CTG-R: ZIMBABWE

Dzimbanhete Arts & Culture Interactions, the CTG Collective, and Catinca Tabacaru Gallery invite you to celebrate the third iteration of our art residency – CTG: Zimbabwe 2018.

Residency Artists
Andrea Abbatangelo – Italy
Ranti Bam – Nigeria
Felix Kindermann – Germany
Capucine Gros – France
Terrence Musekiwa – Zimbabwe
Xavier Robles de Medina – Surinam

Organizers
Chikonzero Chazunguza
Jonathan Dube
Raphael Guilbert
Rachel Monosov
Justin Orvis Steimer
Catinca Tabacaru

In this place, in this time, in this country, on this exact day, two events accidently coincide: one determines the future of this country, and the other gathers together the work of 8 artists hailing from France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Surinam, USA and Zimbabwe.

Marking the date is a work by Xavier Robles de Medina, untitled at the moment this statement is written, but holding the title of the day’s newspaper by the time you read this. The windowed case hanging on the gallery wall is widely used in Zimbabwe to show the day’s newspaper. But here, we see only one moment, a fortunate collision of news headline-meets visual tropes of painting: “rectangular wall object which is encrypted with history”

From politics into poetry, Andrea Abbatangelo moves from stranger to familiar. His methodology was one of field research, understanding the surrounding space and culture. A chair stands tall underneath a native tree, looking from above, bird watching maybe; while a sculpture-cum- basketball-net introduces a foreign entity to the community’s meeting space – the Somaby Shop.

Also watching from above, Felix Kindermann’s clay sculpture relaxes and enjoys the scene – people coming together. An experience unique to this space and time. In addition Kindermann draws with light. Using spring boxes bought in Magaba, he folds the objects into a variety of gestures, allowing through more or less light; each metal coil becoming a mark.

And What Remains by Ranti Bam is made of clay and flora: a meditation on life and the return to the earth. Fired in a pit oven made at Dzimbanhete, the diptych is a celebration of resilience. Later, in her performance, she uses objects that render their intended use impossible – to bring water in a vessel punctured with holes – she leads to an unavoidable cathartic moment.

Also linking to the cycle of life and death, Capucine Gros makes an endless spiral work, added to each day and using only materials from this space. Inspired by the connection to ancestry, and based in central themes of time and death, the performance and its artifact embody the honoring of those who have passed, for those who interact with her and her process.

VOX POPULI by Rachel Monosov includes a billboard installed deep in the bush and viewed from the Gallery’s window; and take-away tee shirts silkscreened by hand with the Latin phrase “Vox Populi” (“the voice of the people”). A billboard placed in a location with very few viewers, stands as a metaphor for the social implications of the power of people’s voice in contemporary politics. As part of her research into the terminology of these words, the work questions what democracy is today. The project adopts Western campaign strategies of giving swag with slogans to all freely.

Terrence Musekiwa’s unique usage of found objects transformed into lively creatures is seen in his new Zvinyoka muvhu series of golf-clubs-cum-snakes. Heavily loaded with elitist history, Musekiwa describes the sculptures as portrayals of different personalities surviving in a land filled with hope for change. He approaches this difficult time through the physicality of materials: the rising snake heads above the sand, about to striking or hiding, at different levels, with different colored eyes.

Finally, Justin Orvis Steimer makes 3D canvases using clay from Zimbabwe’s earth. The works are born from the spiritual community’s desire to push the country and its people into a better direction through creativity and energy. Fired by the artist’s own hand, yet having minimal control over the effects of the heat and flames on the color and nuance of the forms, the paintings look to the source of creativity and its links to creation.

Background:The Residency was founded in 2015 as a collaboration between Dzimbanhete Art & Culture Interactions and the CTG Collective. With the support of Catinca Tabacaru Galley, the two institutions have collaborated on four major projects in Zimbabwe, including the design and building of our first structure – CTG Harare; an annual art residency held at Dzimbanhete; and an exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Harare curated by Catinca Tabacaru. The Residency’s artists have gone on to participate in international residencies; gallery and institutional exhibitions; and participated in the Biennials of Venice, Bamako and Dakar.

This year marks an important milestone in the Residency’s development. For the first time, CTG: Zimbabwe put out an Open Call and received over 120 applications from artists in 40 countries. The selected artists landed in Zimbabwe at the beginning of August, familiarized themselves with the current context, and have been producing new works, which will be presented this Saturday, August 25th, at CTG Harare.