Exhibition at the:
medien.kunstlabor at the Kunsthaus Graz
Lendkai 1, A-8020 Graz / Austria

Opening: 06.12.2007, 7 pm
Duration: 07.12.2007 – 13.01.2008

More recent exhibitions of South African contemporary art abroad, depict the complex racial, social and economic context using social documentary material in the form of photography and short films. Machfeld’s approach to interpreting and translating the sense of place in relation to the more complex cultural and political dimensions of the society, offers a refreshing approach to the urban dynamics of transforming urban centers in South Africa. Their invitation to Johannesburg based artists Hobbs/Neustetter is an extension of this effort to concretize their profound experiences in South Africa.

About

Is it necessary to have knowledge about "the foreigner" in a cross continental communication process?
Where does a transdisciplinary language intersect? What does it overleapt?
MACHFELD dedicated itself to these questions during their stay in
Cape Town (X-Cape Biennale) and Johannesburg (ZA) 2007.

Formats of this artistic reflection are different art-works all related to the main topic communication.

Although there have been multiple definitions of culture, the definition by Hofstede is regarded as a
fundamental. Hofstede defined culture as, “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes
the members of one human group from another. Including the definition of Hofstede, there is a
general notion that culture is based on shared values. As for the compositions of
culture, Shils present that culture consists of a set of values, norms, and symbols
that guide individual behavior. Geertz presents that the culture is composed of three layers:

assumptions about existence,
values and norms,
and explicit products and artifacts.

We are happy that we could invite Marcus Neustetter & Stephan Hobbs from Johannesburg
to collaborate in this exhibtion and give an different, cultural view on this topic.