The Heart of the African City

This will be an art exhibition that will display simultaneously during the African Perspectives Congress.

Date: 25^th of September to the 28^th September  

Time: 9:00 to 17:00.

Map - South Africa PO Box 39 Groenkloof 0027 info@map-southafrica.org
PRESS RELEASE

Modern Art Projects (Map), in collaboration with ArchiAfrika, is pleased to announce The Heart of the African City, an exhibition to be held from the 25th to the 28th of September 2009 curated and consulted by Harrie Siertsema, Shane de Lange, Annemieke de Kler and Stephen Hobbs. This event forms part of a larger conference called The African City Centre (re)sourced, organized collectively by the architectural faculty of the University of Pretoria, the Pretoria Institute of Architects and ArchiAfrika African Perspectives Pretoria 2009.

Traditionally, art and architecture have shared the responsibility of uplifting communities and structuring society. Presently, this responsibility is mapped over the urban landscape, including the various socio-political and economic circumstances that surround and support the engineered and manipulated environments of the modern city. Design thinking and artistic intervention are important factors in the construction of the moral and aesthetic vision – particularly in relation to geography and politics – in any society. In this regard, then, the city can be viewed as a resource, a concrete yet fragile habitat for human consumption, growth and sustainability.

Globalisation, accelerated trade and communication networks have made it impossible to ignore the differences in perspective between industrialised and post-industrialised geographies, specifically with reference to the first world/third world polemic. Africa is a key geography in this context, and is thus the focus of The Heart of the African City. The exhibition forms a symbiotic relationship with the biennale ArchiAfrika, alongside the contributions of the University of Pretoria and the Pretoria Institute of Architects. It has been developed to complement the above-mentioned conference and it aims to foster an awareness of the relationship between art and architecture in African societies in general and African urban environments in particular.

The Heart of the African City draws on site-specific art interventions and practices that have an integrated relationship with architecture, focusing specifically on the links between art, architecture and the broader cultural sphere of the city. The exhibition takes the form of a public walk that allows visitors to learn about the architecture and surroundings of Pretoria, especially exemplified by the collection of buildings that the University of Pretoria has assembled over the past 100 years.

Along the route, specific sites – notably the Centenary Building – will incorporate art. The walk will start at the Aula Theatre (situated near the central green of the campus) and culminate at the Centenary Building (built to celebrate the 100 year-existence of the University of Pretoria).

For The Heart of the African City, selected artists have submitted works relating to the themes of the conference The African City Centre (re)sourced, which is expected to attract a global audience ranging from students to academics from participating universities. The participating artists include Jacques Coetzer, Deadheat, Happy Dhlame, Ismail Farouk, Abrie Fourie, Gordon Froud, Ingozi Disco, Lawrence Lemaoana, Maja Marx, Titus Matiyani, Sean Slemon, Johan Thom, The Trinity Session and Andrew Tshabangu.

Visiting times for The Heart of the African City will be from 10:00 to 17:00 daily over the course of The African City Centre (re)sourced conference at the University of Pretoria.

Artist:Maja Marx
Image:PEDESTRIAN POETRY: PASSING, 2007
Medium:Public intervention

For more information regarding this event please visit: