Whatiftheworld / gallery

Gallery artist Dan Halter has a solo presentation at Son Gallery in London from 04 June - 04 July, 2010. Titled ‘Shifting The Goal Posts,’ the exhibition features works from a recent project centered around the Beitbridge border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. This border is notorious for the number of Zimbabwean immigrants that cross it illegally to make their way into South Africa.

‘Shifting the goalposts’ is a turn of phrase to describe the questionable political maneuvers carried out by Zanu-PF in the Zimbabwean government to cling onto power. It also applies to the South African government’s attempts to bring an end to the Zimbabwean crisis. It further serves to illustrate the tendency towards corruption, and neglect of promises made by both governments. Will South Africa end up like Zimbabwe? Frequently the Zimbabwean immigrants find on reaching South Africa that the goalposts have shifted to their detriment.

The artist swapped one of the goalposts from a soccer field in Musina, South Africa with one from another soccer field in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. The two affected fields now each have local and foreign goalposts, subtly politicising both pitches. A photographic series depicts a dirt soccer pitch in a poor Musina township similar to those where the majority of South Africans play the game. This dusty reality, in the stark contrast to the current slick and costly mega-stadiums that have been built by the government in South Africa’s major cities.

‘Shifting the goalposts’speaks about expectations disappointed, drawing parallels between South African and Zimbabwean experience and asking uncomfortable questions about the politics of space. The exhibition was produced in collaboration with the Goethe Institute South Africa.