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wrap wrap is an installation work by Nadine Hutton, inspired by public art projects to beautify the city of Johannesburg ahead of the soccer world cup.
The work has some leftover resources provided by Ms C Foil and AAW Art Project Management and with the help of strong volunteers, including several of the 10 people who live there, to transform a slum building in Troyeville.
The installation is wrapping the building in clingfoil, a transparent reflection on dereliction, neglect and poverty at a time "when not everything can and should be deodorised." The fragile, taught plastic is a see-through reminder of the thin line that separates those with power and the ability to decorate, from those whose lives are are harsh as rubble.
Volunteers assisted the artist to wrap the building beautifully, move and shape rubble and find the artifacts of peoples life.
A day after planning and sending out a call for volunteers, we are informed that the City of Johannesburg will be demolishing the site - it's an eyesore too close to Ellis Park Stadium, and not much of an advertisement for the FIFA World Cup happening on it's doorstep. I decided to continue with the plan.
Diary
Day Two: The installation is starting to show signs of wear already, the wind has blown dust back onto the site and all the soccer balls have been taken. Interested in what value people have placed in them, as opposed to the other valuables we 'excavated'. They were also the only objects we brought to the site, apart from the clingfilm and wooden poles. The residents are using the space. Seated on the 'couches' they trade stories and soak up the winter sun. We are all inspired, perhaps we can make a plan to remove the compacted trash sedimented behind the one wall? We speak about the impending demolition of the site. The residents are almost resigned to the fact but remain just this side of hopeful.
Day Three: The installation is chaos. It is fighting against the order imposed upon it. Tattered and bedraggled, it remakes itself. The wind is ripping it to shreds. Two poles are snapped, leaving jagged edges. I wrap them, blunting them and rebury the poles in bricks, shackling one to a rock in a mass of danger tape. It's too cold and windy for the residents and only one comes out to greet me, curiously amused by my labour. Am I Sisyphus?
On 22 July 2010, the site was demolished, the rubble carted away and the squatters evicted. All that was left was a blank slate.
"The Spirit is Not an Idea, says The Penguin", a group show at Co-Op gallery in Braamfontein, Johannesburg features a new digital work by Nadine Hutton entitled Skirt Invaders, installed on an Arcade Mshini, is an adaption of the classic arcade game Space Invaders.
Curator Katrin Lewinsky asked artists to make an artwork for this exhibition or propose an existing artwork in the context of the title. No further brief was given.
Nadine Hutton Skirt Invaders 2010 Installation, 56x170x71cm 1. Limited Edition of 3 Skirt Invaders Arcade Console Machine+ Full MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulation ±5500 games): R25 000 2. Limited 1st Edition (1 of 100) signed CD copy of the game for installation on your computer Mac + Windows: R500
Domestic violence thrives in South Africa. Those who are not directly involved tend to ignore it, and those who are, would rather not talk about it. The topic is shrouded in a secrecy motivated amongst others by intimidation, shame and the fear of stigmatisation. Sometimes financial dependence prevents victims from speaking out, at other times cultural expectations are to blame, with many factors adding to the already complex relationship between victim, perpetrator and the outside world.
For Domestic, ten female artists including Jodi Bieber, Reshma Chhiba, Zanele Muholi, Alison Kearney and Gabrielle Goliath will exhibit work that is the visual expression of a personal dialogue each one has conducted with a woman who is in some way affected by, or victim of domestic violence.
Curators, Jacki McInnes and Melissa Mboweni, believe that by telling the particular stories of affected individuals, the exhibition will have more relevance for people who may themselves be affected. In addition, the idea of ‘individual stories’ aims to dispel the myth that women affected by domestic violence have character defects and in some way ‘bring domestic violence upon themselves’. The curators say: ‘South Africa boasts one of the most progressive Constitutions in the world and yet our advancement towards human dignity, safety and personal fulfillment will continue to be dogged as long as prejudice, ignorance and social inequality muddy the waters’.
