M.A. (Art History) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Craftsmanship in contemporary art production is the main area of focus for this visual arts based research. An exploration into the artistic production processes of selected contemporary artists’ work, reveals a tendency of physical non-involvement on the part of the artist, who takes up the role of art director. The research enquiry attempts to provide an answer as to whether credit should be given to the craftsman as well as to the artist in this artist/craftsman relationship. The use of a practice-led research strategy allows the researcher’s art-making practice to become an integral part of the cycles of research, as the development of the researcher’s practical understanding, techniques and execution are crucial in the practical component, but also conceptually as a stance in opposition to the selected artists’ lack of practical involvement. The researcher has identified and analysed the following five factors that have contributed to this current state of art production in contemporary art: Kitsch as an influence on the subject matter and content of art, Marcel Duchamp and his idea of the ‘readymade’ and issues of authorship, Andy Warhol and his ideas on art and business, the Conceptual Art movement and, the act and product of craft being perceived as being inferior to the fine arts In addition, an exploration of the production processes involved in the creation of the artworks of Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan and Takashi Murakami highlights the craftspeople, fabricators and foundries that are responsible for these artists’ highly crafted aesthetics. As practice is crucial in developing a new understanding and meaning in visual-arts based research, the practical component describes the researcher’s core practical themes as being the following:the creation of naturalistic figurative small-scale sculptures in resin and bronze, placing the characters explored in the theoretical component as the subject matter.The advantages and disadvantages of the collaborative experience with Sculpture Casting Services (fine art foundry) and eNtsa (a Technology Innovation agency), especially the implementation of 3D technologies in both experiences; and the technical development and understanding in order to improve the researcher’s artistic practice Collaboration is an important underlying theme throughout this research undertaking. It is crucial in the production of most contemporary art, and assists in identifying the artist’s role within the production of his/her work. Finally, it relates to the researcher’s collaborative experience expanded upon in the practical component and its benefits as a production method. In concluding, the researcher finds that craftspeople do receive credit for the work they do in the form of money, business and marketing. They provide a service that a great number of artists generously support. Foundries and fabricators also place a mark on the work they do, much like the artist’s signature, as a symbol of pride and recognition. It is ultimately the artist’s technical abilities, workload and artist identity or brand that will determine the extent to which he or she will contribute to the collaboration, whether that be a simple idea, a sketch, a maquette or a large-scale sculpture ready for installation. However, in a rapidly advancing technological society, it is the idea of the artist as craftsman, both thinker and maker, that demands more respect.

M.A. (Art History) / The sculpture of the mature artist Edoardo Villa is characterised by sequences of apparently contrasting phases. Analysis reveals that formal ideas from earlier periods are freely combined in new variations. Formal ideas unfold and are brought to fruition in a continuous development. Form, however, can never be analysed without considering its meaning. Previous writers on the sculpture of Edoardo Villa have, at various stages, identified most of its typical formal characteristics and indicated the meanings of specific phases. This thesis sets out to study, systematically and chronologically, Villa's whole oeuvre up to 1979. The evolution of his formal language, and the concomitant shifts of emphasis in meaning can be traced. Accordingly the sculptures seem to fall roughly into eleven groups. The first chapter examines Villa's formative years in a classical Italian Humanist context, albeit in the Fascist period, and then his early years in South Africa (c. 1935-1957). From 1947 rapid changes occurred, both in form and meaning. ·A simplification of organic or geometric shapes gave way to abstract sculptures, made possible in part by adopting the technique of welding metal instead of modelling. Changes in meaning ~ere inevitable: in Italy commissions called for heroes and angels; during the war years traditional themes sought to convey the sentiments of a war-torn generation. The female archetype followed, to be replaced by universal forms of human or animal torsos. Conventional meanings disappeared from the abstract structures, which are intuitive images of his new ambience. The second chapter examines· the years 1958 to 1970 during which Villa mastered metal in the creation of primarily vertical structures. However, modelling recurred at intervals, and a reciprocal influence between the two media took . place. For a time Villa's abstract works illustrate what van Peursen calls the functional nature of 20th century culture. Then Villa returns to figurative themes, creating archetypes in an expression of the mythological aspect of human consciousness, and showing similarities with African tribal art. Subsequently he arrived at images of an ontological nature, with less emphasis on the interrelationship of objects and a greater emphasis on the individual. By 1968 the linear, vertical and often frontal compositions were superseded by more massive horizontal and asymmetrical groups. The sculptures of the seventies are examined in the third chapter. Sign-like emblems of human groups were created with pipes. Bright colour became integral to Villa's formal language in non-figurative constructions. Vertical compositions were more open, and less symmetrical. Groups suggesting human figures reaffirmed Villa's main preoccupation. He seemed increasingly to express the moods of his time: massive, ebullient forms in a materially confident society; tensions of balanced line in a society under the stress of evolution. Forms opened up further, textures became rougher, colours more earthy. By the end of the decade figuration was emphasized; the symbol returned. In the cyclic flow of Edoardo Villa's development, -he balanced the formal constraints of apparently contradictory qualities: organic and geometric, open and closed, vertical and horizontal, mass and movement. At various intervals Villa embodied signs, images, and symbols, expressing the functional stage of 20th century human consciousness, which encompasses both the mythological and ontological phases of its historic development.

