC Young Sculptors National Art Competition
for the multimedia installation “Bi-polar Disorder: Defining
the impasse”
Awarded the Ampersand Foundation Fellowship in New York
for June-August, 2005
Academic Conferences and Seminars
[1999] Gender Day Conference hosted by the Center for Gender
Equality at the University of Pretoria - “Simon says and most
men do” (published)
[2000] The 16th Annual Art Historians Conference in hosted by
Rhodes University in Grahamstown - “Consumerism and
Transcendence: Defining freedom of choice within
Postmodern South Africa” (unpublished)
[2002] The 18th Annual Art Historians Conference hosted by the
University of Pretoria in Pretoria - “Taming the Trojan Horse:
Disarming the Politics of Otherness in a Postcolonial (African)
Context”(published in proceedings of the annual conference)
[2003] “The Exorcism Series: Identity in a Postcolonial South African
Context” - a research methodology seminar held at the
Technikon Witwatersrand on 11 August 2003
“Postmodernism as a continuation of western dominance:
discourse, power and the other”, a research presentation held
at the Technikon Pretoria as part of the Research Conference
held annually.
Community Workshops
[2002] Caya Art Festival “Voices of the Children” community art
project hosted by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan in Springs 2429 June 2002. This project was exhibited at the Johannesburg
International Airport as an installation for the duration of the
World Summit on Sustainable Development held in
Johannesburg 2002.
Lecturing/Work Experience:
[2002] Part time lecturer in first year Sculpture at Technikon Pretoria
from January 2002.
Part time lecturer in Post-colonial Studies at the Technikon
Pretoria for Theory of Art 400.
Part time lecturer at the Design School of Southern Africa in
Pretoria and Johannesburg in History of Art and Design from
January 2002 - April 2003
[2003] Part time lecturer in History of Art and Design 2 & 3 from at
the Department of Graphic Design, Technikon Pretoria.
Part time lecturer in first year Multi-Disciplinary Studies at
the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Technikon Pretoria.
[2004] Part time lecturer in Postmodernism, Performance art and
Feminism and Video Art at the Tshwane University of
Technology for Theory of Art 400.
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
6
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> 1Johan Thom6/02 - 09/04 200416/02 - 09/04 2004
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
7
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Johan Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
Projet
Project
The Minotaur Series #14
Participation sonore de Christophe Fellay
The Minotaur Series #14
A multimedia collaboration with Christophe Fellay
Johan Thom est un des seul artiste performeur
d'Afrique du Sud. Son travail traite principalement
des relations complexes entre mythologie et le
corps. Il construit des espaces alternant la sensation
d'être dans le monde avec celle d'expérimenter
le monde à travers la réinterprétation de formes
traditionnelles de pratiques culturelles tels que
rituels, performances et installations in situ.
Johan Thom is one of the only practicing fulltime performance artists in South Africa. His
works deal mostly with the complex relationship
between, mythology (of which he views philosophy,
politics and art as being part of), and the body.
He constructs alternate spaces of being in the
world and of experiencing the world through the
re-interpretation of traditional forms of cultural
practice such as rituals, performances and sitespecific installations. From traditional African
mythologies and rituals to those considered
Western in origin, they all form a part of a new
personal history - a personal history not defined
by the limits of our knowledge but by the freedom
of individuals to re-imagine themselves living in a
culturally, politically and socially hybrid world.
Inspirées autant des mythologies africaines
traditionnelles que des rituels considérés d'origine
européennes, ces performances donnent forme à
une nouvelle histoire personnelle échappant ainsi
aux limites de notre connaissance et permettant
une nouvelle liberté individuelle à travers la réimagination d'un monde hybride culturellement,
politiquement et socialement.
Ces dernières années, Johan Thom a créé une
nouvelle série d'œuvres intitulée « The Minotaur
Series ». Cette série se compose de différentes
performances, vidéos et installations qui sont toutes
reliées au mythe grec du Minotaure - créature à tête
de taureau et au corps d'homme.
