(Greg Streak’s “Fake Empire (Blue Monday).)A huge body of phenomenal art has been an integral part of COP17.
VANSA (Visual Arts Network of SA), the Cape Craft and Design Institute and Business and Arts SA have been working with the national Department of Arts and Culture around the development and realisation of a creative programme for the COP17 event, complementing and synergising with existing initiatives, and in close cooperation with the Department of Environmental Affairs.
VANSA worked on the visual and public art aspects of the programme, and together with a diversity of partners and its network, managed to pull together a range of compelling projects in a short space of time.
One of the VANSA facilitated works is entitled Fake Empire (Blue Monday) by Durban artist Greg Streak who has created a temporary public sculpture alongside the Skate Park and sunken garden.
Streak’s initial point of departure was the collapse of the world economy in September 2008. The artwork is structured around the fluctuations and the Dow Jones Stock Exchange during this period as reflected in a graph, and then superimposed onto a visual device of a cityscape. This structure has then been literally inverted and indigenous plants grow out of this.
Fake Empire (Blue Monday) was commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture in co-operation with Environmental Affairs and the City of Ethekwini.
Streak’s mission statement states: “The pursuit of capitalism appears to be a major obstacle for environmental sustainability. The month of September 2008 marked a collapse, in many ways, of the world’s economies, and shook many of the assumptions underpinning the global economy. The artwork is structured around the fluctuations in the Dow Jones Stock Exchange during this period as reflected in a graph, and then superimposed onto the visual device of a cityscape. This structure has then been literally inverted, and indigenous plants grow out of this.
“All these plants are rescued, orphan plants - discarded and brought back to life by Clive Greenstone,” continues Streak. “The plywood and steel grid are a direct reference to the materials used in city construction. The white plastic facades refer to an anaemic, plastic and unemotional position. The indigenous plants continue to grow, using the cityscape below as a metaphoric compost. A thin red line traces the city from behind as a linear marker, plotted from the original stock exchange graph.”
Greg Streak is a South African artist based in Durban and Amsterdam, who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He is an interdisciplinary practitioner working in sculpture, video, installation and documentary film-making.
The exhibition can be seen opposite the Skate Park, Elangeni Hotel - Durban Beachfront where it will be displayed until December 10. More information can be found on the VANSA website, or COP17 art maps can be picked up in many public spaces.
Posts
