Sober & Lonely Annual - April 2011 to April 2012

ANNUAL/

1 APRIl 2011 to 1 APRIL 2012

SOBER & LONELY INSTITUTE / FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

INDEX/ YELLOW - DEAR FRIENDS PINK

- RESIDENCY PROGRAMME

GREEN

- OH MY OH MY

BLUE

- FEATURED PROJECTS

YELLOW

- FOOTNOTES

DEAR FRIENDS

This is the first Annual we’ve put together. It is a collection of projects, residencies and events that we have hosted as part of the Sober & Lonely Institute for Contemporary Art between 1 April 2011 and 1 April 2012. It was a busy first year. We experimented with different forms and durations of the Suburban Residency Programme. It was nice having artists stay over for a month at a time. It was also nice having artists in the house for only 24 hours. We did a project where we installed a new exhibition each week for eighteen weeks. We also hosted some once off events for a small audience as well as screenings and interventions. We spent a lot of time focusing on communication through thought transferal between ourselves, collaborating artists, and our imagined audience. On 1 April 2012 we were in the sky, flying from different continents to meet in a blizzard in Helsinki where we reflected on the past year, put these pages together, planned for a new year, and lay the foundations for building a teleportation device.

Love,

Robyn & Lauren

THANKS AND SPANKS

PETE AND AGNES, PAT AND MAJOR, VANSA, JOSEPH, LESTER, ANTHEA AND ANTHEA’S BROTHER JOSH, JOSH, JARED, JAMES, DINEO, DINA, NATALIE, GERMAINE, PIETER, DANI, GEORGINA, MOM, DAD, MOM, DAD, KIRSTY, KEITH / BREWMASTER BROTHERKEITH MACDADDY, LUCY, SUSAN, BAS, DAVE, HEDWIG, BIANCA, NICHOLAS, MALOSE AND RA, TIFFANY, SAME, TAMMY, ROBYN, NINA, MAKANDAL, SAM, JESSIE, GRACE, AMY, GEORGIA, NDAX, FRAN, AUDREY, JIM, NOOR, GREG, VAUGHN, PIERRE, ANNE, NIKLAUS, LIZA, SIMON, RUTH, LIEZEL, BRONWYN, MARCUS, EMI, SARAH, KYLE, DESHUN, MIET, JAVIER, ANNELIES (#1 FACEBOOK FAN), SHANE, CARL, BRONWEN, PORTIA, DAVID, GOETHE, JULIAN, GRANNY, JONO, ANG MANCOCK, CLARE, MR MARTIN HASE, EDWIGE, GENNA, LAURA, CHRIS THE POOL GUY, MARKO, JAN, RONALD, JONATHAN, ANTHEA, EDOUARD, AND ESPECIALLY THE GRUMPY GUY FROM POST, ISABELA, LEONARD, RUDY (RIP), BROWN, ARTHUR/STANLEY, DAYON, TIM, ERIC, PAUL, PIPPA, SARAH, SHERRY, CONNIE, ROBERT, NIXON, THE AUTHOR OF BANANAPHONE, KURT.

TELEPATHIC CONNECTIONS8:

GENNA GARDINI TALKS TO US ABOUT TELEPATHY AND INTERNET CATS. (ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ART SOUTH AFRICA V10.2) DECEMBER 2011

FIRST OFF, WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SOBER & LONELY INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART AND HOW WAS IT ESTABLISHED? In 2005 we began working as a collaborative partnership under the name Sober & Lonely, focusing mainly on performative actions. We went our separate ways geographically in 2009 (One of us based in Durban and the other in Gent, Belgium) always maintaining a strong working relationship with long distance projects. We met again physically for the first time in June 2010 for a residency at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center in New York, where initially the intention was to focus on producing a new body of work. However, while there we thought a lot about what we saw as a lack of non-commercial platforms for artists back home. To our collective mind there seemed to be few arenas for emerging artists to show project based work as well as a lack of dialogue between South African and international artists. Knowing that we’d both only be based in Johannesburg again in 2011, we started putting together plans to launch the Sober & Lonely Institute for Contemporary Art (SLICA). Essentially we planned to open up a mobile platform and areas for exchange to encourage participation between South African and international artists. The conceived Institute is a non-prescriptive platform, including but not exclusively focused on, a residency programme, exhibitions, screenings, events, talks, an online archive etc. SLICA essentially remains an extension of Sober & Lonely’s artistic practice.

ARE PEOPLE ENCOURAGED TO PROPOSE WORKS TO SLICA OR DO YOU GENERALLY WORK BY COMMISSIONING WORKS BY SPECIFIC ARTISTS? There is no prescribed way in which we conceive a project. Sometimes it is driven by a specific artist who we want to collaborate with, other times there is a research framework that works as a starting point to include particular artists or art works. We are always open to proposals and suggestions from

interested parties.

BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT THE RESIDENCY AND S&L’S OTHER PROGRAMMES, I’M VERY INTERESTED IN WHY SO MANY OF YOUR PROJECTS AND PERFORMANCES SEEM TO BE CONCERNED WITH TELEPATHY. YOUR OH MY OH MY, FROM THE ANNALS OF A GREAT TELEPATHIC AFFAIR AND THEN THE PERFORMANCE PIECE FROM THE JOBURG ART FAIR BOTH PLAYED WITH THE NOTION OF SILENTLY TRANSMITTING THOUGHTS FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER. COULD YOU SPEAK A LITTLE ABOUT THE PROJECTS AND WHERE THE INTEREST IN TELEPATHY STEMS FROM? Mindful of our imminent separation at the end of 2008 – we began exploring the possibility of long distance thought transferal in order to continue our working relationship. In our last collaboration in 2008 we made a work entitled An Attempt to Create a Telepathic Connection for a Long Distance Relationship. We spent the next two years exploring this way of communication. One of our grandfathers was a practicing magician and telepathist in South Africa in the 1960’s and 1970’s and from that we received our initial training. We found that this way of working was fruitful for us and were keen to open up this means of communication to other artists. Now that we are both physically in Johannesburg again there is an opportunity to include other artists in this dialogue. This platform creates the possibility to show work that doesn’t require funding and complex logistics, relying purely on sincerity. To us, the idea of telepathy seems like a logical way to deal with time and space restrictions inherent in a contemporary South African art context.

AT THE JOBURG ART FAIR, SLICA PRESENTED (ALTHOUGH THAT MAY BE A BIT OF A STRETCH, SINCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE PIECE UNTIL AFTER THE FACT) JAMES WEBB’S SPECTRE, AN ARTWORK THAT INVOLVED SOMEONE WALKING AROUND THE FAIR WITH A CELLPHONE JAMMER HIDDEN ON THEIR PERSON. WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE TO THIS PIECE LIKE? There was little response. The work was ephemeral and quiet. For SLICA this was an important project in terms of our ability to create a participatory act in a non-commercial way. The fact that SLICA is a non-prescriptive

platform allows us to engage with projects such as James Webb’s Spectre – there is no need to market or sell the work in a way that could be detrimental to both the artist and organisation.

YOUR LATEST PROJECT IS THE 24 HOUR SUBURBAN RESIDENCY. COULD YOU OUTLINE WHAT THE RESIDENCY ENTAILS AND WHO COULD APPLY TO IT? It is unclear as to how long we will have access to the SLICA house so we want to offer the space to as many interested artists/curators/writers as possible while we have the opportunity. The sporadic way in which this programme can develop reflects how Sober & Lonely works, and will hopefully open the door to many new collaborations.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO OFFER DAY-LONG (AS OPPOSED TO, SAY, WEEK OR MONTHLONG) RESIDENCIES? We’ve had three separate month-long programmes which proved beneficial to both SLICA and the artists involved and now want to experiment with shorter residencies that will hopefully allow more artists to be engage and collaborate with SLICA in the limited timeframe that we have.

AND, FINALLY, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM SLICA IN THE FUTURE? There are many things on our agenda at present that we are excited about, including a fiction publication, a collaboration with a secretive Edinburgh based organisation and a collection of internet cats.

2011/2012 RESIDENCY PROGRAMME JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

JULY 2011 - NINA BARNETT & ROBYN NESBITT SUBURBAN RESIDENCY http://www.coexistent.net/

THE FIRST GLIMPSE 2011 from ‘Where are we exactly - are we near the island?’

OUTLET, Johannesburg, South Africa

Word association by Sober & Lonely for Robnina1: Island, pineapple, fruit, vagina, penis, envy, green, giant, pea, soup, banana, phone, ring, ring, banaphone, badger, dingalingaling, ring ring, polony, Mahoney, bomboney, macaroni, spaghetti, cheese, sauce, wors, braai, tongs, fran burger, wendy, house, mouse, rat, tail, wings, bird, janine, dina’s friend, gav, nick, nesbitt, emilio, robert, ring, bing, bingo, ringo, star, nose, cup, oxford, dictionary, pictionary, pencil, pen, ben, big, horse, pony, macaroni, cheese, cheddar, gouda, clogs, pugs, hugs, chugs, jugs, mugs, bugs, spider, bathroom, spiderpig, fat, cat, lester, tyra, vaseline, cream, cow, milk, coffee, tea, talk, walk, pork, spiderpig, bacon, macon, facon, tits mcgee, betty boop, shoop shoop, de doop, garfield, lasagne, cheese, cheddar, gouda, fishpaste, bovril, cow, sheep, pig, cute, dog, frog, pool, vomit, slime, vomit, red wine, white wine, white whine, pine, cone, christmas, tree, leaf, island.

JULY 2011 - DINEO BOPAPE2 SUBURBAN RESIDENCY http://seshee.blogspot.com/

AUGUST 2011 - FRANCIS BURGER3 SUBURBAN RESIDENCY

7 JANUARY - TALLULAH JAMES & KIDU4 24 HOUR RESIDENCY

EXCERPT FROM ORIGINAL

compose simple songs around

PROPOSAL:

the lyrics. Kidu taught his

Model

c

started

as

collaborative

a

project

sister the

to

sing

melodica

and

and

master

sampler.

between Kidu and his sister

They would then sit in their

Robyn in 2006. They wanted to

old domestic helper’s room

work on a project together,

and

coming from very different

till the early hours of the

artistic backgrounds; their

morning; it made them both

diaries

very happy.

of

became

a

inspiration.

boundary project They

or was

would

The

rule to

source

be

for

come

entries

and

their

music

only this

http://soundcloud.com/kidu-

honest.

and-tallulah-james/24-hour-

together

once a week to shares their dairy

perform

develop

them into lyrics. Kidu would

sober-lonely

8 JANUARY - OPEN DRAWER PROJECTS 24 HOUR RESIDENCY EXCERPT FROM ORIGINAL PROPOSAL:

• Set up in the morning at the house • 3 main interventions installed 1. A lead ball will be suspended from a cable in the ceiling. The ball, attached to a winch, will function as a drawing device marking a sheet of paper on the floor.

