Introduction
Tracey Rose (born in 1974, Durban, South Africa) is one of the leading figures in South African contemporary art, which only emerged following the end of apartheid in the early 1990s. The artist has continued to attract attention with her radical performances and commentary on South Africa’s political and social transformation from apartheid to Nelson Mandela’s so-called ‘rainbow nation.’ The issues Tracey Rose’s work focuses on relate not only to the reality of life in South Africa, but also to general experiences of racist, political, and sexist discrimination. The power of performance art and the body, which for Tracey Rose is a site of protest, resistance, healing, and discourse, plays a central role in her artistic practice.
The exhibition’s title Shooting Down Babylon derives from the video sculpture of the same name, which was created in 2016 in response to Donald Trump’s election victory. Tracey Rose undertook a series of cleansing rituals, which she filmed and then presents in a physically immersive video sculpture. As a prelude to the current exhibition, this particular work illustrates the extent to which Tracey Rose’s work is rooted in the corporeal, in anger, and a search for spirituality.
The exhibition, featuring around one hundred works of art produced between 1990 and 2021, encompasses the media and concerns central to Rose’s practice. The artist transfers the performative to film, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and painting, always situating the body at the center of the work, a strategy that is challenging to the audience. For her subversive interventions, she employs public expressions of both mourning and indictment, as well as highly satirical appropriations, together with an absurd, theatrical staging.
Tracey Rose laments, denounces, satirizes, and attacks. The artist continually questions established cultural, gender, and ethnic identities. She creates fissures in the social veneer, going so far as to even rethink the origin narratives in mythology and religion. In doing so, questions addressing healing from traumatic experiences, whether of a personal or communal nature, take an increasingly important role. In the artist’s opinion, Christianity is ill-equipped for such an undertaking, as it is burdened by a colonial past, while what in fact is required is a new type of spirituality, one that goes beyond the notions of monotheistic religions and which also includes an African outlook.
Ten newly commissioned works were created specifically for the current exhibition, which are part of Tracey Rose’s ongoing series Mandela Balls. Based on Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem (A Dream Deferred) which reflects on the plight of unfulfilled dreams, the artist is constructing a total of 95 monuments to former freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, corresponding to the number of years in his life. In each individual, fragile, and sometimes bizarre object, she addresses what legacy remains from his new beginning full of hope.
The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, where it was on view from February to August 2022. Tracey Rose’s video T.K.O. (Technical Knockout) (2000), however, has been in Kunstmuseum Bern’s collection since 2001 as part of Stiftung Kunsthalle Bern’s holdings.
Statement
Shortly before the opening of the exhibition Tracey Rose. Shooting Down Babylon, it became known through media research that the artist Tracey Rose had signed an open letter ‘A Letter against Apartheid’ in 2021. This open letter was signed by several thousand people from the world of art and culture and published by the art platform e-flux, among others. (againstapartheid.com)
This ‘Letter against Apartheid’ has been met with criticism. Jonathan Kreutner, Secretary General of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, criticized the letter: ‘The petition, that the artist is supporting is indeed very strong. This is not an attitude, but blindness and pure political framing,’ he says. In this sense, apartheid is also used as a fighting term. ‘The artist‘s support for this action makes it clear that she obviously represents radical and not constructive positions.’
The Kunstmuseum Bern stands for an open, polyphonic discourse with art and a dialogue of values with society. Tracey Rose is an important contemporary artist whose work of the last thirty years addresses discrimination, racism, and sexism in an expressive manner.
Tracey Rose has Jewish and Muslim roots. She condemns the cruel attacks by Hamas on Israel and the severe retaliatory measures by the Israeli government, which also affect the unarmed civilian population in Palestine. She condemns all forms of Islamophobia, racism and anti-Semitism and has spoken out clearly in favour of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. ‘I believe in the right of the state of Israel and the state of Palestine to exist.’
As a museum, we stand firmly against all forms of discrimination. Our institution is committed to equality, inclusivity, and respect for the dignity of every individual. We condemn all forms of terrorism, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, discrimination, sexism and misanthropy.
