Jeppestown Mural -- Fotos

A corner of Jeppestown now has a 'Golden City Plan' with a difference. Sandile Radebe yesterday transformed a disused wall surface into a city grid mural morphed into block lettering. Depending upon your orientation as a viewer, his silver and gold block alphabet can be multiply read -- as different letters and sometimes integers instead. In their composite playful form, they suggest both a celebration of the golden city of Johannesburg and its bright lights while also critiquing top-down urban planning.

This public space artwork is conceptual cousin to Radebe's inaugural solo exhibition held last month, 'A Walk in the City', and is facilitated by guerilla gallery. Sandile was assisted by Chaduka Phiri in painting 'Golden City Plan'. Below is documentation from the day -- all the images are taken by Clarence Phiri.  

Golden City Plan: Jeppestown mural

Should our cities be planned in advance or should people occupy first and let planning come later? This question was posed on Wednesday night at a series of talks around urban land justice and rights to the city in Cape Town's City Hall. The next guerilla gallery project, by Sandile Radebe, intersects with this theme: 'Golden City Plan' is a mural intervention in Jeppestown that takes the form of the city plan while simultaneously critiquing its ideology. 

Radebe will take to Johannesburg inner city streets in the coming days with gold and silver markers on a chosen surface to create his artwork that alludes both to the gold mining history of the city and its bright lights. This mural is not just a regular city plan, however. Its blocks also spell out letters of the alphabet or ciphers that can be differently perceived depending on the viewer's orientation. This perceptual play in turn unsettles assumed fixities of the city plan and mapping in general. 

Radebe writes in his artist's statement: "The city plan, in its ambiguous form and sense, changes its meaning, its behaviour and ultimately nature. The conventions of writing, or the point of the alphabet, the purpose of transcribing, and indeed the purpose of reading, all get stretched to a new and unexpected end."

In this mural, everyone constructs their own reading or idea of a city and this reading starts with Radebe's own sense of place, "deciphering the graffiti that embellishes the city, the street etiquette, the lingo, the sounds of foot traffic, the vehicles, the trucks, the taxis, the busses, the police sirens; the smell of food, the smell of urine, the smell of oil visible on the tarmac on the streets". He adds": "It's sunshine piercing through the buildings and its shadows... It's night-time, and all of it encapsulated in a line to facilitate marking my presence as a part of the city."

This mural intervention links in concept and aesthetic to Radebe's inaugural solo exhibition, 'A Walk in the City', held last month at the National School of the Arts gallery in the round. See the project website for more: http://walkinthecity.withtank.com


--KG

'Alphabet Soup II' (2014), marking pen on drawing chart paper: Sandile Radebe

Reminder: Deadline Appeal2012

Just a reminder to all that the deadline for our Open Call: Appeal2012 is set for the 28th of May. Please read the post below for any details regarding info and contact details.

-gg, may 15

guerilla journal: entry #2

The House, 001
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney




















The House, 002
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney



















The House, 003
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney



















The House, 004
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt

The House, 005
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney














The House, 006
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt

The House, 007
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt




















The House, 008
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney













The House, 009
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney













The House, 010
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney


















The House, 011
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt













The House, 012
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney


















The House, 013
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney

'The House' is nestled in the commercial quarter of Johannesburg CBD, a surprisingly large open space with remarkable graffiti and resonant surfaces hidden behind a burnt-out facade, book-ended on the one side by a commercial bank and on the other by a funeral parlour.

--gg, march 2, 2012

guerilla journal

Found Object, 001
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney












Found Object, 002
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney

Found Object, 003
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney

Found Object, 004
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney



















Found Object, 005
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney













Found Object, 006
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney

Found Object, 007
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Kim Gurney

Found Object, 008
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt













Found Object, 009
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt



















Found Object, 010
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt





















Found Object, 011
Johannesburg CBD
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Photo: Neil Nieuwoudt

‘Found Object’ was encountered on an exploratory search for potential guerilla gallery sites. It speaks for itself, rather than as a canvas for potential interventions or exhibitions.

--gg, feb 15, 2012

guerilla gallery - concept

guerilla gallery (b. 2012) is an artist-led initiative located in Johannesburg, South Africa. It eschews its own bricks and mortar to temporarily inhabit vacant spaces in Johannesburg CBD buildings with art exhibitions or installations.

Aims

guerilla gallery aims to contribute to the broader creative rejuvenation of innercity Johannesburg through encouraging imaginative responses to the urban environment. Its primary objective is to provide visual artists in South Africa with the opportunity to exhibit their work in an experimental context, facilitating production that may not suit a more formal exhibition venue. guerilla gallery is a non-profit enterprise, enabling projects without commercial imperatives. It also hopes to extend the viewing audience by positing art in surprising venues and reinvesting buildings with cultural value.

Motivation

guerilla gallery is broadly inspired by the global ‘pop-up’ cultural phenomenon markedly evident over recent years. This trend effectively harnesses unusual venues to host transient cultural events, often interdisciplinary and experimental in nature. The idea speaks also to ‘guerilla’ marketing, which uses low-cost and unconventional means to convey a message.

Scope



The canvas for guerilla gallery is the ambit of Johannesburg’s CBD. It may extend to other vicinities in future. guerilla gallery interventions may run for an evening, 24 hours, a week or a month – the project and selected space together determine the timeframes.

Logistics and Resources

guerilla gallery is a non-profit initiative: all costs relating to the artwork, including but not limited to transport, insurance and installation, are organised and covered by participating artists. guerilla gallery provides the physical location, curatorial direction, installation assistance and marketing, primarily through social media. Artist applications are welcome (see contact details).

--Abridged founding document, Kim Gurney, Johannesburg, 2012