M.Tech. (Fine Art) / The focus of this research is an exploration of aspects of liminality and how it manifests in selected unsanctioned public art interventions in ‘urban places’, specifically, the Johannesburg Central Business District. Liminality informs my own art work and to contextualise my practice I investigate Steven Cohen’s performance/intervention entitled Chandelier (2001-2002), and Alison Kearney’s The Portable Hawkers Museum (2003). I argue that unsanctioned public art maintains a liminal identity, a fluidity of ‘repurposing a space’ that is in constant shift between different dimensions of liminality. Such works create a zone between physical and conceptual space, challenging the relationships between people and places, the artist and the audience. Liminal spaces (such as the underside of bridges for example) provide the platform for new mediation to happen outside of the normal social structures. Homi Bhabha (1994:54) refers to this as a “third space” where transformation may occur, and it is this transformation of space and experience that I aim to explore in my work. In my practical component I present a body of unsanctioned public art interventions consisting of ceramic sculptures placed in urban liminal spaces in Johannesburg. I populate the chosen spaces with imaginative objects that playfully reflect my own cultural hybridity, and resultant liminal existence, in a post-colonial urban society. My practical work thus draws on analyses of the liminal aspects of Cohen and Kearney’s works as well as on aspects of my hybrid existence arising from my status as an immigrant in Johannesburg. Through my art works I attempt to engage with the local inhabitants without the restrictions of institutionalised arenas, allowing for a new experience of both the space and the artwork. Finally I record my own interventions in detail and compile an annotated photographic catalogue to document the sculptures in situ and the ephemeral life span of these unsanctioned public art interventions.

MA (Anthropolgy) / Centre for African Studies / Commemorative structures like walls of remembrance, statues and monuments are representatives of social narratives and they usually represent the current political order. They also represent heroes deemed important by the current political regime. These structures, together with the corresponding narrative, can either be of local, regional or national importance. Nghunghunyani was a Gaza Nguni king who reigned in southern Mozambique in 19th century. His statue in the town of Giyani is a case in point. Nghunghunyani fought wars and entered into negotiations with the Portuguese in southern Mozambique in order to keep the land of his forefathers. However, the erection of his statue sparked controversy and has been met with resentment and rejection among the people of the region where it has been placed. This study aimed to elucidate the reasons behind the resentment and the rejection of the statue. This was done by examining the history of the homeland of Gazankulu and of the clans of the region in order to understand the ethnic enclaves of the Tsonga and the Shangaan, and the political undercurrents involved in the erection of a statue which is undeniably of national significance, but problematic locally and regionally. As heroes are imbedded in collective memory and collective narratives, the theory of collective memory following on Maurice Halbwachs was used. The discussion on ethnicity was directed by the ethnicity theories of Webber and Geertz. The interview was employed as the tool for collecting data, which elucidated that Nghunghunyani is not part of their founding heroes and that their praise poems do not include this historical figure. It appears that in as much as Nghunghunyani is a regional hero, his representation in Giyani is clouding the real history of the region and the debates are clouding the hero that King Nghunghunyani was. The study unveiled that Nghunghunyani is a nationally celebrated hero who cannot be contextualised positively in the local context amongst Tsonga speaking tribes and chiefdoms due to the nature of the hostile historical relationship between the ancestors of these groups and the Gaza Nguni.

Various potential modes of interpreting the urban space in the inner city of Pretoria is evaluated in this study with the purpose of expanding discourse around spatial production in the city. Production of meaning through formal and structural means produced a city that served as administrative capital and ideological base for Afrikaners until the arrival of a democracy in 1994. The contemporary urban space is produced by people through everyday life, as theorised by Henry Lefebvre, rather than through formal means such as name changes. This study evaluates the way that identity and belonging is created by referring to everyday life practices, rhythmanalysis and daily activities as performances. Urban space is evaluated from a phenomenological perspective through the eyes of an artist and resident and expressed in an art exhibition. The way artists Julie Mehretu and Franz Ackermann dealt with urban space in their art is also referenced. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / Master of Visual Arts

Various potential modes of interpreting the urban space in the inner city of Pretoria is evaluated in this study with the purpose of expanding discourse around spatial production in the city. Production of meaning through formal and structural means produced a city that served as administrative capital and ideological base for Afrikaners until the arrival of a democracy in 1994. The contemporary urban space is produced by people through everyday life, as theorised by Henry Lefebvre, rather than through formal means such as name changes. This study evaluates the way that identity and belonging is created by referring to everyday life practices, rhythmanalysis and daily activities as performances. Urban space is evaluated from a phenomenological perspective through the eyes of an artist and resident and expressed in an art exhibition. The way artists Julie Mehretu and Franz Ackermann dealt with urban space in their art is also referenced. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)