'Dzata: The Institute of Technological Consciousness' (2023) by Russel Hlongwane, Francois Knoetze & Amy Louise Wilson

Imminent and Eminent Ecologies

A group exhibition opening on Thursday, 19 September at 18:30

FADA Gallery, Bunting Road Campus, University of Johannesburg

The Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre (VIAD) at the University of Johannesburg are delighted to announce their forthcoming exhibition of leading African and international bio- and eco-artists. The exhibition, titled ‘Imminent and Eminent Ecologies’, is co-curated by Leora Farber and Brenton Maart, and falls under VIAD’s newly established Bioart + Design Africa (BA+DA) research stream. The artworks on show foreground the entanglement between living and non/living forms, humans and the more-than-human, and the effect culture has on climate change. The exhibition advocates that holistic decolonial practice can only be manifest through breaking down the artificial boundaries between species, and between the organic and elemental. An important outcome of this is the emergence of a new kind of trans-species democracy composed of multiple materialities - a democracy whose constitution is premised on what theorist and physicist Karen Barad terms ‘intra-actions’ based on empathy, care and respect.

BA+DA launched in 2023 with the completion of its microbiology laboratory dedicated to the production of bio-art and -design, and an accompanying curated group exhibition that explored the political implications of artworks made with microbial forms. Since then, BA+DA’s specialist focus on microbial ecologies has expanded to include five additional focus areas: Precarious and reparative ecologies; Botanical ecologies; Biomedical ecologies; Material ecologies and Queer ecologies. The work on ‘Imminent and Eminent Ecologies’ spans these focus areas in an attempt to raise public awareness of urgent environmental and political issues. In so doing, audiences are invited to reimagine our current and future ecologies from decolonial, Africanised perspectives.

The exhibition showcases the work of the following BA+DA team members, artists-in-residence, and research associates, together with invited artists: Adam Broomberg and Rafael Gonzalez; Janneke de Lange; Leora Farber; Stacy Hardy; Russell Hlongwane, Francois Knoetze and Amy Louise Wilson; Dean Hutton; Bronwyn Katz; Nandipha Mntambo; Miliswa Ndziba; Uriel Orlow; Theresa Schubert; and Louise Westerhout.

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of walkabouts, discussions and seminars, and as well as a comprehensive catalogue.

The exhibition runs from 19 September to 29 October 2024.

For further information, and to arrange interviews with the curators or artists, please contact Sinead Fletcher on sineadf@uj.ac.za

Gallery hours: Tues to Fri: 9:00 – 16:00; Sat: 9:00 – 13:00

The exhibition is generously supported by the University of Johannesburg Research Committee.