August 21, 2021 - February 28, 2022
Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria
The exhibition Interfacing New Heavens brings together two different positions that contemplate the entanglement of science and art; indigenous knowledge systems and their inquiry within the discursive terrain of astronomy; the agency of “vibrant matter”; and the dreamscape as research methodology. The series of works by Vanessa Lorenzo and Tebogo George Mahashe reflect on the possibilities of these interactions and their affect on our present. Presented within the context of the Javett UP, Interfacing New Heavens is the development of a series of exchanges between the two practitioners with the artists-in-labs program, of Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK). The artistic research process sought to “reflect on ideas of the other, the foreign or the unfamiliar, and to explore a range of scientific topics, methods and technologies [within] the site of the laboratory”. The exhibition is a culmination of work undertaken during this process.
A collaboration between the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria and the Artists-In-Labs program at Zurich University of the Arts. Interfacing New Heavens is supported by Pro Helvetia and Embassy of Switzerland in Pretoria, South Africa.