Published 31 March 2025 in News
Klein Karoo National Kunstefees KKNK
Luan Nel Featured in Deep Ground Curated by Liza Grobler
Klein Karoo National Kunstefees 2025
Saint Jude’s Anglican Church and Prince Vintcent Building, Oudshoorn, South Africa
01 - 06 April 2025
A speck of dust from the curator
This year’s Visual Arts programme possesses an element of the theatrical and offers a multisensory experience. The title is adapted from Reza de Wet’s play, Diepe grond, which created an uproar in the nineteen eighties.
De Wet's Deep Ground serves as an interdisciplinary reference only. The intention is not to illustrate the narrative or course of the play, but rather to investigate aspects within the text, such as the interaction between fact and intuition, the intricacies of interpersonal relationships within the South African landscape, and the interplay between the mundane and the extraordinary. There are visual conversations around especially the ecological, but also the socio-political landscape and a questioning of the fences that we erect to separate ourselves from nature and others. These elements become the signposts for this year’s Visual Arts programme.
Die uitstalling is Karoo-gerig (terwyl De Wet se stuk in die Vrystaat afspeel). Die uitleg van die uitstalling eggo die fisieke landskap rondom Oudtshoorn: die pad vanaf Calitzdorp, die angorabokke van Prins Albert, kleur en teksture in die veld van die Klein Karoo, merkwaardige oomblikke uit die Groot Karoo. Dit impliseer nie dat die uitstalling ’n kaart is, of dat dit streekspesifiek is nie, maar eerder dat die Karoolandskap die hoofkarakter is waarom die visuele gesprek draai.
Oudtshoorn is a place that boasts exceptionally wide skies and is surrounded by mountain ranges in which waterfalls, mermaids and leopards hide. It is a prehistoric landscape of monumental natural wonders, scarce miniscule plant species, oral histories, ordinary disappointments, ghoulish ghost stories and scattered miracles...
“Soil” or “ground” is one of the four natural elements, but it is also “ground” in which we are anchored on this small blue planet in an unfathomably deep universe.
This year marks a shift in the presentation of the visual offering: Deep Ground is one big group exhibition and works in various media are interspersed. Although there are various “regions” within the exhibition, works are not partitioned. It is simultaneously a celebration of the respective artists, their creative processes and their personal insights, and an awareness of how these individual components contribute to a bigger, integrated experience.
Artworks flow from the Prince Vintcent building into Baron van Reede Street and spontaneously connect with the textures and colours found in the veld just outside of town. Participating artists are from across South Africa and the programme also includes a variety of outstanding community projects from different parts of the Karoo. A new residency programme is introduced, with an emerging artist from France participating in this year’s exhibition.
The viewer becomes an explorer through this landscape, with many footpaths that lead to new destinations and offer more than enough time for self-reflection. It becomes a spatial experience. Saunter though the Karoo with us and enjoy the internal landscapes of the imagination!
Luan Nel l Ground Control l 2025 l Oil and spray paint on canvas l 102 x 87cm
For more information and to purchase your tickets please navigate to the KKNK website here