In a world obsessed with the cult of the celebrity, where entertainment is news, the constant eye of the paparazzi feeds an insatiable public a diet of celebrity freaks. Nadine Hutton brought together a collaborative event which takes a satirical look at the mass media freak show.
YOU Faced your fears in the Paparazzi House of Horrors Were Astounded, Shocked, Revolted & Aroused by a Pandora’s Box of celebrity freaks: international curiousity Fred Koenig resurrected Lady Di, Toni Morkel & Anthea Moys were the twin-headed ringmaster Robert Colman was Tina Turnaround on the Red Carpet Outcast clowns were Zuma & Terror Francois Venter was the black bag magician Rat Western was Freakbook Stanimir Stoykov was creepy Britney manager/bodyguard/boyfriend Brian Webber was Britney Bronwyn Lace, Stompie Selebi & Fanito were chaos theory Mika Stefano was glory hole celebrity blogger Lesley Perkes was Cling Form Cleo Patra was Brenda & Mongi Mthombeni was photographer guy in the scary mask Sound by Boris Vukasovic & isadora dustmite junk The Media Watchdog humped your leg
This video, Resurrecting Lady Di, formed part of the Paparazzi House of Horrors installation. It is a found footage fairy tale of the rise and fall of the media princess(s). Nadine Hutton is a photojournalist and video artist working in South Africa.
To see Resurrecting Lady Di please visit the video category. A high quality version is also available on YOUTUBE
Nora leaves a Doll's House and its creators, have been invited to the prestigious Nuit Blanche Festival in Toronto, Canada.
The nine minute artwork, an interpretation of Ibsen's 1879 play, A Doll's House, is a collaboration between Nadine Hutton and Myer Taub.
The work will be screened at the Laluque Atelier Gallery on the 2nd of October 2009.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a feminist play of 1879 that concludes with its protagonist, Nora Helmer, leaving her husband, Torvald, with what George Bernard Shaw called 'the door slam heard around the world.' Nora, Leaving Torvald is a 131th anniversary celebration of this most famous scene from Ibsen. Perspectives on its enduring significance are presented through the contemporary arts media of visual art, ceramic installation, film, and theatre.
Katherine Bishcoping, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of York, Toronto has requested the work to be screened at the festival. And importantly she has asked Taub and Hutton to attend to the festival as guests of the festival and the city of Toronto.
Both the artists see this as an important opportunity not only to discuss their work and process in attendance but also provide positive examples of South African artists working significantly and successfully in South Africa. Both artists believe that their attendance will present a positive image of South Africa to an international and Canadian audience but will provide the possibility of further artistic and creative collaborations between the two countries.
The present financial situation of both artists makes it currently impossible to attend the festival and screening of their video work. Myer Taub and Nadine Hutton are currently seeking financial support to travel to Toronto and attend the Nuit Blanche festival from October 2nd to October 5th 2010.
An in(tro)duction video for the alien visitor to South Africa. This satirical video art piece by Nadine Hutton utilizes aspects of horror reflecting human nature to fear not just the unknown, but assume the worst from superstition and prejudice specifically in relation to alien invasions. Aliens foreigners, immigrants, and people who look or speak differently The Other. Zombies - the mob, mindless automatons left with one desire - consume...consume... consume.
photographs of the white poor on the streets of Sandton
28 July - 21 August 2009
What is poverty? And what is it’s relationship to race? White poverty is not new, or specific to South Africa. Yet perceptions of who can or cannot be poor (or rich) persist in the mind of many of her citizens. In a country where the gap between rich and poor is ever-increasing, poverty in South Africa no longer has an exclusively black face. More and more white people are joining the ranks of the poor on a daily basis. Poverty is becoming less of a racial issue and more of a South African problem. Having been deprived of their previously ‘privileged’ position, the white poor are now seeking ways to adapt or at least survive.
photographs of the white poor on the streets of Sandton
art