Exhibitions

Pieter Hugo: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is still on view at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany until July 23, 2017

After solo exhibitions at the Hague Museum of Photography, the Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, the Müpa Budapest, and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson Paris, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg will be the first museum in Germany to present a comprehensive overview of the series with which Pieter Hugo achieved international recognition. Pieter Hugo treat everyone with the same amount of respect in his photographs. More artist than anthropologist or documentarian, Hugo captures the “moment of voluntary vulnerability” with a pronouncedly detached, but at the same time also empathetic, concise visual language, creating in this way true to life portraits of powerful directness. In many cases, this humanity stands in sharp contrast to the hardships of the social reality engulfing the subjects of his pictures. Entirely in this sense, Pieter Hugo’s still life and landscape photographs occasionally seem like social commentaries or metaphors, complementing his socio-cultural portraits.

Angela Ferreira: South Facing is still on view at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa from May 7 until July 30, 2017

South Facing is Ângela Ferreira’s first solo exhibition at a public institution in South Africa. The exhibition includes recent and previously unseen work as well as a new commission in response to the Gallery’s Meyer Pienaar extension. Ferreira’s work is concerned with the ongoing impact of colonialism and post-colonialism in the present, particularly in the Global South. Her primary area of investigation has been the translation of modernism in the African-colonial context, and the complex social, aesthetic and architectural legacies of the modernist project. Ferreira’s practice draws its visual criticality from her dual African Portuguese identity, and the resulting body of work is rooted in South Africa, Mozambique and Portugal. The Johannesburg exhibition connects these three spaces, and provides an opportunity for audiences to engage with the artist’s multi-disciplinary research-based practice.

David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material is still on view at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, Russia from June 7 until July 30, 2017

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Haus der Kunst in Munich and the Art Institute of Chicago, offers insight into the global architect’s unique approach, highlighting the ways he weaves local geographies and cultural legacies into his celebrated designs. Showcasing over twenty examples of his built works, including the Moscow School of Management (Skolkovo), the exhibition also provides rare access to Adjaye’s research strategies in the early stage of design development. Form, Heft, Material is the first exhibition of a major architect at Garage and inaugurates a new chapter in the Institution’s longstanding interest in developing discourse around contemporary architecture and its role in society today. Adjaye’s firm Adjaye Associates has developed an exhibition design specifically for the Museum, bringing his characteristic sense of light and pacing to Garage’s historical modernist building.

Biennials

57th Venice Biennale is still open at the Giardini and the Arsenale in Venice, Italy from May 13 to November 26, 2017

The 57th International Art Exhibition, titled Viva Arte Viva, is curated by Christine Macel and organised by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The Exhibition includes 86 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city centre of Venice. Three countries are participating for the first time: Antigua and Barbuda, Kiribati, and Nigeria. The Exhibition offers a route that unfolds over the course of nine chapters or families of artists, beginning with two introductory realms in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, followed by seven more realms to be found in the Arsenale and the Giardino delle Vergini. There are 120 invited artists from 51 countries; 103 of these are participating for the first time. 23 Collateral Events, promoted by non-profit national and international institutions, are presenting their exhibitions and initiatives in Venice during the 57th Exhibition.

Festivals

Durban International Film Festival 2017 will open at The Playhouse Company in Durban, South Africa from July 13-23, 2017

Africa’s premier film event, the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which is hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, presents its 38th edition in the east coast city of Durban, South Africa. Arguably the continent’s biggest film event, which attracts both film-lovers and industry representatives from across Africa and beyond, the DIFF is a ten-day celebration of world class cinema which screens new feature, documentary and short films from around the globe with a special focus on African film. The festival is a hub for the African film industry and is an unmissable date for both industry representatives and lovers of film.