Category: News

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Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival

Goldendean’s VESICA PISCIS draws from a geometric shape that is formed by the intersection of two circles of the same radius, with the centre of each circle on the circumference of the other. This extraordinary, deceptively simple light art work asks us to reflect on how existence is not a binary but rather a spectrum of intersectional experiences within our humanity.

  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024
  • Goldendean’s Vesica Pisces at Spier Light Festival 2024

The Vesica Piscis is one of the most enduring symbols in human visual culture. The Vesica Piscis is a geometric shape formed by the intersection of two circles of the same radius, with the center of each circle on the circumference of the other. It resembles an almond or a pointed oval and is often associated with sacred geometry, representing concepts of unity, balance, and interconnectedness in various spiritual and philosophical traditions.

Geometric forms such as the circle, the vesica piscis, and the Flower of Life, symbolize unity and interconnectedness,  These can be seen as metaphors for the non-binary experience, emphasizing the inherent interconnectedness of all gender identities and the harmonious coexistence of multiple gender expressions within a singular framework. By transcending the binary, non-binary individuals seek to find a harmonious equilibrium between (or even beyond)  the masculine and feminine energies within themselves and in society at large.

It often serves as a bridge between the material and spiritual worlds, embodying principles of harmony, balance, and unity. Non-binary identities challenge the conventional binary understanding of gender as strictly male or female. Instead, they recognize and honor the diversity of gender experiences that exist beyond this binary framework.

Production Design by Shruthi Nair and fabrication by Philip Masunda with LED reticulation by Ornate Concepts.

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Soft Vxnxs & Breathe Goldendean at Museum Arnhem

The exhibition How Dare You Make Me Feel This Way focuses on trans and queer joy. It is not an accusation, but a vote of gratitude. How dare you make me feel this way? So fine and full of wonder, but also so searching and confused? Photographs by Leo Xander Foo and Risk Hazekamp, videos by local and international artists like Yinzk and Samantha Nye and an installation by Dean Hutton are used to show perspectives and experiences that people from the trans and queer community find important and are eager to share. It is about saying ‘no’ to restrictive frameworks and ‘yes’ to freedom of movement.

How Dare You Make Me Feel This Way is curated, conceived and researched by Alara, Jip, Larisa, Sarjon, Storm, Zacquel and Dexter. From early 2022, they met at the invitation of Museum Arnhem and under the guidance of Julius Thissen to discuss life, art, trans and queerness. These encounters were about pleasure, pain, wonder about themselves and the world, their centuries-old history, threatened and rich future, and the difference between identity and political resistance.  From December 2022 to May 2023

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INHALEXHALE Lightbox at Spier Light Art Festival 2023

INHALEXHALE lightbox

INHALEXHALE is a lightbox installation that calls us to both individual and communal acts of self-care in response to the crisis of breathlessness and social anxiety experienced by so many during this era of late capitalism, where ecological catastrophe, corruption and police brutality quite literally threatens to rob us of our breath. 

The installation, made from reflective ‘gold’ materials, set to a radial rising from the ground like the rays of the sun, provides a point of focus and reflection for the viewer to remain present, and establish inner calm,  acting as a visual representation of the process of mindful breathing, the rhythm and flow from inhale(to)exhale.

Production management by Shruthi Nair and fabrication by Ornate Concepts.

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Studio Nxumalo – Footnotes Group Exhibition March 2023

Studio Nxumalo installation for Footnotes Group Exhibition
GOLDENDEAN Live free, 2023 Acrylic on canvas (framed) 59.5 x 85 cm
GOLDENDEAN Fuck Zero, 2023 Acrylic on canvas (framed) 59.5 x 85 cm
GOLDENDEAN Fuck Zero, 2023 Acrylic on canvas (framed) 59.5 x 85 cm GOLDENDEAN Echo, 2023 Acrylic on canvas (framed) 59.5 x 85 cm

GOLDENDEAN presents the first of a new series of hard edge paintings of typographic or textual mantras experimenting with the architectural abstraction of a “soft brutalist” aesthetic. As part of the Soft Radical series of works in which Goldendean first presented an evolving collection of Typographic Medi(a)tations – original prints and posters reproducing text and typeface in repetition as “glitch mantras” and “minimalist mandalas” to provoke or inspire acts of care and resistance.

