JOZI-logo

20 October 2019

#SiteSpecificAfrica

As a Land Art organisation, Site_Specific’s objectives are to help raise awareness of environmental and social issues in an attempt to re-integrate nature and culture.

#JoziLandArt

All of our events are free and open to the public.

JOIN US on Sunday 20 October 2019 at 11h30 for a walkabout in the Rose Garden of the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens to view the interventions of visual and performance artists. Includes creative & public participation, please visit our facebook event page for more information.

You are invited to bring along your mobile and professionals camera's to document our engagements, please share your imagery using our hashtags and include the artists' name.

If you'd like to participate in our performance event, be sure to joins us at 08h00.

Follow our facebook event for information, updates and documentation:

12 May 2019

(no info supplied)

13 May 2018

#SiteSpecificAfrica

As a Land Art organisation, Site_Specific’s objectives are to help raise awareness of environmental and social issues in an attempt to re-integrate nature and culture.

#JoziLandArt

Site_Specific's annual land art event in Johannesburg is co-ordinated by Chris Reinders. If you wish to participate, please contact him at or +27 (0)83 463 3989.

JOIN US on Sunday 13 May 2018 at 12h00 for a walkabout near the Emmarentia Dam wall entrance of the Johannesburg Botanical Garden to view this year's offerings of land and nature art at our annual Site_Specific JOZI Land Art event.

Bring along a picnic basket and visit with participating artists and organisers. The event officially ends at 15h00.

Follow our facebook event for updates and documentation:

14 May 2017 documentation

Each year photographers and illustrators join our event to document the completed artworks. These works are ephemeral in nature, and generally succumb to the natural wear and tear of their environment. Thanks to the creative efforts of photographers these works are captured for posterity - honouring the efforts of participating artists.

Site_Specific is a volunteer collective which means that all participants contribute their efforts with their own resources and labour. We ask that creatives honour and respect each others contributions by referencing who the photographer or artist is in any content that may be published in formal settings. All works produced under the Site_Specific Collective banner are non-commercial in nature, which means that nobody is allowed to profit off their documentation of our events.

All imagery can be shared on a non-commercial basis on condition that the project, the artist and photographer's contributions are respected and honoured in captions and credit information. Please contact the respective artists and photographers for their permission if you cannot meet these conditions, thank you.

For more information contact media@sitespecific.org.za

 

 

 

1 May 2016 documentation

Johannesburg Botanical Garden, Emmarentia

Our fourth JOZI Land Art event was opened by Johan Myburg, critic and doyen of the arts, followed by a walkabout during which each artist introduced their work. As is tradition by now, the event ended in a picnic on the lawn. Autumn was well underway with windy spells, falling leaves, and the arrival of a cold front.

Sleeping figure by Marina Walsh. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art event 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia.

Sleeping figure by Marina Walsh. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art event 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia. Photo: katty vandenberghe.

Around 30 artists created a variety of land and nature artworks in one of the most picturesque parts of the Botanical Gardens. International artist Doris Bloom, Soweto art group Ubuhle Bobuntu, and the Boitumelo Project from Hillbrow participated in this years’ event. A group of sculpture students from the University of Johannesburg also contributed by completing a land art project as one of their assignments.We were also delighted to have a photography club join us this year, adding their own unique vision to the works on display.

Co-ordinated by Chris Reinders, and co-curated by Gordon Froud, this years’ artworks offer testimony to the fact that ephemeral nature art events are gaining momentum within the arts community. Clearly artists are coming to grips with the materials and settings that sites like the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens offer.

Anni Snyman conducted nature art workshops aimed at adults and children, slowly spreading and sharing the gentle practice of nature art.

Site_Specific thanks all those who contributed - we are thrilled to watch the practice of land and nature art grow within the arts community.

As always our events are open and free to the public. If you’d like to support our project, please visit our support us page.

Please visit our facebook & event pages for photo-albums, video works, and artists’ statements.

Spiral by Sarah Fraser. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art event 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia.

Spiral by Sarah Fraser. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art event 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia. Photo: katty vandenberghe.

Natural Symmetry by Lew Rosenberg. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia.

Natural Symmetry by Lew Rosenberg. Site_Specific JOZI Land Art 2016. Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia. Photo: katty vandenberghe.