2. The pool’s water (a fluid horizon) will be circulated through the house in a transparent tube and deposited back into the pool.

3. A horizon line will be drawn onto the walls throughout the house. The line will be created by both the artists and the people who come to see the show. The horizon will constitute each drawers individual outward view.

• In the evening, host the opening • Following day de-install and restore the house

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 8 JANUARY

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 8 JANUARY

10 JANUARY - AMY WATSON & ANTHEA MOYS5 24 HOUR RESIDENCY IN CONVERSATION WITH COLLEEN WAFER 10th of January 2012:

AW:When did you begin working at WITS as the slide librarian?

CW:I started in Senate House in June 1983. We were very busy, also with national and international requests, we had a reputation as having the best African and South African collections.

AW:When was the library first established and located?

CW:The Slide Library was started at the History of Art Department in the early 60’s by Prof Martienssen. Images were made from books or ordered from special Slide Libraries from London, New York and Germany.

AW:What was the original collection, and who was the intended audience for it?

CW:Taken over by Prof. Nevil Dubow, then the head of Art History as a teaching tool.

AW:Who was responsible for the library?

CW:Prof. Alan Crump really grew the Slide Library and nurtured it.

It grew to almost 500’000 slides from about 10’000. He was passionate about it.

AW:When was the library first under threat?

CW:The Library came under threat in 2006/7 with the increase of digital technology. It was really threatened in 2010, when the first clear-out started. In 2011 lots were thrown away, I have squirreled away as much as possible. Now only African and South African slides remain, which the department has asked that I get rid of before the students return.

Slide librabry from the Olden days at Wits

CONVERSATION BETWEEN ANTHEA AND HER BROTHER JOSHUA Tuesday the 10th of January 2012:

A: Hi Josh! How you?

J: Hi Ant, I’m cool and you?

A: Cool thanks. Hey Josh where are you?

J: At home... Why? A: I’ve got a bit of a strange request...

J: Shoot A: Amy and I are doing this art residency thing and we need someone to climb the highest tree in the garden and tell us what they see...

J: Yaaa...

A: So... I thought of you - would you be able to come round and climb the tree?!

J: Ok, sure, why not?

A: Great! Why not indeed. Thank you.

J: Ok! See you in a bit.

JOSH CLIMBS UP THE TALLEST TREE ON THE PROPERTY, UP TO THE HIGHEST POINT. Anthea and Amy: Ok now tell us what you see…

Josh: I can see roofs, I can see a chimney, I can see...three...lights of a tennis court I can see telephone lines, A fir tree… I think that’s an oak tree…

Uumm… I can see….(strains his neck) what looks like a sky light on top of the roof there, I can see the shed (looks down) I can see you lovely people That’s about it!

Blue skies.

Clouds.

15 JANUARY - BIANCA BALDI 24 HOUR RESIDENCY EXCERPT FROM ORIGINAL PROPOSAL:

Dear Lauren,

My dates for SA are now a little clearer. I am aiming for the weeks between 5th Jan and 15th Jan as I will be up North for some research. Are you closing for the holidays around this time at all ?

I gave some thought to the residency and I feel that this would be an opportune moment to screen some material related to my research trip even though the project is still in progress. In short, I am looking at a Frank Sinatra concert that was held at Sun City a year after it opened in 1981 during the cultural boycott.

I would like to propose a screening of this event with Shrimp cocktail at the Sober and Lonely Institute, how does this sound? Do you have a pool, I am totally dreaming of summer!

Bianca Baldi

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 15 JANUARY

22 JANUARY - PORTIA MALATJIE 24 HOUR RESIDENCY RESIDENCY REPORT:

What does it mean to be an emerging curator in the contemporary art landscape? With the current growth of curatorial practice, which is accelerated by the growing curatorial courses at universities, a number of emerging curators are negotiating their spaces in contemporary curatorial practice. This was the premise of the curatorial residency at the SLICA house on 22 January 2012. The participants, all involved in curatorship, whether traditional or alternative, presented ideas about their practice. The presentations morphed more into a expanded conversation, spanning 7 hours, and the results of which yielded no apparent conclusion. This lack of resolution will be the premise of the next seminar I will organise on curatorship where some of the debates that arose from this talk will be explored further.

24-Hour Suburban Residency 2011/2012: Curatorial Practice Sober and Lonely Institute for Contemporary Art

Programme Date: Sunday, 22 January 2012 (15 minutes presentation, 10 minutes discussion= 25 minutes per participant) 09h30 – 10h00: Arrival and Tea 10h00 – 10h10

Introduction Portia Malatjie, Lauren von Gogh, Robyn Cook

10h10- 10h35

Curatorial Discourse: Making Sense of Independent Curatorial Practice Portia Malatjie

10h35- 11h00

Enclosures: Navigating the Lion’s Den. (Reflections on group curating) Tiffany Mentoor

11h00- 11h25

Finding the Contemporary within the Print Landscape Robyn Nesbitt 11h25- 11h45: Tea Break

11h45- 12h10

Fierce Festival Caravan of Artists: the international and the hyperlocal Laura McDermott

12h10- 12h35

Curator by Default Tammy Langtry

12h35 – 13h00

Outlet: Towards a Reading of how the Edge Defies the Centre Shane de Lange 13h00- 14h00: Lunch

14h00- 14h25

Painting of Fatima Meer Same Mdluli

14h25 – 14h50

Call and Response: An Ensemble of Arts and Media Projects in an African City Rangoato Hlasane and Malose

