UPCOMING EXHIBITION: Crossing - Ho tšela - Travessia (2026 - 2027)

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Participating artists with links to CV's: 

Adelle van Zyl, Celia de Villiers, Daniel Mosako, Kabelo Maja, Gwenneth Miller and Teresa Almeida,

 

Crossing - Ho tšela - Travessia (2026 - 2027), will be opening in February 2027 at Unisa Art Gallery, South Africa, and in April 2027 at Museu e Gabinete de Exposições at Porto University, Portugal. ​The use of three languages in the title signifies the diversity of cultural origins and will explore the bridging between places and people. The challenge of the project leans into the nature of transnationalism whilst striving to resist the neutralisation of assimilation.

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In the current fragility of world peace and cultural harmony, the project considers the role of art in creating places of connection. Our inquiry will be experimental with material dialogues and a common goal of critically considering the concept of crossings. The site-specificity of objects, plants or materials across distances carries ecological weight and anecdotes of histories. The gravity of politics around the Strait of Hormuz, which captured the emotions of the world, bears a complex understanding of what a crossing might entail and demands the reaffirmation of meaningful agency. We envisage that as academic artists and cultural mirrors, the material and cultural exchange will add innovative reflection of our interwoven nature of existence. This collaboration could develop aesthetic tools for social cohesion despite systemic violence.

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All six artists have collaborated in earlier projects and worked across a range of media.

 

On the one hand, all six artists have worked across a range of media and have extensive experience of installation, curation and mentoring younger artists. On the other hand, each has a favoured medium: Almeida in cast glass, Maja in constructed glass and three-dimensional installations, Miller in ink, Van Zyl in oil paint, Mosako in dry pigment layering and De Villiers in fibre art. The artists will work in situ during month-long periods before each exhibition – first in South Africa and then in Portugal. In each case, the educational journey will be a tracing of steps and objects exchanged between local audiences, which will also activate student and public conversations. Apart from the post-colonial ties between Portugal and South Africa, all the participating individuals have close personal experiences of the impact of transcultural bridges on their lives.

 

The exhibition concept will also be presented at the Venice conference, ICOM Glass 2027, by Teresa Almeida, to show the outcomes of the project to an interdisciplinary audience. 

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