Partnership in arts awards expo

Tshudufhadzo Magadagela and growth for African economies.

MTN SA Foundation and UJ Art Gallery partnership, supported by Business and Arts South Africa, has seen the launch of the MTN X UJ New Contemporary Awards which look at developing the curator and artists selected to participate.

Data from Apple Music’s streaming service shows that mixes from African DJs increased by more than 500% from August 2021 to August 2022, while African electronic genres like Afrobeats, Amapiano and Gqom are generating massive numbers of followers.

Other members of the AFRIMA International Committee include Rikki Stein, former personal manager of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti.

AFRIMA president and executive producer Michael Dada said they welcome Pompigne-Mognard.

“He has always been committed to changing the narrative about Africa, and elevating the continent on the world stage,” Dada said.

Pompigne-Mognard said AFRIMA is hugely important within the African music industry.

“It provides global spotlight for the best African talent and demonstrates the universal power of music as a symbol of hope and unity in Africa. I am thrilled to be working with those who share my vision for helping Africa realise its potential,”

This year Khanya Mashabela was awarded the curatorship of the awards, and has been formulating her research, selection of artists and vision for the inaugural event on 25 November at UJ Art Gallery.

The MTN X UJ New Contemporary Awards programme places emphasis on developments in the digital arts sphere, and Mashabela focuses her attention there. She looks to explore identity as a construction which is both real and imagined, communicated through objects in physical and virtual realms.

Her selected artists take a variety of approaches to the project of identity construction, with the exhibition serving as a curated view of a crosssection of strategies.

“Though the internet has radically changed us, many of the concerns navigated via digital and lens-based media have existed long before then. I don’t intend the exhibition to examine the internet as something which is external to the world. Rather it will explore the relationship between selfhood and objecthood, in the contemporary context; a relationship often mediated through technology,” says Mashabela.

Mashabela’s research was mainly conducted through artist-run online spaces including Floating Rever- ies and Bubblegum Club, as well as physical, artist-organised exhibitions and studio visits.

Although the use of digital mediums and interactive art is established, one of the challenges Mashabela found in making her selection was that many technologically adept artists working with digital art as their primary medium had moved into fields such as marketing and tech rather than the visual arts.

In making her final decision Mashabela was supported by the Legacy Panel consisting of four previous award curators Dr Kathryn Smith, Dr Portia Malatjie, Nontobeko Ntombela and Khwezi Gule; with Melissa Goba as the panel convener.

“Though Natalie Paneng and Callan Grecia use different tools they are interested in mediated personal identities, the aesthetic choices we make as we represent ourselves and environments virtually,” states Mashabela.

She adds that Thandiwe Msebenzi takes a more historical approach in the Radical Makaza, a project in tribute to her aunt’s personal history. The project was prototyped on Instagram with Msebenzi using clothes and landscapes along with digital filters to recreate an identity, with an atmosphere of historicity.

“Inga Somdyala’s approach is more abstract than that of other artists, but he also explores material culture and the ability of objects to act as a fundamental part of selfhood, though he is more explicit about his interest in a broader national identity. Somdyala also chooses extremely tactile objects, which reasserts the power of physicality,” Mashabela adds.

MTN’s Art Collection manager Niel Nortje says: “What excites me about the relationship between the arts and technology is the accessibility it allows the public to interact with the arts, and how our young curators, artists, academics and specialists will be the driving force behind this crucial intervention.”

The four artists selected as finalists for the awards are Cape Town-based artists Inga Somdyala and Thandiwe Msebenzi, Callan Grecia working in George and Natalie Paneng in Johannesburg.

Curator of the UJ Art Gallery Thabo Seshoka says Mashabela’s selection demonstrates her understanding of the medium and curatorial possibilities.

“We are excited about the work these four artists will create for the exhibition in November. This award programme pushes the boundaries of curatorial practice; also about being innovative and courageous,” Seshoka says.

In the next months artists, guided by Mashabela’s vision, will create an artwork for display at the awards.