Object Relations – Essays and Images, edited and photographed by Stephen Inggs is to be launched at Centre of African Studies Gallery, with a concurrent exhibition.
Why is it that certain objects we encounter grab our attention and intrigue us? Is it, perhaps, the physical presence or aesthetic pleasure to which we respond? These aspects influence our reception, but what provides them with this particular agency? When objects have the capacity to jolt our imagination and to tell us something new about the world, they provoke a response – whether emotional or intellectual.
Following his retrospective exhibition, Index, which focused on the visual representation of overlooked material objects and places, as emblems of transience and history, Professor Stephen Inggs invited academic staff from the University of Cape Town to explore ideas about the meaning of objects in their lives.
There is a potency that lies in these associations and traces. From a hockey whistle, Prince Pro tennis racket, leather satchel and faded letter, to a tattered Teddy Bear and 2 x 5 cm cylinder of “plastic scintillator”, these objects have provided each academic with inspiration, solace and remembrance.
In celebrating the agency of objects, photographs from Professor Stephen Inggs’ collection will be combined with a new series of sensitive object portraits of staff members. The opening will coincide with the launch of a book compiled from these photographs and each academic’s written ode to their object.
WHAT & WHEN: Book Launch Event: Thursday 29 October, 17:30. Exhibition Runs: Thursday 23 October – Friday 31 October 2014, 10:00 – 13:00 Monday – Friday
WHERE: Centre for African Studies Gallery, UCT Upper Campus, Rondebosch 7700, Cape Town
Stephen Inggs is a Professor in Print media and former Director of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. Inggs exhibits his work both locally and internationally, on both solo and group exhibitions, and art fairs such as AIPAD, Art Chicago, Photo LA, A.r.e.a. Art Region End of Africa in Reykjavik, Iceland and the International Print Triennial in Krakow, Poland where he was a prizewinner in 2003. Inggs’ work is held in numerous collections, including Iziko South African National Gallery, Durban Art Gallery, University of Cape Town, Rand Merchant Bank, MTN, Sanlam, Northwestern University, the Library of Congress and the Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, USA.
His research interests include the study of objects and places in a wide variety of disciplines and fields. Projects have been largely located in lithography, photography and printmaking, each of which has had a complex history and relationship to issues of identity and the politics of knowledge. The influence of aesthetic criteria in printmaking and photography is an ongoing concern that has informed his creative production.
