Corner of the Eye: Moshekwa Langa and Nora Schultz
Corner of the Eye: Moshekwa Langa and Nora Schultz Intersecting telluric painting and aerial sculpture, Corner of the Eye began with a material affinity between the work of artists Moshekwa Langa and Nora Schultz. Advanced through conversation and an exchange of media over several months, the artists set up studios in Paris for short residencies, working in relation towards a combined exhibition. The exchange continues, through metaphor and proximity, within the exhibition space— where the artists’ works may be interpreted through association, peripherally. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between Kadist (Paris) and A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town) and the artists represented in their collections. Two trans-national artists, Langa and Schultz, were invited to meet each other, in parallel to the conversation between the two institutions, and improvisation was cultivated as a curatorial strategy: to listen to each other, to not occupy the entire space and avoid repetitions, as conditions of a space of freedom. Following an improvisatory approach, Corner of the Eye integrates the works of Langa and Schultz—allowing both the extemporaneous, and the rehearsed. Assemblies of objects and envi-ronments are dragged and layered to stamp, soil and imprint one another. Actions and reactions have been staged, tested and reproduced. A series of reactions between materials conserving their ties to their places of origin. Nora Schultz presents Centre Dental 2 city of teeth built from cellular concrete and metal. Constructed as a film set of a fictional city, the installation is populated by animated sculptures surveyed by drone and go pro. Giving the perception of autonomous objects, the film brings its own vision into view and becomes three dimensional—like a mouth that remains invisible for the one who speaks. Moshekwa Langa shows new and existing works, combining impressions of a dirt road ( Drag paintings ) created during a recent trip to his childhood home, with the video piece Where do I begin (2001) . The video shows a flow of legs and feet as a line of people step into a bus, a loop in time, returning to a memory, knowing it is going to change. A4 ARTS FOUNDATION is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting contemporary art in South Africa. A4 is based on an understanding of art as a reciprocal resource, a powerful catalyst for innovation, and a medium of social collectivity. Focused towards artists, A4 seeks to accommodate and share open-ended and exploratory creative processes. In June 2017, the A4 Arts Centre will open in District Six, Cape Town. The centre will encompass a gallery, a multimedia library, and a common or project space. Adaptable and embedded, the centre will offer an environment for experimentation, collaboration, and conversation. A4 emerged from a desire to promote nuanced interaction with South African art, at a local and international level. Recognising and engaging the various economies that comprise cultural practice in South Africa, A4 works towards new forms of exchange amongst practitioners, intermediaries, and patrons. A4 Arts Foundation 36 Buitenkant Street, District Six, Cape Town, South Africa Institut Français provided support for Moshekwa Langa’s new work. He was in residency at Cité Internationale des Arts – Paris .