Brutalism is an architectural style characterised by simple, stark, geometric block-like design that often feature bare building materials. For Walter Benjamin, reflecting on the contexts of architectural production and function, Brutalist buildings define class struggle as : “a fight for crude and material things without which no refined and spiritual things could exist.”Theses on the Philosophy of History (1942). Brutalist spaces were designed with the experience of the visitor/user in mind, raw materials onto which we could project our imaginations as truth.
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Studio Nxumalo is proud to present: Footnotes. a group exhibition curated by Musa N. Nxumalo | Exhibition opening: 04.03.2023. Time: 10:00 – 15:00

A group exhibition that celebrates and honors the culture of independence as demonstrated by artists & painters that are featured in this group exhibition.

“Footnotes.” explores how these artists continuously unravel the complexities that form part of the wider artworld ecosystem; through innovative negotiations that propels their artistic practices forward, allowing them to reach both local as well as international audiences, including art buyers and collectors.

Nxumalo has carefully selected each artist based on their consistent contribution to the South African art market, despite the fact that these artists operate on the fringes of a larger art world ecosystem, such as art fairs, private/public museum exhibitions and art festivals.

This exhibition marks the last show at Keyes Art Mile for the year 2023. Whilst Nxumalo takes a year-long study sabbatical.

Our program will commence in the year 2024, with exhibitions that will be held in partnership with various art institutions, commercial galleries, auction houses and spaces that holds similar interests.

Featured artists: Lwando Dlamini, Thokozani Mthiyane, Kaelik Dullaart, Justice Mukheli, Frederick Clarke, Skubalisto & Lisolomzi Pikoli, Goldendean, Stephen Langa, Mthuthuzeli “Sthu” Manaka, Vukile Batyi, Layziehound Coka, Lebogang Mabusela, Fhatuwani Mukheli and MJ Turpin.

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Limited sale on City of Gold prints

City of Gold gallery wall mockup

Purchase City of Gold prints for 25% off for a limited time (until July 31st 2022) with Coupon code: HOBURG2022

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Soft Vxnxs at Zeitz MOCAA

Zeitz MOCCA 2022 postcard

I want to thank all who work, and visited the Zeitz MOCAA, for their generosity and good will during the Soft Vxnxs exhibition this last half year. It has been a highlight of my career to share this work in particular with all of you, here in Cape Town. The city has never been a soft landing for me. Soft Vxnxs is not just a sculpture, it is an extension of my own body into a space of vulnerability. Thanks to you, I felt incredibly held during the whole process.

some favourite social media moments:

  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • online responses to soft vxnxs
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
  • Soft Vxnxs @Zeitz MOCCA 2022
online responses to soft vxnxs

Can’t wait to see where Soft Vxnxs travels to from here but it will hopefully be somewhere in Johannesburg some time soon!

Curators are welcome to get in touch about display this work in new spaces.

See more: Living breathing inflatable sculptures by Goldendean

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#goldendeaniscoming. Germany And Switzerland April & May 2019

zuerichtanzt.ch is a city-wide dance festival bringing the best of contemporary dance practices and innovations from around the world to Zurich.

Saturday 4 May 2019 (Zürich) PERFORM Breathe Goldendean, 3pm @Kulturehaus Helferei, Kirchgasse 13, 8001 

Sunday 5 May 2019 (Zürich) Book Launch Plan B,2-4pm @Kosmos. Lagerstrasse 104, 8004 

Lausanne: lafeteduslip.xxx Art Festival interested in Body, Gender & Sexuality 

Friday 10 May 2019 (Lausanne) PERFORM Breathe Goldendean La Fête du Slip, 6pm 

Saturday 11 May  2019 (Lausanne) PERFORM Breathe Goldendean 6pm

Arsenic Rue de Genève 57, 1004 Lausanne

Travelling Cultural Exchange Residency with Marcel Schwald in Queer activist spaces

Tuesday, 14 May 2019 (Basel)artist talk and exchange in the frame of the exhibition „May: Month of Work” at Kaskadenkondensator
www.kasko.ch/ Project space for contemporary art and performance

