[ISEA2018] Artists Statement: Bronwyn Lace & Xolisile Bongwana — DNA Pod

Artists Statement

Art, Science & Us sub-programme

USHAKA MARINE WORLD

DNA Pod consists of a throng of 60 small sculptural works, created out of a process of origami folding and unfolding DNA autoradiographs collected from universities. This method of DNA sequencing is no longer used as it’s been taken over by digital technology. The redundant information slides find new life as art.

  • Bronwyn Lace is an artist and cultural activist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lace works primarily in site-specific installation, sculpture and performance and participates in national and international projects focusing on the relationships between art and other fields, including physics, museum practice and education. An important element of Lace’s practice involves creating site-specific installations with found, recycled and repurposed elements. Lace is currently the director of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, an interdisciplinary incubator space for the arts based in Johannesburg. Founded by William Kentridge, the Centre creates and supports experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary arts projects.
  • It was in 1999 that Eastern Cape-based Xolisile Bongwana realised that he would be a dancer. In 2005 he joined Uphondo Lwe Afrika in Port Elizabeth before spending several years with the Dodgy Clutch Company, where he got to tour the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and to collaborate with renowned international choreographer, Robyn Orlin. With several prestigious performances under his belt, Bongwana has worked extensively with choreographers Gregory Maqoma and Luyanda Sidiya of Vuyani Dance Theatre and theatre director James Ngcobo. Bongwana is today production assistant for Vuyani Dance Theatre.