Avec « Minotaur Series #14”, cette série s'est
enrichie de la collaboration multi-disciplinaire et
multi-culturelle entre Johan Thom et Christophe
Fellay. Ce travail se compose de 7 vidéos projetées
sur les surfaces de miroirs suspendus, disposés
en cercle. Cette installation est tout à la fois la
documentation tridimensionnelle en temps réel
d'une performance, une expérience cinétique, une
expérience sensorielle auditive et une expérience
physique : le spectateur semble entrer dans une
réalité tridimensionnelle où les silhouettes projetées
se déplacent dans l'espace environnant.
A ce travail plastique s'associe une bande sonore
improvisée in situ par Christophe Fellay ajoutant
ainsi un autre niveau d'expérience pour le
spectateur.
Johan Thom a présenté son travail au Forum d'Art
Contemporain (FAC) à Sierre, au côté de l'artiste
hollandais Yan Duyvendak, du 12 au 15 janvier.
His project is at once anarchist and socially reaffirming: For him, there can be no freedom from
the weight of history if we continuously allow
our history to be decided for us only by greater
exigencies external to ourselves. As long as we
allow others to speak for us we will remain, quite
literally, spoken for.
For the past year Johan Thom has been making a
new series of works entitled the “Minotaur Series”.
The series consists of various performances, videos
and installations that are all conceptually tied to
the Greek myth of the Minotaur - the half human
half animal borne from Minos` broken promise to
Poseidon.
With the Minotaur Series #14 the series will be
completed as a Multi-Disciplinary, Multi-Cultural
collaboration between Johan Thom and Christophe
Fellay. The work will be comprised of 7 Videos
projected onto hanging class surfaces, arranged in
a circle format, and a musical score composed as a
direct response to the work, by Christophe Fellay.
The installation is at once a real-time 3-dimensional
documentation of a performance, a cinematic
experience, an audio sensory experience and a
physical experience: for the viewer it will seem as if
they enter into a 3 dimensional reality as the figure
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
8
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> Joham Thom
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
(follow)
in the projected video moves around the space.
However, the individual projections on the glass
panels will also allow the artist to create intricate
sequences of simple actions that may be repeated.
(For example, through clever editing, a single
movement such as the clapping of hands may be
repeated in sequence on each panel in to complete
the circle). This will be coupled with a soundtrack
by Christophe Fellay as an in situ improvisational
response to the work - creating yet another layer of
experience for the viewer as they make connections
between the various physical and cultural
dimensions of the project. Thus, Fellay will literally
create the soundtrack in the venue where the work
is exhibited as a musical performance, but also as
a soundtrack based on contextually-site specific
considerations of each different venue (responding
to its architectural layout, cultural influences, social
history, geographic placement and political history).
In the installation, a fictional space comprised of
hybrid multi-cultural influences will be established.
This space will be juxtaposed with both the realtime movements documented by the 7 individual
cameras used in the pre-production phase of the
project (when the performance by Johan Thom is
documented) and that of the viewers individual
movements in the space. Ultimately this fictional
space will then become open to the viewer as they
enter it and experience it through sound, sight
and their physical movement in the space of the
installation.
The work is a meditation on the possibilities of
digital technologies (sound and video projections
coupled with traditional forms of cultural;
expression like performance) to establish new,
but also to examine previously unexplored or
neglected, fictional spaces for the expression of
contemporary culture. However, it is at the point
where the individual viewer establishes a real
relationship with the work that the capacity of the
work to conflate the boundaries between fact and
fiction, reality and desire will begin to function.
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
9
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> 1Johan Thom6/02 - 09/04 200416/02 - 09/04 2004
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
The Minotaur Series #14 - video installation. FAC, Sierre, 2005
The Minotaur Series #14 - musical performance. FAC, Sierre, 2005
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
10
> artistes
en résidence
centre de réflexion sur l’image et ses contextes
> 1Johan Thom6/02 - 09/04 200416/02 - 09/04 2004
07/11.04 - 16/01/05
The Minotaur Series #14 - performance. FAC, Sierre, 2005
CRIC – Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais
rue Bonne-Eau 16 – CH-3960 Sierre – T-: +41 27 456 55 11 – F-: +41 27 456 55 30 – E-: [email protected] – [email protected] – http://www.ecav.ch
11