Editorial

The South African Pavilion opens tonight at the 57th La Biennale di Venezia with Candice Breitz and Mohau Modisakeng representing the country in what is arguably the Olympic Games of the Art World. In lieu of a review, adjective brings you a cartoon and a quick cruise through the canals of social media.

This past weekend the South African art world had the tragic news of the untimely passing of Barend de Wet. We first met in 2008 at Studio 2666 in Commercial Street, just behind parliament in Cape Town. Barefoot and dressed in a skimpy bathrobe, he was demonstrating his mad yo-yo skills. He was very good – a world champion.

Instead, adjective will let you make up your own mind by way of a new section; Picture & Prose. If you haven’t got Issue 1 yet, then this is probably your first time hearing of the idea. It’s quite simple really; taking off the blinkers of orthodoxy by ignoring ‘art’ for a second, it presents a section of writing devoted to the space between words and images. First up is Rosa Lyster, taking angry swims and feeling 25. And in another first, because hey, life is full of firsts, adjective would like to introduce our readers to the cartoons of Georgina Gratrix. They also feature in Issue 1, so sorry internet you won’t be able to see those ones here.

adjective.online has been quiet for a little over a month. We’re sorry. But while ‘away’, dormant, silent, whatever way one might choose to describe internet silence, adjective explored the translation that occurs in the shift from online to paper. A compendium of sorts, the magazine features a highlights package with a few surprises. But before we get there (watch this space), here is a love letter to the vast world of dematerialised information affectionately known as the Internet.

Instead of relying on the outdated distinction of theory and practice (a fundamental injustice to both streams of making) one should see the two as inextricably linked. Art criticism is about the joy that one can find in meaning, however idiosyncratic, that lies at the heart of the object left behind once the artist has taken their leave.

The streets are empty. The gallerists are on holiday, the artists are warily working off what remains of their festive season imbrications and adjective is stretching its legs.

In other news, as the attention of the country was firmly fixed on the proceedings of the Northern Gauteng High Court where the UDM, the EFF, the DA and COPE all sought to have Citizen Number 1 and his cronies’ interdict against the release of the #statecapturereport quashed, a different kind of drama played itself out in the Western Cape High Court.

As South Africa’s universities burn with yet another generation being forced to confront the institutional malaise of a neglectful government, this week’s editorial defers to literature.

This month adjective celebrates it first birthday. Here, on the internet, time is relative. Browse through this little magazine you’ll notice not a year of stories & fables but rather a month.

History is performed over and over again, every day. History is rewritten, reawakened and redressed every time we, in the present, find ourselves at its crossroads.