Hirschhorn in Cape Town
At a time when the world is becoming infinitely smaller day by day, travel becomes a bit easier, perhaps, and certainly more necessary. Although it’s much easier to communicate with friends, loved ones, and new acquaintances in other countries, it’s still important to be there, in order to start to have any real kind of understanding. Fortunately, there are some places that have always been wonderfully desirable tourist locations, such as South Africa, and they are now more interesting than ever. The contemporary offerings for cultural attractions here are much more cosmopolitan than ever, reflecting a trend toward a global sensibility.
This doesn’t in any way undercut the extreme importance of local cultures here, and they have that balance between local and global down. It’s a wonderful time to visit, and some excellent hotels are available, too, to make your stay enormously hospitable. For those whose interests are in contemporary art, a visit to Michael Stevenson is certainly in order. However, if you’re interested in South African art history, then the same place will also fit the bill. On the other hand, if you want to see global art in a South African context, Cape Town’s Michael Stevenson is still one of the places to be.
For its variety of specialization, it’s still got a very fine focus, and they show very specific projects. One of the most exciting works to show here is Thomas Hirschhorn’s Black & White Hemisphere, because of its resonance to contemporary Cape Town. Hirschhorn is Swiss, and has been working on this installation as a part of a series on German Angst. This particular work focuses on introducing the viewer to a sculptural world where we can reflect on race and division. Its message in South Africa is very immediately grasped, just as it is in Germany, where the ideas of divisions, borders, and the weight of history stand together like uncomfortable sisters at the beginning of a long family dinner.
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