ON TOUR

> May 09 : Alliance Française of Gaborone

> June 09 : Alliance Française of Durban

> July/August 09 : Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre in Windhoek

> August 09 : Alliance Française of Cape Town

> September 09 : Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth

> October 09 : Alliance Française of Maseru (Lesotho)

> October / November 09 : Alliance Française of Pretoria

> 19th January 2010 - 5th February : Alliance Française of Johannesburg

For more information
Contact Pauline :
culture.jhb@alliance.org.za
011 646 1169

Nina Barnett is a South African artist who uses sound, video, stop-motion animation and public interventions to map and explore narrative in public space. She graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand’s Fine Arts program in 2006, and since then her work has been seen in as far-reaching locations as New York, Paris, Belgrade and Rotterdam, as well as Johannesburg and Cape Town. She was awarded the Gerard Sekoto Award by the Absa l’Atelier Awards in 2007, giving her a three month residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris. She was awarded a Spier Contemporary Award in 2007 for a collaborative work with Robyn Nesbitt. Nina currently lives in New York.

The Gerard Sekoto award was initiated in collaboration with Absa, the French Embassy, the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and the Alliance Française.

Her exhibition is on tour in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia. This tour starts in Gaborone (Botswana) and will continue for the next few months throughout the Alliance Française network.

About her exhibition...

"The exhibition is concerned with investigating urban spaces and narratives. These investigations have taken the form of stop motion animations, video installations, sound installations and interventions made in urban landscapes. I explore both the idea of journeying and take on the role of the outside observer – the noticing and documenting eye in the midst of an anonymous bustle.

On a recent residency in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts, as the winner of the Gerard Sekoto Award (from August – October 2008), I became particularly interested in the first steps of navigation one takes upon entering an unfamiliar environment. I observed a range of newcomers to Paris streets – the tourists, the West African immigrants, the gypsies. The newcomer’s experience is shaped by an anticipation of the city : its potential mystery, romance and fear.

Positioning oneself using maps, directions and public markers creates a sense of personal purpose and agency, making it possible to feel a certain connection with the environment. This engenders a feeling of solidity and assurance, and allows you to be inquisitive and aware of your presence in the space. This is a comforting, appealing sensation, giving a context and narrative to a circumstance. There is a pre-empted, imagined journey that takes place with a finger on a map, or in a narrative described by a stranger. I worked with this concept extensively during the residency, using maps, guidebooks and vocal directions as starting points for drawings, stop motion animations and sound installations.

On my return to New York, I began relating these observations to my present circumstances – as a recent resident. I began a series of small experiments and interventions that explore similar interests in first encounters, agency in familiarity with a location and the appearance of a native resident." (Nina Barnett).