So on Friday me, Landi Raubenheimer and Paul Cooper will asking people to dump work from their private collections in a rubbish bin.

Please join Empty Office at the Bag Factory on Friday night for a discussion about the role of local contemporary art in a democratic state/neo-liberal economy.

Panelists

Michael Smith (Managing Editor of Artthrob) 

Antoinette Murdoch  (Director of the [...]

I asked what Robert Sloon said to his friends about my writing and he said that he would do this face-to-face.  Just before that he told me that having a private debate about the lack of public dialogue in the art world is a bit of a paradox and then proceeds to say that he can only comment on my writing face to face, ie. privately.  Me thinks the bravado if the art world outlaw is [...]

Thanks for the response on my piece on the Everard Read. A lot of people are saying that posting comments on this blog is a mission, so I  will forward you comment to the administrative personel. The aesthetic of this website is completely out of my control.  If I had my way I would go for a text heavy, academic look- no images, no scrolling banners.  I would screen each interested [...]

How does one measure the significance of an artist?  I suppose after reading the latest issue of Art South Africa that the answer lies in two places- on foreign soil and in the market.  It seems that the mark of an artist is the extent to which they are recognised and noticed by audiences internationally, or if you like by particular centres. The other way is the extent to which an [...]

Thanks for the posting on Dis concert, Robert. I know what you mean by an organic, kind of on-the-ground response, but why does it remain in those informal spaces?  With the new blog format, there really is an opportunity for some engaged fluid discussion which I believe does happen on the pavement outside exhibition openings, in the car on the way home, over the photocopy machine in [...]

At the end of May, Anthea Buy's criticism of the Urban Concerns initiative at JAG and particularly Sharlene Khan's contribution stirred up a hornet's nest. See my response. 

I am all too familiar with this scene of battle where a critic or writer expresses a view on an artist's work, or a writer's work and the response is antagonistic. Chantal Mouffe in her book, On [...]

There is a general dearth of responsiveness in the local art world which is disconcerting to the art writer.  Michael Smith mentioned recently that his "short cuts", the introduction to the website of cheeky snapshots of shows in Gauteng received no response in the feedback section of Artthrob this month.  The same is true of Artheat, the most volatile and popular forum for [...]