I'm glad I arrived two hours early for the Guguletu leg of Upstairs/Downstairs, a group show curated by Bettina Malcomess. There was writing all over the ground, which was already being worn away by the busy traffic of artists putting up the show. The first part I read said "One has to be an artist to survive as a poor person. You have to imagine space where there is none."

The Gugulective have constantly reimagined this space, the Kwa Mlamli shebeen, as an exhibition space, and persisted in having shows here in their own neighbourhood rather than being pulled into the centre of town. The context of Guguletu has thus been successfully maintained as integral to their work.
There was a lot to see, as this show included not only 8 Gugulective members, but also a lot of the artists who participated in the town leg of the show (exhibited at the AVA).
So instead of trying to do justice to the variety of interesting stuff on show, I will just say that I thought this constituted a good moment in the art life of Cape Town. It felt like some progress had been made in communication across the divides which still fracture our society as South Africans.

Labels: Bettina Malcomess, Gugulective, Upstairs/Downstairs