Donna Kukama

This exhibition presented selected performances, videos, and works-in-progress by Donna Kukama. The exhibition mostly presents the artist operating in nomadic mode, where she temporarily takes residence within various texts and various territories of the public, inserting her own unfamiliarity (through her presence) to disrupt established ways of doing. Thus 'becoming-animal' is more ...related to processes of change as opposed to representing or imitating animals.The exhibition title is borrowed from a chapter in Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattarri’s “A Thousand Plateaus”, the second book in their philosophical series, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, which Kukama re-adopts, re-translates, and breaks apart in order to speak of her own modes of functioning. In her relation to their philosophies, Kukama does not take the position of a Deleuzian-Guattarrian scholar, but rather points out familiar philosophies that possibly originate from Africa and are being applied in a Western context. By recontextualizing these concepts, which remain largely uncontested, she also makes visible the misunderstandings and inconsistencies present within translation.

The Exhibition opening included a collaborative sound intervention with musical support by João Orecchia, Mpumi Mcata and Tshepang Ramoba.

João Orecchia is a multi-faceted musician based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Focusing on alternative sound approaches, he has been exploring ideas of randomness, composition based on source material from field recordings and the effect this can have on an audience’s perception of space or image. Prior to Johannesburg, João spent several years in Berlin, where he composed music for theatre, film and dance performances. Mpumi Mcata and Tshepang Ramoba are both members of the band BLK JKS. Together with João, Mpumi and Tshepang are currently working on their next album and playing gigs around Johannesburg.