Art and culture in contemporary South Africa: The present future

This article focuses on the complex ways in which artistic innovation and creativity have been fostered by the experience of living in late apartheid and post-apartheid society. It argues that contemporary South African artists, film-makers and performers have developed highly inventive formal and c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Thesis Eleven 2013-04, Vol.115 (1), p.127-140
Main Author: Klopper, Sandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African culture
Apartheid
Art Works
Artistic activity
Artists
Boundaries
Civil rights
Conceptualization
Creativity
Film makers
Freedom
Freedom of Speech
Innovations
Landscape
Negotiation
Post-apartheid society
Public Officials
Sociocultural Factors
South Africa
Stereotypes
Values
Visual artists
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article focuses on the complex ways in which artistic innovation and creativity have been fostered by the experience of living in late apartheid and post-apartheid society. It argues that contemporary South African artists, film-makers and performers have developed highly inventive formal and conceptual vocabularies in their effort to negotiate the ever-changing landscape of contradictory and sometimes irreconcilable realities they encounter on a daily basis, often attaining major international acclaim in the process. Blurring the boundaries between long-established artistic genres, and challenging racial, sexual and other stereotypes, they have refused to abandon the hope of achieving the ideals of a renewal and respacialization of the current socio-cultural landscape. Many of them have done so against the odds of vociferous opprobrium from state officials and legal challenges by the ANC, which in recent years has questioned the right to freedom of expression of a number of artists.
ISSN:0725-5136
1461-7455
DOI:10.1177/0725513612470538