I got an angry phone call this morning… some dick with my phone number, “What’s your fucking problem? I thought we were gonna get hourly updates on Cape. What are you doing?” Well, the only reason that I’ve got the energy now to write anything is because, luckily, I missed the new Goodman opening, and Afterlife at Michael Stevenson, due to prior commitments, so I have had some respite this weekend. But I swear if I have to hear another rambling, boring speech this year, the results are going to be worse than this hangover. I did manage to get to the press conference for Cape ’07 on Friday, at the ungodly hour of 9am. Clutching my coffee in one hand and a sickly yellow petit-four in the other, I looked in vain for the international journalists… but I suppose they look no different from us. Then came the information that the National Gallery, and it’s team of assistants couldn’t get the exhibition up in time, so the schedule had to be changed. Which would have been fine, except that was the only part of the bus tour I could attend. So I left after the speech, which was kind of an introduction and kind of an apology. Oh well…. I did get a press pack, full of all sorts of goodies, like a cool bag to put stuff in.

Later went to Early Friday, but everyone seemed distinctly tired and flat. ArtHeat’s own after-party was a resounding success, with the only person who can prove he’s an international journalist in South Africa pulling in for his free drink.

The next morning ISANG must have gotten a little worried by the crowds outside, so they opened their doors. By the time I arrived, the one video lounge was dead, the amp had blown, all the snacks were finished, the wine was petering out, and the space is so huge that, vowing to come back later in the week, I stepped back out side. On Rosenclair’s sculpture Soapboxes, was 15 Minutes of Frame, a installation thing by all-girl collective Doing It For Daddy. I was a bit skeptical about the original idea, which you can read if you scroll down a bit, but in reality it worked really well, with quite a bustle developing around the stall. And quite a few people submitting frames, including Linda Givon, Andrew Lamprecht, Christian Nerf, etc. The highlight was the shirts they were selling which read: “Show me the hegemony,” which I wore proudly as I drove through to Khayalitsha for the official opening at Lookout Hill. There were two highlights for me there, the first being a wedding in the hall next door, which no-one really expected, and the second being Brett Bailey’s witches from his recent play MacbEth. Dressed as the Butcher Boys, as in Jane Alexander's iconic sculptures, they sat on the hot tin roof in the sun for the whole afternoon. It was eerie to say the least. The lookout hill location is beautiful, the gallery must be 50m long. The art put up, wasn't amazingly exciting, pretty standard fare, Lolo Veleko, David Goldblatt, Nicholas Hlobo, etc. To be expected really.

The after party at the Kimberly Hotel (one of my favourite bars in the world) was fun, but a bit weird... lots of people I didn't know, so I got pretty drunk. There was some whole scandal about Gabi Ncgobo stealing Ed Young's stolen shoes (St Motherfucking Maxim's Day) from the SMAC show and leaving in their place a pair of rubber flip-flops. Ed called the cops on her, and they removed the shoes. I don't know Gabi and Ed, a tired gesture from both of you. The highlight of the whole incident was one of Ed's numerous exes sitting in the corner saying, "It's a conspiracy... it's a conspiracy for publicity." I got tired, and went home to my cat, who doesn't know about making art.

I guess though, that the thing is getting pulled off with fuck-all budget... maybe this means that the next one will be a different type of success, one with secured funding from interested parties who saw what fun could be had with zero funds and an inherited legacy of bad planning. I think this thing needs some positive spin and a positive response from the art world, or there won't be anything to grow-up.

I'll continue to check out the venues over the next couple of weeks, so watch this space. Anyone who has some impressions of the shows can also email me and I'll probably publish it.

Labels: review