Dan Halter
Artist Statement
My experience as a white Zimbabwean now living in South Africa informs my practice. I deal with notions of a dislocated national identity and the dark humour of present realities in Southern Africa, largely a backlash to a history of oppression that continues today. I realize my work through the use of ubiquitous materials and the use of local popular visual strategies as a form of expression. This often tends towards the language of craft and curio within a contemporary fine art context. Two words that are useful in describing my art are fabric and fabrication:
fab·ric (n)
1. cloth of any type made from thread or fibers, whether woven, knitted, or felted
2. the particular texture or quality of a kind of cloth
3. the fundamental structure or makeup of something
4. the material from which something is constructed, especially a building, or the physical structure of something
fab·ri·ca·tion (n)
1. the construction of something, or something that has been constructed or made
2. the invention of something that is not true
3. a fraudulent imitation of a signature or document
(Encarta World English Dictionary (c) 1999 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing
Plc.)
Solo Exhibitions
2010
Double Entry, WHATIFTHEWORLD / GALLERY, Cape Town, South Africa
shifting the goalposts, (in collaboration with Adam Davies) Son Gallery, London, United Kingdom
shifting the goalposts, (in collaboration with Adam Davies) GoetheOnMain, Johannesburg, South Africa
2008
never say never, Derbylius Gallery, Milan, Italy^
2006
take me to your leader, João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa^
^ indicates catalogue/publication
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
7th International Triennial of Contemporary textile Arts, Tournai, Belgium
10 Years On, Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Propaganda by Monuments, CICCAIRO, Cairo, Egypt
Volta7, Basel, Switzerland
2010
LADUMA!, Rotterdam, Holland
Dak’art, Dakar, Senegal
US, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Harare International Art Fair (HIFA), Zimbabwe National Gallery, Zimbabwe
Spier Contemporary, City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa
*/ + = X*, Serialworks, Cape Town, South Africa
Mooimarkshow III, Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin, Germany
2009
Project 35, NADA, Miami Art Fair, USA
Holiday, WHATIFTHEWORLD / GALLERY, Cape Town, South Africa
ECC25 (End Conscription Campaign 25 years), Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa
US, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
WORD!, Association for Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, South Africa
Encounters, South African International Documentary Festival
10th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
Second Johannesburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Objects of a Revolution, Dominque Fiat Gallery, Paris, France
18th Annual Art Salon at Rose Korber Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Bamako FAIVA (Festivale Africain d’Images Virtuelles Artistique), Bamako, Mali
Forward> March, Spier Arts Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2008
Big Wednesday, WHATIFTHEWORLD / GALLERY, Cape Town, South Africa
3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
Monologs, Rome, Italy and at the Gallería Animal in Santiago, Chile
MTN New Contemporaries, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa^
Forty Years of Friendship: The Friends of The National Gallery: 1968-2008, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Power Play, Goodman Gallery Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
First Johannesburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Prints + Editions, WHATIFTHEWORLD / GALLERY, Cape Town, South Africa
Studio 2666: Ons Skrik vir Niks, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa^
17th Annual Art Salon at Rose Korber Art, Cape Town, South Africa
2007
Spier Contemporary, Spier Wine Estate Stellenbosch, South Africa^
16th VideoBrasil, São Paulo, Brazil^
The Inchoate Idiosynchratic Descent into Nihlism, Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town, South Africa
The 2nd Cape Town Biennale, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
3C Committee and Critics Choice, Association for Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, South Africa
Hell Yeah, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Zeitgenössiche Fotokunst aus Südafrika, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin, Germany
2006
Second to None, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Cape Town Biennale, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
The Last Braai 666, (in collaboration with Christian Nerf and Ed Young), L/B’s Lounge, Cape Town, South Africa
Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, Australia
15th Annual Art Salon at The Bay, Bay Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
2005
Black and White Poster Project, Dirt Contemporary Art Space, Cape Town, South Africa^
14th Annual Art Salon at The Bay, Bay Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
2004
Contra Mundi, Association for Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, South Africa
Exchange Views on…/ Echange vues sur…, Espace Croix-Baragnon, France and Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town, South Africa^
2003
Picnic, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa^
Meeting: Art in the Water Closet, Gallerie Puta, 2A Dysart Road, Cape Town, South Africa
2001
YDETAG, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Emergency, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
^ indicates catalogue/publication
Awards
2010
Glenfiddich residency in Dufftown, Scotland
2008
Nominated as MTN New Contemporaries finalist
2007
Pro Helvetia residency in Zürich, Switzerland 2008
Capacete residency in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2008 from VideoBrasil
2001
Judy Steinberg Prize, Michaelis Painting Prize
