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ART EXHIBIT
The Everyday and the Extraordinary
Venue: South African National Gallery, Government Ave, Cape
Town.
Tel: (021) 467 4669
Gallery Hours: Tue- Son: 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Duration: 9 Sep - 30 Nov 2009
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Cape Town’s Iziko South African National
Gallery is pleased to host an exhibition of the work of one of South
Africa’s most celebrated architects.
Professor Jo Noero is an internationally
renowned South African architect and teacher. His work has been lauded,
exhibited, studied and debated around the world in Lima, Budapest, San
Francisco, Istanbul, Reykjavik, Singapore and Brisbane. Through his work
he has introduced the world to the architecture of the dusty South African
townships as well as the idiosyncratic houses of his unusual and
interesting clients who live in the cities and the suburbs. He has
created important public spaces which have re-defined the role of public
buildings in South Africa. An important example is The Red Location Museum
of Struggle in Port Elizabeth that has made a new kind of museum for
people who were previously denied the opportunity to visit museums. This
building was recognised by his international peers in 2006 when he
received the first Royal Institute of British Architects Lubetkin Award
for the best building in the world outside of the EU. In the words of the
judges, “the Red Location Museum brilliantly rises to the challenge using
architectural skill of the highest order to produce an unforgettable
experience that is both viscerally and intellectually moving… this is an
architectural tour de force.”
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The exhibition - The Everyday and the
Extraordinary - offers an attempt to chart South Africa’s cultural, social
and political change through architecture and is structured around three
decades of design. The 1980s - a period of uncertainty and upheaval, the
1990s - a period of transition and first decade of the 21st century - a
period of transformation. Each decade can be viewed as a reflection of the
state of the country. In its deepest sense Noero’s work is a mirror of our
times.
The 1980s was a period of struggle and
here the work was located in a world of resistance. During this period
Noero designed buildings in the townships around Johannesburg,
predominantly Soweto. The
1990s marked a time of adjustment, change and transformation. At this
point Noero attracted a wider audience and he became sought after not only
in the townships but amongst the ‘movers and shapers’ of the leafy suburbs
of Johannesburg resulting in buildings such as Velocity Film Studios and J
Gus Ackerman offices in Florida. The first
decade of the 21st century is presented as a time of expectation and
optimism. During this period the work has focused on buildings that house
the arts, homes for the like-minded and places of learning and creativity.
Projects include new buildings and additions to St Cyprians School in Cape
Town.
The Everyday and the Extraordinary
will encompass original drawings, models, text and
images of Jo Noero’s work. In addition a number of physical models and
framed original drawings will be exhibited. The work is organised in
panels which comprise three sections. The top section is text, the middle
section comprises selected projects which are described in drawing and
image and the bottom section comprises a time line of projects which chart
the changes that South Africa experienced in the last three decades.
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