Buhlebezwe Siwani on her residency
Buhlebezwe Siwani is one of the most exciting up and coming South African artists, especially from the performance context.
Siwani will be going to Rote Fabrik in Switzerland for a three-month studio residency from end July to mid October.
Ahead of her residency, the Johannesburg born, Cape Town based artist is looking forward to learning from her Swiss counterparts and how they do things.
“I am most looking forward to meeting fellow artists and seeing what subject matter they are exploring and how they explore it. How Switzerland operates differently regarding the arts and the spaces that engage with their artistic practices,” she says.
Siwani works predominantly in the medium of performance and installations and includes photographic stills and videos of some performances.
She will create work independently, as well as a work for Theatre Spektakel’s Short Pieces programme .
About her inclusion in Threatre Spektakel she said: “The festival has performers across disciplines and some collaboration, for me that is the pinnacle of art making, stepping out of one’s comfort zone and immersing oneself in the unknown.”
She is also looking forward to being off the grid technologically while in Switzerland, and concentrating solely on her work.
“It is almost like a silent retreat where I can just look at the type of work I am making in a different landscape with a different audience.”
“Three months is a very long time to be alone, black and female in a foreign country, so I am looking forward to creating new material about my time out here and people’s perceptions.”
Siwani has just completed her MFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town.