As a Swiss public museum, the Kunstmuseum Bern / Paul Klee Centre sees itself as a platform for an open and polyphonic discourse of works of art and a dialogue of values with society. The guiding principle is the endeavour to address pressing contemporary issues from the resources of our collections and in a curatorial framework to a broad public. We take up social discourses and create a space for the discussion of controversial positions.
In a world facing multiple and far-reaching crises, our democratic coexistence is being put to the test. It is a time when the strength of human connections, the depth of friendships and the endurance of alliances are being challenged more than ever. These challenges remind us how closely our destinies are intertwined and how important it is to work together to maintain dialogue, stability, peace and solidarity.
Kunstmuseum Bern, 20.2.2024
Biography
Tracey Rose, Courtesy Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
Tracey Rose (b. 1974, South Africa) is best-known for her revolutionary performative practice which often translates to and is accompanied by photography, video, installation, and digital prints. Often described as absurd, anarchic, slapdash and carnivalesque, Rose’s work explores themes around post-coloniality, gender and sexuality, race and repatriation.
Rose was born in Durban, South Africa. In 1990 she joined the Johannesburg Art Foundation before obtaining a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1996. In 2004 Rose attended The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance and later obtained her Master of Fine Arts, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK in 2007. She currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rose has taken part in several residencies including: Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire, UK (2014); DAAD, Berlin, Germany (2012/13); Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt (2012); Cruzes, Montevideo, Uruguay (2011); Khoj International Artists Workshop, Vasind, India (2005); Africa 2005 Residency, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK, (2004).
She has exhibited widely internationally, most notably: Shooting Down Babylon, Zeitz MOCAA, South Africa and Queens Museum, USA (2023); May You Live in Interesting Times South African National Pavilion, 58thLa Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2016); False Flag, Art Parcours, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2016); Toro Salvaje, Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016); Waiting for God, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa and Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2011); Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany (2017); Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (2010); Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands (2008); Africa Remix, The Haywood Gallery, London, UK and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2005).
Accompanying programm
Werke im Gespräch
mit café révolution
Einstündiger Rundgang und Austausch mit Besucher:innen und dem Berner Kollektiv café révolution. café révolution lädt ein, die rassistischen, sexistischen und kolonialen Strukturen, welche die Künstlerin in ihrem Werk anprangert, auf lokaler Ebene zu hinterfragen.
Sonntag, 12:00: 25.02.24
Sonntag, 11:00: 03.03.24 / 24.03.24 / 30.06.24
Dienstag, 19:00: 02.07.24
mit der Kuratorin
Einstündiger Rundgang und Austausch mit Besucher:innen und der Kuratorin Kathleen Bühler.
Dienstag, 19:00: 12.03.24 / 21.05.24
mit dem Team der Kunstvermittlung
Sonntag, 11:00: 07.04.24 / 28.04.24 / 12.05.24 / 02.06.24 / 16.06.24 / 14.07.24 / 04.08.24 / 11.08.24
Dienstag, 19:00: 26.03.24 / 16.04.24 / 25.06.24 / 23.07.24
im Rahmen der Museumsnacht
Kurzführungen durch die Ausstellung und gestalterisches Angebot im Atelier der Kunstvermittlung.
Freitag, 15. März 2024
Kunst und Religion im Dialog
Kathleen Bühler im Gespräch mit André Flury (Katholische Kirche Region Bern)
Sonntag, 24. März 2024, 15:00
Impressum
Tracey Rose. Shooting Down Babylon
Kunstmuseum Bern
23.02.–11.08.2024
Curators: Koyo Kouoh (Director and Chief Curator Zeitz MOCAA) and Tandazani Dhlakama (Curator Zeitz MOCAA) in collaboration with Kathleen Bühler (Chief Curator Kunstmuseum Bern)
Curatorial assistant: Nina Liechti
Exhibition catalogue: Tracey Rose. Shooting Down Babylon, Published by Koyo Kouoh and The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA)
Digital Guide:
Implementation: NETNODE AG
Project: Martin Stadelmann, Cédric Zubler
With the support of:
KUNSTMUSEUM BERN
Hodlerstrasse 12, CH-3011 Bern
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info@kunstmuseumbern.ch
kunstmuseumbern.ch/TraceyRose