14h50 – 15h15

Wrap Up 15h15 – 17h00: Drinks and departure

1

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 11 JANUARY

18 FEBRUARY - GEORGIA MUNNIK & NDAXOLA NKALASHE6 24 HOUR RESIDENCY

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 18 FEBRUARY

DOCUMENTATION: SLICA, Johannesburg, 18 FEBRUARY

NOVEMBER 2011 - JOSH & JARED GINSBURG KYLE MORLAND, FRANCIS BURGER7

OH MY OH MY: FROM THE ANNALS OF A GREAT TELEPATHIC AFFAIR CONVOCATION

HOUSE

JORISSEN ST JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

JULY TO NOVEMBER 2011

OVERVIEW:

Since 2008 Sober & Lonely have been exploring telepathic connections.

These telepathic experiments have explored long distance thought transferral, as well as close-range movement synergy.

TELEPATHY CAN BE BROADLY DEFINED AS:

•

Apparent communication from one mind to another without using sensory

perceptions.

•

The transference of thought from one mind to another, where distance

and time seem unable to affect this phenomenon.

•

The sympathetic affection of one mind by the thoughts, feelings,

or emotions of another at a distance,without communication through the

ordinary channels of sensation or messaging

THE PROJECT:

The Sober & Lonely Institute for Contemporary Art (SLICA) would like to invite you to explore your own experiment related to the idea of ‘telepathy’. The overarching title of the project Oh My Oh My: from the annals of a great telepathic affair, comes, in part, from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut explores the release of precognitive and recognitive thought through ‘telepathic butterflies’. Thought being something manifest, the intangible made tangible. The project is site specific – it will be installed on your behalf at Convocation House, Johannesburg, South Africa. The project is intended to be an enjoyable experiment, an exploration rather than a formal presentation in the traditional gallery sense. There is no prescribed content or format.

THE SPACE:

Convocation House is a small window display space on the ground level of Jorissen Street, Braamfontein. The windows act as an interface between the passing public and the Wits School of Arts (WSOA)9. The venue is situated amongst a number of other contemporary galleries in the Johannesburg city centre, and has a good deal of pedestrian traffic. http://convocationhouse.blogspot.com/

THE REQUIREMENTS:

Deadline: 20 July 2011 Completed proposal, which will form part of the documentation for the project

THE FINEPRINT:

• The work cannot take more than 2 hours for SLICA to install • The work can be for a single day or night, up to a period of 1 week • The budget is limited to R100* per artist (approx $8.50).

WEEK 1: Telepathic Drawing (word & image) - Sober & Lonely

WEEK 2: I want you to know that I know - James Webb

7 AUGUST, 17H58. Location from where

7 AUGUST, 17H58. Lauren von Gogh &

James Webb telepathically sent his

Robyn Cook receiving the telepathic

proposal.

message from James Webb.

SOBER & LONELY’S TELEPATHIC RESULTS

From: James Webb Date: April 13, 2012 11:55:41 AM GMT+03:00 To: SLICA Subject: Re: Oh My Oh My I attempted to transmit the details of my project to Sober & Lonely through telepathy. I sat, blindfolded, in a chair and silently repeated a phrase willing SLICA to black out the windows of the gallery and make the space disappear. When I visited the installation and the gallery for the first time, I was amazed to see that my telepathy had worked; the shop front windows at the given address had been painted over in black. Then I noticed that the gallery was actually next-door.

The “actual� gallery was filled with objects and texts that relate to my practice, but my real work was the found, dark space alongside it. A case of good magic to the wrong address, perhaps?

The proposal James Webb sent through telepathically was to ‘blackout the windows, make everything disappear’.

WEEK 3: Psychic Psorn - Jim Skuldt

19 JULY From Jim -->

So, I’m going to try to project colors toward Johannesburg while gyrating from within my backwoods trailer. The colors received are associated with sweet moves. I’ll be aiming to get y’all to practice your surf manoeuvres, but who knows what’ll happen. I’m going to cluster the colors based not on the correct sequential moves (or gyrations), but on some extremely tasteful color combinations for vivid colors. If you’re receptive to these vibrations (and I can tell that you are), you are welcome to share your psorn moves with anyone else nearby, or just hang around and be smug.

12 AUGUST From Jim -->

Here we go, a fusion of multiple modes of interpretive communication as points of inspiration: Phone sex, video sex (such as skype or chat roulette, or streaming video porn), transmission of binary code into space, morse code, braille, human interpretation of bird calls, charts of sign language, charts of yoga asanas, qigong chi projection, photographic representations of yoga postures, smooth moves seen in porn videos or surf movies.

Colour Chart10

Examples of colour coded key cards

Trailer Gyrations - Jim’s trailer, Los Angeles

Gyrations - Convocation House, Johannesburg

WEEK 4: 42 Years Later, I picked up the Message - Noor Nuyten

42 Years Later, I picked up the Message - Noor Nuyten11

From: Noor Nuyten Date: April 16, 2012 To: SLICA Subject: Re: Oh My Oh My While sitting in the train from Gent to Groningen, I’m writing down my daydreaming about telepathy, the project ‘42 years later I received the message’ and a possible new platform for artworks which are not applicable to language or image.

A telepathic message can arrive at the same time as it is send as well as days later. At the moment Robert Barry communicated his artwork telepathically, in 1969 at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, he didn’t know by who, when and where this telepathic artwork would be picked up. This ‘who-when-where’ scenario can change anytime, since several people can receive the artworks at the same time at totally different places.

