Arts Research Africa Arts Research Africa Dialogues

Arts Research Africa Dialogues

These dialogues from the Wits School of Arts, Arts Research Africa project, are intended to stimulate practice, enable research, and inspire collective engagement around the question of Arts Research in Africa. Art lecturers and postgraduate students in the Wits School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, are grappling with the challenge of positioning arts research in an African context. These podcasts seek to develop a dialogue with both national and international practices and debates.
Occasionally English Explicit South Africa Arts · Education
49 Episodes
1 – 20

Russel Hlongwane: Reimagining Tradition and Modernity

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to
 Russel Hlongwane, an artist whose work pushes boundaries, reshapes narratives, and bridges the often complex interplay between heritage and innovation. Russel is a visionary South African artist, cultural producer, and filmmaker from…
10 Dec 55 min

Stephen Hobbs: Negotiating the complexities of Johannesburg with art practices

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Stephen Hobbs, a South African artist whose work spans a wide range of media, exploring themes of urban transformation, architecture, and social dynamics. Known for his thought-provoking installations and public art projects,…
4 Nov 58 min

Physics and the artistic imagination: Ariane Koek and Arts at CERN

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Ariane Koek, a prominent British independent producer, curator, and writer, recognized globally for her pioneering work at the intersection of art and science. With a career spanning several decades Ariane is particularly…
18 Sep 59 min

Ale de la Puente: Bridging philosophy and science through artistic practice

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks Ale de la Puente, an independent artist-researcher from Mexico who is doing a residency in Johannesburg as part of the Goethe Institute’s international Studio Quantum programme. Ale has studied industrial design, goldsmithing, boatbuilding,…
18 Jul 47 min

Man makes flute from own bone: Ralph Borland artist researcher activist

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Dr Ralph Borland, an independent artist-researcher and curator based in Cape Town. Ralph has a degree in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town, a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New…
22 Apr 56 min

Miranda Moss: artist, outsider-engineer, eco-geek and rogue educator

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Miranda Moss, a South African artist, outsider-engineer, eco-geek, and rogue educator who is currently based in Sweden. Miranda’s transdisciplinary practice, which focuses on the problematics and hopeful possibilities of technology from a…
8 Mar 48 min

Tanja Sakota: Using Artistic Research to uncover traumatic memories

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Prof Tanja Sakota, an artistic researcher, writer, and filmmaker in the Department of Film & Television in the Wits School of Arts. Tanja is the author of an important new book, just…
4 Aug 2023 56 min

Feeling at home everywhere and nowhere: Doris Bloom at the Origins Centre

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Doris Bloom, a multidisciplinary South African artist who has been based in Denmark since 1976. She currently has a major exhibition called Bird Bone Whistler at the Origins Centre Museum in Johannesburg…
16 Jun 2023 41 min

Sela Adjei - the power of authentically African artistic research

In this dialogue, Prof Christo Doherty, the Chair of Research in the Wits School of Arts, speaks to Dr Sela Adjei, a multidisciplinary artist, researcher and curator from Ghana and a leading proponent of a distinctly African approach to artistic research. Sela has degrees in communication design and African art…
23 May 2023 51 min

Jayne Batzofin & RETAGS - the challenges of archiving performance-as-research

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Jayne Batzofin, the digital archivist on the Reimagining Tragedy from African and the Global South (RETAGS) project. This performance-as-research project is being led by Prof. Mark Fleishman with Mandla Mbothwe in the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at…
14 Apr 2023 53 min

The artist's sensibility in research and pedagogy: David Andrew at Wits

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Prof David Andrew, from the Department of Fine Arts in the Wits School of Arts. We focus on the relationship between arts pedagogies and artistic research looking at his background as an arts teacher, the formative influence of his education…
17 Mar 2023 44 min

The Arts Research Africa project after five years of Mellon funding

In this concluding podcast of the Mellon funding cycle, the ARA podcast's technical producer (and journalist) Elna Schutz hosts a discussion with the key members of the ARA project about what was achieved, what was learnt, and what opportunities were missed during the 5 + 1 years of the Mellon…
18 Jan 2023 50 min

From visual identities to bioart: Leora Farber and the VIAD Research Centre

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Leora Farber Associate Professor and Director of the Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre, in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg . Under Leora’s leadership the Centre has become a vibrant hub where an…
23 Nov 2022 51 min

Creative Research & the artists' books of Schäpers, Silverberg & Chen

In this special episode in the ARA podcast series, Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to three internationally acclaimed and award-winning artists about their creative research into the possibilities of the book as an artwork. Veronica Schapers, Robbin Amy Silverberg, and Julie Chen are showing a range of their artists…
2 Nov 2022 34 min

Brett Pyper: From Jazz Cosmologies to the Cosmopolitan Collective

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Prof Brett Pyper, the Principal Investigator on the ARA project and the leader of a major interdisciplinary research project based on popular manifestations of jazz culture in South Africa. Currently called the Cosmopolitan Collective, the project has evolved over the…
24 Oct 2022 55 min

Ways-of-Remembering-Existing: donna Kukama rewrites history & writes performance

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to donna Kukama, a South African born interdisciplinary artist who works with performance, works on canvas, sculptural objects, video, and site-specific installation. The underlying topic of this conversation is how donna uses performance art and other practices as tools for artistic…
28 Sep 2022 50 min

Shooting Down Babylon (The Art of War): The performance art of Tracey Rose

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Tracey Rose, currently Senior Lecturer in the Fine Arts department in the Wits School of Arts, and internationally renowned as an artist who works across a range of practices, but most notably as a performance artist using her body. Tracey’s…
31 Aug 2022 46 min

Art, Research, and Innovation: Hannelie Coetzee's ecological public art

In this dialogue Prof Christo Doherty of ARA speaks to Hannelie Coetzee, a Johannesburg-based ecological artist who has been working across the boundaries of art, science and activist engagement. Hannelie describes herself as a visual artist, researcher and innovator. Through her ecological art practice, she aims to grow audiences that…
28 Jul 2022 51 min
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