Ann Marie Tully, ‘Dog Stretch’, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

Ann Marie Tully, ‘Dog Stretch’, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

Dali Tambo installation, Jozi Land Art, November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

Dali Tambo installation, Jozi Land Art, November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

#EmmarentiaGarden

We thank the Johannesburg Botanical Garden Emmarentia for hosting our fourth JOZI Land Art event. The Johannesburg Botanical Garden is open between sunrise & sunset, and falls under the management of City Parks: jhbcityparks.com

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

  • Ubuhle Bobuntu Arts Project
  • Anni Snyman
  • Erica Luttich
  • Boitumelo Project
  • Gordon Froud
  • UJ Sculpture Students
  • Doris Bloom
  • Chris Reinders
  • George Holloway
  • Sarah Grace Fraser
  • Moira McMurray
  • Ronel Wheeler
  • Di Miller
  • Gail Wilson
  • Lew Rosenberg
  • Louise Kritzinger
  • katty vandenberghe
  • Seitisho Motsage
  • Mignon Modema
  • Lothar Botcher
  • Jade Holling
  • Marina Walsh
  • Silvana Smith
  • Julie Lovelace
  • David Ceruti

UJ Sculpture Students

  • Lehlogonolo Ledwaba
  • Specs Ndimande
  • Vanessa Tembane
  • Zinhle Zwane
  • Lebohang Kganye
  • Jarrad Jay Roos

Ubuhle Bobuntu Arts

  • Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe
  • Mzie Gojo
  • Thulani Zondo
  • Sinalithemba Ntuli
  • Virginia Ramovha
  • Thabo Molapo
  • Mightar Makgotla

boitumelo-logo-s

  • Naledzani Matshinge (project coordinator)
  • Emmanuel Retshipile Lebata
  • Pauline Nemuhula
  • Lilian Akaenyi
  • Gcebile Azu
  • Cinani Jele
  • Ivon Tinash Kaliati
  • Charity Amy Ncube
  • Nonhlanhla Hendrick Ndlela
  • Daphne Nkosi
  • Thembi Patience Taruana
  • Duduzile Goodness Xaba

PLEASE SUPPORT US!

LINKS

CONTACT

For more information contact the Site_Specific JOZI Land Art co-ordinator Chris Reinders at or +27 (0)83 463 3989.

Suzanne Shaw, ‘Re-integration’, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

Suzanne Shaw, ‘Re-integration’, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson

8 - 10 May 2015 Documentation

We thank Jenny Crwys-Williams for opening our 3rd JOZI Land Art event at the Johannesburg Botanical Garden in Emmarentia. Besides our participating artists, children and adults were invited to make their own land art interventions. The temporary land and nature artworks were exhibited in the areas alongside the path running from the old entrance at the Oliphants Road parking area, down to the shore of the Emmarentia Dam.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

  • Lucas Thobajane (featured artist)
  • Lothar Böttcher
  • Anni Snyman
  • Erica Luttich
  • Boitumelo
  • Gordon Froud
  • Chris Reinders
  • George Holloway
  • Moira McMurray
  • Sybrand Wiechers
  • Ronel Wheeler
  • Yannis Generalis
  • Di Miller
  • Gail Wilson
  • Lew Rosenberg
  • Suzanne Shaw
  • Marilyn du Toit
  • Chantel Marais
  • UJ Sculpture Students

EVENT LINKS

31 October - 2 November 2014 Documentation

“Nature speaks to us all the time... but we do not hear. Nature reveals her beauty all the time …but we do not see. Nature everywhere reveals the scars left by us ...but we look the other way. It takes the artist to act as nature’s interpreter ...and that is what I see at this marvellous exhibition. Here, the artist lets the fallen leaves and flower petals, the twigs and trees, the blades of invasive grass and the stones ...speak for themselves. So we here we have a narrative, an aesthetic and a celebration of nature ...all at the same time.

For me, one of the most powerful messages I get from this exhibition is the loud comment on materialism. These artworks are here today and gone tomorrow. They are transient but permanently etched in the minds and hearts of those lucky enough to see them. They cannot be removed and hung up on vanity’s sterilised and climate-controlled wall. It’s this message which says that not everything of beauty and value can be bought and sold. None of these great pieces you see around you can be owned. They will forever remain art and not ever become possessions.”

Opening speech by Valli Moosa, JOZI Land Art exhibition, Emmarentia, 2 November 2014.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Yannis Generalis and Sybrand Wiegers, ‘Dragon’ detail, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson.

