[Working Title]US | Curated by Simon Njami & Bettina Malcomess
US was a show curated by Simon Njami and Bettina Malcomess that brought together work by younger and more established local and international artists around the theme of group identity, whether nation, culture, class, gender, sexuality or race. The exhibition would go on to form the foundation for Goodman Gallery’s [Working Title] initiative, a series subsequently presented in the main gallery spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which continued to invite artists and curators to develop thematically driven exhibitions addressing urgent contemporary questions.
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There was an open call for artists to develop new work in conversation with their diverse contexts and each other around the complexities of difference and belonging. The show explores how the ‘substance’ of any US is often less fixed than constantly shifting, fluid and unstable. Taking place at two venues, the show opened with a daring and original selection of new performance work, sculptural installation, painting and photography, each exploring a point of view as unique as the show’s many Us’s.
Artists included Cape Town based collective, the Gugulective, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Donna Kukama, Mikhael Subotzky, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Bili Bidjoka, Laurence Bonvin, Dunjia Herzog, Andrew Putter, Themba Shibase, Kudzanai Chiurai, Zen Marie, Bridget Baker and others.
The show was curated by Simon Njami, founding editor of Revue Noir and curator of Africa Remix, and Bettina Malcomess, a writer and artist.
The show took place at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, in partnership with the generous support of the Goethe-Institut, as well as Prohelvetia, and the at the Goodman Gallery Project space at Arts on Main.
