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Works featured in the Art Lab's first exhibition are part of the Standard Bank's extensive Corporate Art Collection.
Standard_Bank Art Lab Gallery Curator and Manager Dr Same Mdluli at the exhibition. Picture: Supplied
“Artists reach areas far beyond the reach of politicians,” said former President Nelson Mandela.
Many politicians do not share Mandela’s sentiment, and this is probably why most governments rarely dedicate a significant portion of their budgets to the arts, amidst all the world’s issues.
The vacuum left by the government in this regard has led to corporations stepping in as the biggest supporters of art, therefore making them the biggest collectors of art.
Although Mandela’s words, quoted above from 2001, were directed at a group of musicians who had just performed at a South African celebration in Trafalgar Square, London, I couldn’t help but think of them as the Standard Bank Art Lab was launched at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City last week.
Together with the Nando’s Art Collection and the Spier Art Collection, the South African bank is one of the biggest art collectors in the country.
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The Art Lab’s first exhibition
The Art Lab is positioned as a space for collaboration, experimentation, and creativity.
The inaugural exhibition theme, Follow the Blue Thread: It’s Woven Into Who We Are, is one that celebrates the transformative power of African art through the medium of tapestry.
Woven from mohair and realised through collaborations between artists and master weavers, the works reflect a longstanding connection between the textile and visual arts, as well as an extension of this connection between commerce, craft, and culture.
Works featured in the exhibition are part of the Standard Bank’s extensive Corporate Art Collection.
The works include Tito Zungu’s hand-woven mohair tapestry, Building 1, and Willie Bester’s Sunday Morning, also a hand-woven mohair tapestry.
Curator and Gallery Manager Dr Same Mdluli says that featuring works by artists such as Sam Nhlengethwa, William Kentridge and Miriam Ndebele, among others, the exhibition reimagines the corporate collection not as a static archive but as a living resource.
“In doing so, it asks vital questions: What cultural memory do collections preserve? Whose stories do they tell? And how might they contribute to the creative economies of tomorrow?,” she asks.
“We’re thrilled to present this contemporary art exhibition at Sandton City, part of our Liberty2Degrees property portfolio,” said the bank’s Group Chief Operating Officer Margaret Nienaber.
“This space is designed to foster collaboration among artists, clients, and the wider community, all in support of a thriving creative economy.”
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