Download the e-Catalogue for the exhibition "Common Room"

Put this together to share my recent exhibition in Johannesburg with you.

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webcam shots. first lino and attempts at lino-ing back in january, some days before the show. doh mind the retroactive bloggin, i only now have the time and spiritual alignment to manage it :] so this might not be the last. ok bless.

some snaps i took while making the risk zine & performance elements, first at anstey's building, downtown jhb, then at the 12 decades art hotel in jeppestown, then making 'cc:everybody' signs in my room at 12 decades and finally at the nirox projects space and installing there for the show. missing now the feeling of temporarily knowing exactly what my purpose is. but i have some ideas for two projects that im excited about. photo projects, surprisingly. so i will document these joburg works here, and move to that newer purpose. in a conversation this afternoon, a friend said 'i dont know what the purpose of art IS.. other than to make a living..'. we discussed the value of the more journalistic elements of the things we're excited about making lately, and resolved to start presenting things more as journalism than as 'art'. here. to be useful in the ways that we want to be. ++

some shots from december in johannesburg to communicate to home: "the show im doing is abt public communication, and these flyers (photo at top), in this style, is the most common way info is passed on the streets in this city.. so the invitations for the show i had printed in that style, though it's an invitation to an event, rather than the familiar use - advertising deals on stuff, traditional healers etc."

i liked that. thought "nice 'appropriation', there..".

another / related attempt at cultural-solution-mash-ups: the felllas who pass these flyers out on the streets give them a little shake as you walk by.. the sudden sound meant to attract your attention.. with the dancers mpho and bonolo we made a performance of passing these invites out using that sound/shake technique, but amplifying it. instead of standing still on the corners as is customary, the dancers were in constant motion, impossible to miss.. and instead of a single quick shake as people passed by.. a constant shake! until ppl either took the flyer or made a massive effort to move away as though unseen/not existing.

with shannon walsh and boban chaldovich, we made video. gna get my hands on that soon and post it here

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Some photos from Small Talk, courtesy Mack Magagane at Market Photo Workshop.

Common Room - Opening Night

These images are from the opening night of 'Common Room' at Nirox Projects at Arts on Main on Tuesday. The exhibition is part of my Commonwealth Connections residency programme and also follows my residency exchange at the 12 Decades Hotel at Main Street Life.

The intention of the show is to use these projects to make a kind of snapshot of public-public communication at this moment in Johannesburg. All of the pieces on show - JHB Closer, JHB Cc: Everybody, Tr. 2.0 using JHB dialects, and the Risk zine and performance - all deal with how we're talking to each other in public right now, whether non-verbally on the street, in personal advertisements, in what informmation is shared for free publicly, or in common legal signage and policy, which holds a lot of information on how we see and do ourselves and each other here.

Putting this exhibition together would have been impossible without the help of so many friends and colleagues who were generous with their time, skills and resources, and particularly Molemo Moiloa and Murray Kruger who I can't thank enough for their support and involvement.

For now I'll share pictures from the event and installation views of the work, and detail the individual projects later in subsequent posts.

Photos of opening night by Michael 'Mack' Magagane.


disclaimer at entrance



murray kruger trading risk zine



























movement installation for Tr. 2.0

From 'Introduction'

These are some images from the presentation I made last Thursday @ Market Photo Workshop, in Newtown, Johannesburg. The intention was really to say hello and to show and talk about the process of making some of my recent zines and photo projects. The audience was made up mainly of photograpers and photography students and educators, and with some discussion, some questioning and some answering, I think it became a really valuable exchange for all of us.

Sincerest thanks to Photo Workshop for hosting this and also to Biko for the pics.

-Rodell

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photos courtesy Tefo Biko Onkgopotse
click to enlarge.