I’m looking at my right side, my neighbour is looking out of the window of the train, I’m imagining that he is receiving a telepathic artwork at this moment.

The received artworks are only existing as a thought, which is hosted in anybody’s mind.

In this way the telepathic communication could generate an universal platform for artworks which are not applicable to language or image.This platform will be free from any physical space, it will travel through the universe, it will be interchangeable. What will be the name of this space, since it is not applicable to language or image? I presume we have to communicate this telepathically now.

But before that let’s transform this note into an opening of the new universal platform for artworks which are not applicable to language or image, like in a regular gallery. This new platform is already having an archive of exhibitions, one of the exhibitions is communicated by an invitation letter as a part of the project by Sober & Lonely - Oh My, Oh My: from the annals of a great telepathic affair, at the Convocation House in 2011.

I’m almost arriving in Groningen station and I’m thinking about how to end this note. Since the note became an opening I would like to say: ‘Cheers!’ 1 (1)The writer of one of my favorite children’s book, Die unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende, is using two colors for the fonts - green and red. The color green is used for the fiction part and the color red for the reality part. While actually it is a story, it never happened in real life.

WEEK 5: The writing is not on the wall - Greg Streak

WEEK 6: Ready Made / Found Object - Vaughn Sadie

WEEK 7: In Greek Zoe Means Life - Audrey Cottin

Testimionals sent to Audrey during the project: Premonition: I was 19, my girlfriend was 18. My first, true, passionate love. Her favorite thing besides sex was watching bad movies. I wanted to marry her but I couldn’t stand her taste in “cinema.” Sitting in my car outside the video store as she made her selections, I had a vision: if I married her, I would be a widower left with our little girl. We broke up for good when I was 20. She died aged 27 of leukemia, leaving him with a baby daughter named Grace.

Suicide’s Not Painless Same girlfriend, different situation. I’m 18, she’s 17. Having dinner at a Burger King. Apropos of nothing, I blurt out to her, “If Dave’s mom’s not dead yet she’s about to kill herself.” Dave, by the way, was and still is my very best friend. Freaked out and no longer hungry, girlfriend and I skip our regularly scheduled make-out session and I take her home. When I get to my house, my mom is waiting at the door.

“I have some bad news,” she says. “Dave’s mom killed herself, didn’t she,” I say. “How did you know?” she asked. I got in my car to find Dave.

Blast From the Past: I was 17 and in a deep funk, riding my bike on my way to the dentist. Upon crossing the most dangerous intersection in town, I miscalculated, got hit by a car. Flew 6-8 feet up in the air, thrown from my tenspeed. Everything in slow motion, seeing nothing but sky. A voice in my head from nowhere told me “Tuck your head into your chest. Tuck it now!” I did, and felt my teeth rattle as my shoulder crashed into the pavement, followed by my ass. I bounced twice, but no head injury. “Nice,” the voice said sarcastically.

Hospital right there, I folded up into a ball like my bike was now and got treatment. I later found out 75 years prior, a female cousin of mine (my age at the time) was killed in that very same intersection.

Tesla Was Onto Something My paramour in London never surprises me with email… every day, at least once when i think about her, like clockwork, she, at that very moment, emails me. Never the same time, totally random, yet strangely predictable. I know when she’s being bad too… my chakras get all messed up. I live in Los Angeles, btw.

Testimony I am French and leaving in Brussels in an apartment with flatmates a young English couple. We talk English together. The all day was like long and felt like my body could not work at all,,, but nothing appearing as symptoms,,,The pain started late the same night - shaky body - diarrhea - dehydration - uncomfortable with your inside. I vomit it all - My flatmates were sleeping and I do have wish some one will help me that night - although i did not asked any help,,,After vomiting what was a food indigestion - i cleaned up and went back to sleep. The morning was lighter for me but still affected. I crossed one of my Flatmates and the first thing he says: I dreamed you were sick. I look at him and reply: I was sick! My flatmate look at me with a strange expression: Oh I almost wake up to make sure you were ok, but I did not ,,, because it was a feeling you know,,, nothing concrete,,, tangible,,, I open big eyes and answer: Dam I wish you did I was shit last night ! At this point of the conversation, I realised how much i wished someone to appear into my life scene,,, and it could have happened if my flatmate will believe into his feelings,,, even the intangibles one,,, If it was telepathic I do not know, what is telepathic actually?

A.J.S Testimony Anne - You know tortoise are the oldest animals on earth, they saw dinosaurus disappearance. It’s such a priviledge to communicate with her. In the begining I was not aware of our language till I started to listen better. It’s with the air. Zoe use the air. And now I can even be at home I know the shape and color of the food she desire. Sometime I do miss the point,,,It happens. But I mostly know about her needs because of the air. She is a difficult tortoise to communicate with.