Geneva: with outragecollectif and FluidRadikal

Wed, 15 May 2019 (Geneva) Mxnifest(u)topia collage Workshop with trans-activists 6.30pm

Thursday, 16 May 2019, (Geneva) PERFORM Breathe Goldendean 8 to 10pm

www.outragecollectif.noblogs.org/ decolonial ANTIRACIST collective

www.facebook.com/FluidRadikal.FLURAX Platform programming artists with anti-oppressive positioning (queer feminists, transforms, trans *, non-binary and / or racialised persons)

Bern: frauenraum.ch/ Frauenraum Bern Wagenplatz Bethlehem: A radical queer trailer park

Saturday, 18 May 2019 (Bern) PERFORM Goldendean Bread in Bern Bethlehem, followed by a gathering (traditional cake production)

Sunday, 19 May 2019 (Bern) BRAINSTORM QUEER SUMMERCAMP/ ACADEMY and artists talk. 

PARTNERS 

ZÜRICH TANZT

Annual Zurich dance festival has been running since 2006. It was organized by the dance network Reso throughout Switzerland and in cooperation with local partners in various cities. The City of Zurich recognized the potential of this event and decided to focus on dance within the framework of the legislative focus on the cultural and creative city of Zurich. Since then, the dance festival has been called the annual Zurich dance festival under the new name ZÜRICH TANZT.

www.zuerichtanzt.ch

 La Fête du Slip 

a multidisciplinary festival that explores the themes of body, gender, and sexuality in art. Our shortflim competition aims to reward films that present a high artistic quality, explore fresh ideas about gender and sexuality, in new and innovative ways. We particularly encourage films that explore new approaches to erotic narratives, and that renew traditional representations of bodies, genders, and sexualities.

http://www.lafeteduslip.ch/

CULTURAL EXCHANGE RESIDENCY with MARCEL SCHWALD IN BASEL, GENEVA AND BERN “ART AND ACTIVISM WEEK

Marcel Schwald works as a director, dramaturg and writer in Switzerland, and currently also in Greece and India. He is active in the fields of theatre, dance and performance art.

In his work, he mixes practices of theatre, performance art, community work, journalism and sociology. Besides a strong collaborative aspect, Marcel Schwald’s pieces often question some of the predominant eurocentric/western narratives in the social, political and aesthetic discourse and try to formulate different proposals considering the interrelations in a globalized world. The material for this can be an avant-garde novel, telling a western migration story such as Gertrude Stein’s THE MAKING OF AMERICANS, as well as narratives of transgender identity in India, like in EF_FEMININITY

https://www.marcelschwald.com/

www.kasko.ch – Kaskadenkondensator Basel

www.frauenraum.ch – Frauenraum Bern

Wagenplatz Bethlehem (no website)

www.outragecollectif.noblogs.org – Outrage Collectif Lausanne & Geneva

www.facebook.com/FluidRadikal.FLURAX – FluidRadikal Geneva

supported by @iwalewabooks, @zurichtanzt, @la fête du slip, marcel schwald, fluidradikal, outrage collectif, frauenraum bern

ADDITIONAL FUNDING BY PROHELVETIA SWISS ARTS COUNCIL 

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Bubblegumclub cover

Screenshot 2019-03-20 03.21.53.jpg

Much like gold itself, the spectacle of Goldendean challenges the arbitrary values we place on the normative body. Our gaze cannot help but devour Goldendean.

In 2016 artist Dean Hutton’s #FUCKWHITEPEOPLE performance went notoriously viral which has extended itself into various forms– an installation, a ‘Fuck White People’ suit, an online archive titled, ‘White People made Visible’. Dean’s message is one of ‘queer love’, ‘queer dissidence’ and ‘radical sharing’ (coined by Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi), promoted by their avatar Goldendean who takes on the role of a clown like figure. ‘PLAN B, A GATHERING OF STRANGERS (OR) THIS IS NOT WORKING’, Dean’s Master’s thesis completed towards their MA in Fine Arts from Michaelis becomes a manual to understanding the serious and complex reasonings of an artist who hopes to heal with their practice.

read: https://bubblegumclub.co.za/features/goldendean-queer-love-queer-dissidence-and-the-undoing-of-whiteness

Credits:

Photography: Jamal Nxedlana

Makeup Art: Orli Meiri