Fiction as Fiction (or, A Ninth Johannesburg Biennale) at Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town


Robin Rhode, Yard, 2011. Digital Animation. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson Gallery

Fiction as Fiction
(or, A Ninth Johannesburg Biennale)

29 November 2012 – 12 January 2013
at Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
Artists: Yto Barrada, Yael Bartana, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Peter Clarke, Ângela Ferreira, Yang Fudong, Nicholas Hlobo, Robin Rhode, Penny Siopis, Frohawk Two Feathers, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Fiction as Fiction (or, A Ninth Johannesburg Biennale) is the third exhibition in the year-long Trade Routes Project, in which the gallery pays tribute to the 1997 Johannesburg Biennale.

The idea of a fictional biennale is a rewarding one when examining the history of the Johannesburg Biennale. Its second edition, organised by Okwui Enwezor in 1997, was also its last. How would (local) art history have been altered if the Johannesburg Biennale had not ceased to exist? What if we imagine there was a third incarnation in 1999? A fourth in 2001? A fifth, after some delay, in 2004? A ninth in 2012?
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