Testimony received 15 September 11th 6:25 Nina thought light went dim, Robyn Blinked 11th 6:20 Robyn and Nina both looked up at the same time to check the time 8:30 Robyn Said “Bless you”, Nina Sneezed 12th 10:15 Robyn has sympathetic pain in big toes because of Nina’s cold 13th 1:40 Robyn got up and left the table, nina said salt 5:55 Robyn says its her handwriting, Nina says the same 13th Night Robyn dreams of Nina on Grandfathers farm, Nina dreams of Robyn at a party in the bedroom 15th 9:10 Nina and Robyn both wore blue top with white vest 16th 6:20 Nina right hand in pocket Robyn left hand in pocket, then Robyn touched nina and shocked 6:30 Nina Blogged about cosmos, so did Robyn 17th 7:00 Nina and Robyn both dream of running away and hiding 18th 8:45 Robyn turned off phone at 11:15, Nina texed Robyn at 11:15 19th 12:30 Robyn and Nina both went for the salt at the same time 21st 12:05 Nina said save document when Robyn was already saving 24th 12:05 Nina pre empted Robyn’s need to draw on nice paper 11th Nina see’s the green parrots in New York that Robyn has been talking about

WEEK 8: I am not the Messiah, don’t follow me - David Sherry

WEEK 9: We saw two holes, Pierre - Pierre Bismuth

WEEK 10: Telepathy by Word Association - Coexistent12

WEEK 11: Mr Martin Hase Is Offering Advice From His Gifted

Born Rabbits - Anne Schiffer13

A few replies from Mr Martin Hase:

Liebe Anna, The rabbit number 12, sie haben mir gesagt: Dream lofty dreams. You will soon be surrounded by laughter.

I hope this is enlightening für Dich, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Martin Hase Lieber Bart, Rabbit number 9, er hat mir gesagt: You don’t need talent: focus on the color yellow.

I hope this is enlightening für Dich, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Martin Hase Liebe Charlie, Rabbit number 3, sie hat mir gesagt: A new wardrobe will bring great joy and changes to deinem Leben.

I hope this is enlightening for you on the matters of deinem Herzen, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Martin Hase

WEEK 12: The Phrase That Came To Me - Niklaus Rüegg14

At 10.30 on Saturday the 15th of October, Sober & Lonely (in Johannesburg) and Niklaus Rüegg (in Zurich) synchronised eating a bowl of Kellog’s Corn Flakes at a circular table in the respective cities. Rüegg had instructed Sober & Lonely to prepare beforehand 25 letters cut out of another Kellog’s Corn Flakes box. Once the eating ceremony was over, Sober & Lonely vigorously shook the box with the 25 letter cards while at the same time Rüegg had laid out the phrase he wished to transmit. The letters that Sober & Lonely took out of the box one at a time should have spelled out Rüegg’s phrase.

Niklaus’s phrase transferred from Zurich, 15 October 2011, 10h30

Niklaus’s phrase recieved in Johannesburg, 15 October 2011, 10h30

WEEK 13: Message in a Blanket / Quilt Shaped Object Liza Corsillo15

WEEK 14: Most Best - Ruth Sacks & Simon Gush Following Ruth Sacks & Simon Gush’s proposal for Oh My, Oh My, Sober & Lonely invited three artists to telepathically project their favorite artwork (for one hour) into the space at Convocation House. The following three artworks were selected:

When Faith Moves Mountains (2002) by Francis Alÿs in collaboration with Rafael Ortega and Cuauhtémoc Medina Good Feelings In Good Times (2003) by Roman Ondák Kissing Through Glass (2007) by Jirí Kovanda

Unfortunately due to space constraints, the three channel video projection of When Faith Moves Mountains could not be installed in the gallery space. Jirí Kovanda’s Kissing Through Glass was telepathically projected on the left hand side of the gallery, with Kovanda (potentially) standing inside the window, offering passersby a kiss through the glass. Outside the gallery, to the right of the entrance, Roman Ondák’s Good Feelings In Good Times sees an invisible queue of people lining up, waiting to enter the space.

From: Ruth Sacks Date: April 15, 2012 To: SLICA Subject: Re: Oh My Oh My Sorry to take so long to respond re: Oh My, Oh My. I’m also really sorry you lost sleep over our contribution. For me, it was an open proposal. I saw our contribution as being the set of instructions. The rest was entirely up to you and the exhibiting artists.

WEEK 15: Frank vs The Furnace - Liezel Prins

WEEK 16: 18 Sketches of You - Bronwyn Lace & Marcus Neustetter

As life partners and occasional collaborators Neustetter and Lace are interested in how one another’s fascinations and sources of inspiration affect and influence one another’s practices. As is often the case in the lives of these two they will be spending 2 weeks apart over the course of September.

Neustetter will be traveling through a number of countries in Europe and Eastern Europe, while Lace will be at home in Johannesburg. The two have decided to keep independent daily journals of those 14 days apart. Each day both artists will look out for something they know or suspect would inspire the other and will record it in whatever form they see fit. They will not share or describe these elements to one another until they are reunited at the end.

The artists propose to display these elements, side-by-side and day-by-day, like a calendar of sorts on a wall in the space.

18 Sketches of You - Bronwyn Lace & Marcus Neustetter

WEEK 17: The Longest Way Round is the Shortest Way Home Emi Kodama16

The Longest Way Round is the Shortest Way Home (detail) - Emi Kodama

WEEK 18: I Went To See The Northern Lights for You Sarah Gerats

Sarah Gerats To: SLICA Date: 21 November 2011, 15:54 Tonight I spent on an old night train to Copenhagen. A woman got crazy and broke a window to jump out, we had a three hour delay, which made me miss my train to Stockholm to catch the train to the northern lights‌

FEATURED PROJECTS WITH: MIET JAVIER HEDWIG BAS JAMES AUDREY LESTER

ARCHIVE APRIL 2011

MIET WARLOP17 - SPRINGVILLE

Screening at Outlet Project Room (Jhb) & Artspace (Dbn)

Bas Schevers on Springville:

First I remember it was hilarious in

was very amused. Often I find things

general, very well thought out, with

that are meant to be funny not funny,

the

stuff

so that’s the biggest compliment I

exactly matching and spot on. And

think. It was going beyond clichĂŠs and

the use of this Lo-Fi technics was

she created these super good images

a very strong thing, it was like a

that are new and funny in themselves

home made spectacle that is easy for

already.

storyline

and

technical

everyone to relate to. This everyday stuff was used in a not everyday way (understatement) which made it very authentic.. or something. One high point for me was when the lady-table came towards the audience and someone had to pour in the tea or something.

