Intraparadox, interview with Lelani Nicolaisen. Ode to UP. 04 Aug 23.

*Pieces and the world they inhabit*|Exhibition setting at the Pretoria Arts Association.

An Ode to UP

In the exhibition Pieces and the world they inhabit which recently opened at the Pretoria Arts Association, Lelani Nicolaisen presents works by her former colleagues at the University of Pretoria, School of the Arts. This exhibition can be seen somewhat as a tone down sequel to their previous exhibition Textured Surfaces which was shown at the Pretoria Art Museum (10 December 2022 – 26 February 2023). Presently, in a similar vein, the work on show ranges from two dimensional to three-dimensional works but still askew traditional expectation of what art should be in content, materiality and form.

In a similar outing that Tshwane University of Technology, Faculty of Design and Studio Arts lecturers embarked on in 2017 at the Pretoria Art Museum to showcase the work of the lecturers in that art institution, in Art(ed) exhibition (14 September – 08 October 2017), the then Head of Department Professor Runette Kruger remarked that the exhibition gave lecturers, who often participate in various exhibitions all over South Africa and beyond, the opportunity to show their work collaboratively in one exhibition.

Despite the change in the ensembled artists in the present exhibition, in both Textured surfaces and Pieces and the world they inhabit exhibitions, both exhibitions give us the same insight into the nature of practices that these artists are engaged in. The difference is that the curator has elected to focus on close colleagues that she has worked with at the University of Pretoria. This intimacy is punctuated by the setting at the Pretoria Arts association. In this edition of Intraparadox, I have a conversation with Lelani Nicolaisen. We delve into the artists call out to participate in the exhibition, the themes that the work on show grapple with as well as the curatorial guiding principles that Nicolaisen, herself an artist, deploys in her curatorial practice.

Late Winter

11 August

© Mmutle Arthur Kgokong, 2023

To reference this audio documentation please cite:

Kgokong, M.A. 2023.Intraparadox, interview with Lelalni Nicolaisen. Ode to UP. 04 August 2023. Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox.