David Krut Podcast

Once again, David Krut sits down with Stephen Hobbs to continue their discussion around Hobbs's life and work, as well as the history of Johannesburg and South Africa's contemporary art scene. In this episode, the two discuss Hobbs's time as the gallery manager at the Market Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg's two biennales and more about the 90s.  [Produced by Alison Kane]

We are excited to announce a new podcast episode featuring artist Stephen Hobbs! Hobbs has a longstanding relationship with DKP that spans over 15 years. In this episode, Hobbs sat down with David Krut to discuss his history, his relationship with Johannesburg and share hysterical anecdotes about his life as an artist. (Artist notes: Hobbs was taught print making and critical theory by Colin Richards and Photography by Jo Ractliffe.) [Produced by Alison Kane]

On the 14th of February 2024 we had the pleasure of opening a special Valentine's Day exhibition by South African artist, Motlhoki Nono. The exhibition, titled 'Kissing Studies', serves as a profound reflection on the performance of the kiss, delving into the nuanced questions surrounding the constructions of romance. The artist confronts the ‘ideal object of love’, by rendering gentle forms of black lovers’ image near and within romance. In this playful series exploring black people speaking in tongues, Motlhoki aims to unravel the complex tapestry of love while scrutinising the historic representation of black characters across diverse romantic narratives. Motlhoki sat down with DKP exhibitions manager, Anya Lureman to expand on her thoughts, processes and her time in the David Krut Workshop. Enjoy!

In this episode, Phumulani Ntuli expands on his most recent collaboration with David Krut Projects that resulted in his body of work “Kunela iphuzu emafini’ / echoes of the point cloud" The works are largely inspired by a film titled, ‘Jim Goes to Joburg’ directed by Donald Swanson – in this podcast, the artist has generated the voice of Donald Swanson using AI to narrate his answers!  'Kunanela iphuzu emafini / Echoes of the Point Cloud' contains excerpts from South Africa’s history of motion pictures in collision with current point cloud data, automation, and synthesis bestowed by Artificial Intelligence. The body of work attends to scenes deployed through a black and white cinematic lens, to reenact the South African seminal film tradition within the margins of the changing socio-political landscape. 'Kunanela iphuzu emafini / Echoes of the Point Cloud' searches for alternate ways of seeing, experiencing and navigating the changing city.⁠ These works will be showing at Latitudes Centre for the Arts until the 26th of January 2024. Visit Shepstone Gardens to view Phumulani's work!

I imagine you to be wondering what could link an alternative arts bookstore to the world of bat conservation. The view of David Krut Projects in general is that art is not only a cultural, creative practice but also a knowledge system that disseminates information through one of our fundamental processing senses; sight. We believe in the importance of recognising the necessity of creativity across all professional fields, more so, how impactful cross-pollination of creativity between different professions.     Ernest Charles James Seamar graciously gave us his time to teach us about all things bats. We learnt that his work with bats is in some ways his gateway into understanding the intricacies of broader natural systems and that amongst many other contributions, bats play a vital role in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Bats ensure the pollination of plants, seed dispersal and pest control. The impact bats have on our natural world is so often overlooked as they are misunderstood as nothing but spooky creatures of the night.   It is due to these key contributions that AfricanBats NPC has dedicated their activities to ensuring the protection of bats from habitat loss, disease and persecution. Their vision is to create a future that sees a thriving population of bats across Africa and subsequently, a thriving African ecosystem.