Also the tall guy running of course and the final plastic air bag thing. I

http://www.mietwarlop.com/

Springville (still) - Miet Warlop

ARCHIVE MAY 2011

JAVIER HINOJOSA - EPHEMERAL TRAPS PERMANENT CONSEQUENCES

Installed at The Collective (Dbn)

Javier Hinojosa (born 1974 in Mexico

His project Ephemeral Traps Permanent

City)

creates

topography

his

exploring

own

artistic

Consequences

the

detritus

Collective in Durban for May 2011

was

installed

at

created in our growing cityscapes. http://www.hinojosajavier.blogspot.com/

Sober

&

Lonely

really

liked

his

work and wanted to install it at a suitable venue. We were too poor to invite Javier to install the work himself. Claus18 and Amy-Jo from The Collective said we could use their space. They watched me lug 60kgs of sand and cement up the stairs. They watched me mix it with my bare hands till they were bleeding. I was in a rush and forgot a spade. I laid the concrete and Claus watched me while his toenails hung over the edge of his Birkenstocks in anticipation. It was nice.

The

Ephemeral Traps Permanent Consequences - Javier Hinojosa

ARCHIVE JULY 2011

HEDWIG HOUEBEN

COLOUR & SHAPES, A SHORT EXPLANATION OF MY ARTISTIC PRACTICE

Screening at Outlet Project Room (Jhb)

A lecture in which my artistic practice is explained through five models made out of grey plasticine. Each object represents a different persona with its own qualities and habits that can be related to my practice. By introducing each object and showing the differed intentions between the objects,

through

dialogues,

I

try

to define and analyze the creative process - Hedwig Houben

http://www.hedwighouben.nl/

Colour & Shapes, A Short Explanation Of My Artistic Practice (stills) - Hedwig Houben

ARCHIVE AUGUST 2011

BAS SCHEVERS19 - FAILURE HOUSE

Event at SLICA House (Jhb)

Failure House was hosted by Sober &

work concentrates on the failure of

Lonely on Thursday 25 August 2011.

ideas, interventions and actions and

The project was based on research and

the way in which artists deal with

experiments conducted by Schevers in

differing

collaboration with invited artists,

In a sense, Failure House attempts

using the theme of failure as a starting

to unravel a primary aspect in the

point. The objective of this project is

human

to bring together various individual

for

failures exploring the subtleties of

be achieved, and the inevitability

each

of

artistic

interpretation.

The

situations

condition; something

failure

that

that

in

of

cannot

certain

striving always

processes.

The

interpretation, will be documented,

purpose, intention, realisation and

chronicled and explored as perceived

expectation,

black

failure in trying to bridge those gaps,

artists

in

oeuvre.

each The

respective

experience

of

eventually

that

problems.

residue, as Schevers puts it, of each

spots

gaps

and

separate

which

become

often

artistic

lead

realisations

to

in

art making and the processes therein,

themselves, offering an introspective

eventuate in either the success or the

escape from the pressures of success.

failure of an idea, causing different

The

understandings

people

and

questions

to

subjectivities

of

participating

the

various

in

Failure

arise in ways which are paradoxical,

House, and their attempts to tackle

optimistic and subversive. Schevers

the stigma of failure, often embracing

happy

accidents,

something

in failure as the awkward friend.

of our humanity to ourselves. Our

Failure reveals to us an intrinsic

introspection

only

part of learning, and encourages us

draws us into an interrogation of

to wear our battle scars as evidence

the

of our humanity and our craft.

process

of

of

reveals

failure

self

not

questioning,

but also suggests the potentialities within the gaps, that when ignored,

The

happenings

or overlooked, eventuate in failure.

included an intervention by Serbian curator

Just

as

the

worst

mistakes

Marko

at

Failure

Stamenkovic

House

who

often

currently

begin with the best of intentions,

cultures;

in reverse order there is unexpected

Schevers with artist Jan Huijben on

success to be found in failure, where

his work in relation to failure, An

serendipity

(anti)motivational

produces

comic

relief

researching

is

a

recorded

from the necessity to produce. In

Deysel

about

this

summit

Everest;

fashion,

the

contributing

the

about

A

suicide

interview

talk time

by

Deshun

she

didn’t

video

Ronald

by

piece

Detige

by

artists engage with the necessity to

Schevers

(who

fail, and accept this as a part of

recently quit art and now works full

the process of making.

time for the police. His job is to meet people who were raped or molested

The

Failure

or family of people that were killed

House are anecdotal of our pragmatism

and take them through the evidence

and

with

files); as well as a video work of

the

Hedwig Houben’s in a recent workshop

embrace of flaws inherent to the human

with art students in Holland about

condition.

their failed works.

a

views

communicated

discontent,

dimension

of

The

in

supplying faith

only

us

through

antidote

to

failure is an engagement with failure, understanding

that

part-

Contributors to the event were also

and-parcel with success. The people

asked to submit a Curriculum Ruinam

involved attempt to turn this around,

of things that didn’t work out for

finding

them, for example grants they applied

comfort

it

and

comes

companionship

to but didn’t receive, residencies they didn’t get into etc. Guests to the Failure House also received a lottery ticket and spicy tomato soup.

words by Bronwen Shelwell http://www.basschevers.nl/

Failure House, Johannesburg

Failure Portfolio (video 19:23min)

Anti-Motivational Talk Deshan Deysel

Skateboard Contest 1990 (video 18:35min)

Curriculum Ruinae

Visiting Jan Huijben (video 18:35min)

ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 2011

JAMES WEBB - SPECTRE

Intervention at FNB Joburg Art Fair

As

part

of

our

featured

projects

series, SLICA presented Spectre, a new artwork by James Webb at the 2011 FNB Joburg Art Fair.

