This is the initial investigation in a research project conducted by Neith Moore in association with the Durban Art Gallery. The investigation is thought of as a 'perturbation' - a stimulus that interrupts the equilibrium of a system - here an artwork in the exhibition.

The gallery is used as a site and framework to reflect on personal observations and personal engagement with an initial exhibit:

Fritha Langermann’s Black Boxes 2002
Wood, Perspex, paper, card, fibre, latex, Mother of pearl, gilt
Various sizes

​This initial investigation uses common documentation /observational methods such as photography. In addition, more traditional and time-consuming means of engagement will be used, such as experimental drawing, poetry, writing and sculpture. This is done to stress that different processes render the world differently, and could lead to new ways of using gallery exhibitions in a creative and innovative way.

Langermann’s artwork is from an exhibition that I am currently curating and which will change dynamically over the projected two years of its life.
The Exhibition - ‘Breaking the Rules ...old rules? … new rules?’ is largely didactic in purpose and - as such - could provide a useful model for the future engagement of educationalists, scholars and the public in general.

My working method will focus on the fluid relationship between thinking, process, writing, making and documentation. I am using the term ‘Thinking with Materials’ as a tentative title in progress. (With acknowledgement to Paul Carter)
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Fritha Langermann, Black Boxes in the original exhibition

LINK to Fritha Langermann's original exhibition 2002
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Taken from the website:
"Black Boxes was an exhibition that focused on modes of cultural representation, specifically those of ethnographic display and the material manifestations of the tourist industry in South Africa. The project was premised on the viewpoint that culture is mutable, whereas cultural classification is an inorganic and divisive process. It presented 99 units, grouped by language and government departments and containing paper weapons constructed from recent government speeches. The role of labelling was central to the work, as the objects in each set of nine (department) boxes were identical, yet each box was labelled with one of the eleven official languages for each series, alluding to the arbitrary and imprecise relationship between language, object and meaning. Misclassification, inaccurate translation and misunderstanding are inevitable consequences of cultural ordering and were inherent to the project."

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​Other experimental ideas to entertain are sculptural feet walking to vote, or drawing. Time will tell... 

​vote - ukuvota - kuvota - ya kgetho

- yekuvota - vhoti - stem

- vouta - kgetha - tlhôpho

While working on the design of the ballot box and papers and during their installation, I engaged with the floor space between the wall installation of Langermann’s work and my voting installation. This was now a contested floor space as a well-known curator had reacted negatively to Langermann’s work being placed on the wall as my curatorial decision.

My anger and indignation gave rise (as usual) to a short poem which is my usual reaction to most personal feelings. This method of using art (whether visual or verbal) is an important part of my practice as a Wellness Counselor.
​This method functions in the interstitial spaces found between psychology and art.

The idea of the ‘tiny feet kicking’ in the poem then gave rise to the idea of feet walking (and kicking) across the contested floor space.

​Hansen calls this way of thinking ‘fluctuating thinking’ which aptly describes the way thoughts can move from one experience to another. LINK

Langermann’s waxed and printed government gazette quickly became mundane newspaper articles in clear PVA glue. Footprints marched across the paper and words in the eleven official languages from the voting intervention also marched across the ‘waxy’ sepia surface.

Graphite powder and soot were my echoes of Langermann’s Black Boxes.

Stitching was a contemplative way of engaging with what was going on in the boxes and became itself a journey across the 2D surface.
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FOOTPRINTS Graphite, soot, collage, stitching, cutting

Then … from the drawing experience ... what if....

I make thick concrete slops and put them all over the gallery floor?

The surface of the concrete slops are waxy and about voting?

Will they irritate the cleaners?

Will they get stolen?

Will children put their feet into them?

Could I make an animation from the security footage?

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​The same jar of graphite came to hand and the graphite drifted at ‘random’ onto the wet glue. 

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WEAPON Graphite, glue, acrylic inks, collage, stitching