Restless infections : public art and a transforming city / edited by Jay Pather.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pather, Jay, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public art--South Africa .

Public art.

Arts--Political aspects--South Africa.

Arts.

Art and society--South Africa.

Art and society.

Street photography--South Africa.

Street photography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 208 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg : Wits University Press, 2025.

Summary:

A collection of critical essays exploring artistic interventions in urban spaces in post-colonial South Africa.<br><br><i>Restless Infections</i> is an innovative collection of critical essays exploring artistic interventions in urban spaces, focusing on place-making and the politics of space in post-colonial South Africa. The title refers to Cape Town's popular 'Infecting the City' public art festival and the persistent state of restlessness of a city still grappling with the legacies of colonialism, inequality and racial segregation. The concept of 'restlessness' provides a critical tool for understanding public space in a country desiring economic and political stability, as expressed through transient art forms such as Santu Mofokeng's billboard photography.<br><br>The volume shifts the focus of public art discourse in South Africa from static forms like monuments and statues to dynamic, temporary interventions, offering fresh perspectives on public art as an interactive, community-engaged practice. The interventions engage with protest, public intimacy, audience interaction and the disrupted topography of apartheid cities. Through an examination of seminal artworks, contributors address diverse forms of expression that range from site-specific performances, immersive installations, film and photography to online performances. They introduce new perspectives on public sphere performance, such as Khanyisile Mbongwa's re-imagining of township alleyways for public encounters and Mbongeni Mtshali's study of everyday performances that challenge colonial and neo-colonial spatial organisation.

Contents:

Front Cover

Restless Infections: Public Art and a Transforming City

Copyright Page

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART 1: THE RESTLESS CITY

1 On Art, Contagion and Immunity

2 Recalcitrant Aesthetics, Memory and Modernity in the Post-Colonial/Post-Apartheid City

3 Habashwe! (Let Them Die!) On Black Death, Precarity and Survival in the Public Sphere

PART 2: PUBLIC ART FOR MULTIPLE PUBLICS

4 Becoming Answerable: Face-to-Face Encounters during the Infecting the City Festival

5 Unpredictable Publics and Anxious Audiences: From Anomie to Agonism in Provocative Public Art

6 iRhanga as Public Space: Transposed and as Sourcefor Public Encounter

PART 3: LAND, HOME, BELONGING

7 Haroon Gunn-Salie's Submerged Disruption

8 The Rusting Diamond: A Multimedia Lament for Migrant Dreams in Cape Town

9 Seeing the Strange Place: African Street Photography as Place-Making

Epilogue

Notes on Contributors

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jul 2025).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-77614-947-5

OCLC:

1522768398