In a

this

unadvertised

volunteer

portable

concealed

cellular

intervention, a

phone

powerful, jammer

on

their person and walked through the fair cancelling reception within a roving 20m radius.

http://www.theotherjameswebb.com/

Intervention view of Tate Modern director, Chris Dercon, looking for phone signal at the Art Fair (image courtesy Anthea Buys)

ARCHIVE OCT 2011 to FEB 2012

SOBER & LONELY & AUDREY COTTIN - TELEPATHIC CROWD

Telepathic Experiment

Telepathic

Crowd

work

created

solo

show

was

for

a

durational

of ideal collaborators. Whether or

Cottin’s

not Cottin and Sober & Lonely got any

Audrey

Charlie

&

Sabrina,

Who

perfect matches will serendipitously

Would Have Believed? on at Jeu de

open

Paume

ideal

from

October

until

February

up

possibilities

collaborations.

for The

future list

of

2012. Cottin, together with Sober &

names will be used by both Cottin

Lonely, spent four months curating

and Sober & Lonely in whichever way

a crowd of collaborators. A lawyer

each artist sees fit, to conclude the

drafted

project or make new work.

a

contract

between

Cottin

and Sober & Lonely stating that the only communication between Cottin in

http://www.jeudepaume.org/

Paris/Brussels

http://telepathiccrowd.tumblr.com/#about

in

and

Johannesburg

Sober

would

be

&

Lonely through

telepathy, every week night at 20h00.

During each meeting, Cottin and Sober & Lonely agreed on a person (an ideal collaborator, living or dead) that they wish to work with in some way.

At the close of Charlie & Sabrina, Who Would Have Believed? in February 2012, the list had 85 sets of names

Audrey Cottin explaining Telepathic Crowd contract at Jeu De Paume (image courtesy Kristaps Epners)

Contact sheet of some of the collected telepathic crowd members as archived by Sober & Lonely

Signed Telepathic Crowd contract p1/3

Signed Telepathic Crowd contract p3/3

ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 2012

LESTER ADAMS - THE INTERNET IS MADE OF CATS20

Event at SLICA House (Jhb)

The Internet Is Made Of Cats was a

gravely wrong until their daily dose

one night event at the SLICA house

of cute disappears. A chronological

in Johannesburg. Lester Adams looks

display of the evolution of cat video

at how internet cats reflect the way

memes,

we

around internet cats will occupied

communicate,

use

information

technology and humour and how this is shared on social media platforms.

Recently, Ethan Zuckerman, director of

the

Center

for

Civic

Media

at

MIT delivered a lecture on the “cute cat” theory of internet activism and explains that while the internet is a great place for dissent and activism to start, most users go online to look at pictures of cute cats. As the so-called Arab Spring has taught us, social media can be a powerful tool for voicing dissent at the dominant ideology, but the general population won’t

notice

that

something

is

still

images

and

the Sober & Lonely house.

theories

From: http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/11/i-can-has-cheezburger-3/

FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES 1. Robyn and Nina were neat and hardworking. They worked all day and ate really healthily. Nina made good

fires. Robyn was so nice we invited her back to live forever.

2. Dineo was always happy and said sweet things.

3. Fran Burger liked to make fires outside and burn stuff. She was going to live in the pink bathroom

for a month but then Manuel the builder came to turn the pink into grey. She moved into the Wendy

house instead.

4. We weren’t here when they did this. At first we were suspicious but then they sent us a soundcloud

link and we liked it.

5. Anthea and Amy drew a beautiful annotated map of the garden on our chalkboard that we loved and kept

in our studio. Unfortunately, at a later event, the map was vandalised and made to look like a cock.

6. See footnote #5.

7. This was a fun week.

8. We had trouble rereading this because it is embarrassing, but maybe it will help contextualise things

for new friends.

9. Thank you Leonard.

10. These were really bright colours. The black & white copies don’t really do them justice.

11. Annelies Propstra is Noor Nuyten’s mom, and our #1 Facebook fan.

12. See Residency section for our version of the Word Association game.

13. This project was extra special for us.

14. We never found out the phrase that came to him.

15. On Monday the 5th of March we met Liza in Brooklyn for the first time and returned her blanket / quilt

shaped object.

16. Since this project, Emi published a beautiful book of drawings and short stories. You can have a look

at it here: http://issuu.com/merpaperkunsthalle/docs/book 17. We saw Springville live in 2009 and laughed so hard and cried so hard and realised our favourite

artworks were those that could evoke extreme emotions right next to each other.

18. It has been disputed whether Claus should be spelled with a C or a K. 19. Bas and Dave Sherry serendipitously met in September 2012 as part of an exhibition with

PietMondriaan.com.

20. Indeed it is, Lester.