Yannis Generalis and Sybrand Wiegers, ‘Dragon’ detail, Jozi Land Art November 2014. Photo: Gail Wilson.

EVENT LINKS

5 & 6 April 2014 Documentation

Angus Taylor was the featured artist for our first JOZI Land Art event. He generously donated one of his larger-than-life thatched heads to the Johannesburg Botanical Garden as the main feature of this event.

Sybrand Wiechers, “CRAK!” (‘Yes, it is.’). Sybrand decided to bring his sculpting studio into the garden to work on a large branch that had broken off the top half of a tree during a particularly rough Gauteng storm. Working on site, he chopped and saw-chained the wood into the pop art reference “CRAK!” by Roy Lichtenstein, originally inspired by a french cartoon of a gun shot. Thinking about the philosophical question: 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’, Sybrand makes sure we can read it. Photo: Gail Scott Wilson.

Sybrand Wiechers, “CRAK!” (‘Yes, it does.’). Sybrand decided to bring his sculpting studio into the garden to work on a large branch that had broken off the top half of a tree during a particularly rough Gauteng storm. Working on site, he chopped and saw-chained the wood into the pop art reference “CRAK!” by Roy Lichtenstein, originally inspired by a french cartoon of a gun shot. Thinking about the philosophical question: 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’. Photo: Gail Scott Wilson.

Facebook Site_Specific JOZI Land Art
Pinterest pinterest.com/sitespecificafr/jozilandart

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

The Site_Specific land art team was pleased to have previous participants and a group of newcomers joining in:

Colleen Winter, ‘Cube I, II, III’. Artists’ statement: “We exist within cycles and they exist within us. Whether we recognise and acknowledge them or not, they are ever present. In our so-called sophisticated society, no matter how hard we try to define and ‘box’ the world around us there will always be some things that cannot be contained, and they will eventually fall apart, disintegrate, and be subject to cycles.” Photograph by katty vandenberghe.

Colleen Winter, ‘Cube I, II, III’. Artists’ statement: “We exist within cycles and they exist within us. Whether we recognise and acknowledge them or not, they are ever present. In our so-called sophisticated society, no matter how hard we try to define and ‘box’ the world around us there will always be some things that cannot be contained, and they will eventually fall apart, disintegrate, and be subject to cycles.” Photograph by katty vandenberghe.

SUPPORTERS

The Site_Specific project always relies on the generous support of fellow artists, friends, families, and businesses who donate their skill, time, and services. Site_Specific would like to thank:

  • Angus Taylor & Dionysus Sculpture Works for donating ‘Belated Wake II’
  • The invited artists who all participated without funding: Erynne Ewart-Phipps, Gordon Froud, Yannis Generalis, Angelique Koekemoer, Erica Lüttich, Moira McMurray, Musha Neluheni, Blessing Ngobeni, Sam Nhlengethwa, Chris Reinders, Anni Snyman, Angus Taylor, Sybrand Wiechers, Izanne Wiid, and Colleen Winter.
  • The Johannesburg Botanical Garden & Johannesburg City Parks for providing the venue
  • The Joburg Flower & Garden Show (promotion & facilities)
  • DPI (Dots Per Inch) Print in Malvern (printing)
  • Quality Dimension Services (transport)
  • Red Art Projects (marketing)
  • The African Moon Press (event co-ordination)
  • Streets & Stages (video & photography)
  • [•]squareDot Media (web media)
  • Different Angles Communications (press)
  • and all the media outlets & supporters who’ve helped to promote our event
Anni Snyman, ‘Thaga’s Place’. An autumn leaf illustration of a resident Cape Robin, alternatively known as ‘Thaga’ in Tswana, and ‘Jan Frederick’ in Afrikaans. Honouring the presence of ‘Thaga’ brought it’s constant company as ongoing reference, and amazingly, invited it’s song as Anni was talking about why she chose it as subject during the walkabout. We believe this was no accident. Photograph by Caroline Henderson.

Anni Snyman, ‘Thaga’s Place’. An autumn leaf illustration of a resident Cape Robin, alternatively known as ‘Thaga’ in Tswana, and ‘Jan Frederick’ in Afrikaans. Honouring the presence of ‘Thaga’ brought it’s constant company as ongoing reference, and amazingly, invited it’s song as Anni was talking about why she chose it as subject during the walkabout. Photograph by Caroline Henderson.