The White Elephant

Lauren Alexander with Clare Butcher, Charles Nkosi and David Blom (Oom Bolo).

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

CARDBOARD MONUMENT PROJECT 2011Featuring; Ezekiel Budeli, Erik Hopmans, Mzie Gojo, Roli Mhlanga, Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Victor Mofokeng, Teboho Mokhemisa, Joseph Monnatlala, Thomas Moremi, Mzi Nyathi, Alex O'Donoghue, Tumelo Mokopakgosi, Nathan Ruphus, Thulisile Shongwe, Thulani Zondo and many more.

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INNOCENT INVENTORYClare Butcher

‘So much depends upon...’: these are the opening words of American Modernist poet, William Carlos Williams’s com-pelling description of a simple, farmyard red wheelbarrow.1 Indeed so much depends upon these things that have a habit of slinking to the margins of our attention. It is not their scale, significance or useful vs. uselessness obscuring their presence, but rather, as material anthropologist Daniel Miller states, it is their familiarity that makes things become blin-dingly obvious.2

Things are never innocent. Those surprisingly dangerous everyday objects, structures, and spaces are what comprise the mise-en-scene on the stage of the present: a present made more complex due to the capacity of those same objects, structures and spaces to seemingly “stay put”, while their meanings oscillate between various framings over time. And it is this paradoxical power of things that lies at the heart of some of the most memorable examples of modern statecraft.

In his Monumental Propaganda campaign, Lenin re-envis-aged the material landscape of the urban Soviet Union as a didactic page upon which to inscribe his cultural revolu-tion. Commissioning local artists and craftsmen, he aimed to refashion ‘the peoples’ consciousness’ through concrete manifestations of new cultural values. These manifestations were to be modest, almost decorative embellishments on

INDEX

INNOCENT INVENTORY ........................................Clare Butcher

26 JANUARY 2011.......................................................Introduction: David Blom(Oom Bolo) with Charles Nkosi

THE WHITE ELEPHANT Introduction ...............................................................The Freedom Charter .................................................Market vs Monument ................................................Reclaiming space and form ..........................................Lost Heroes ................................................................Art works ...................................................................Action! ......................................................................

6 MARCH 2011 ......................................................... Closing Day: Extract from discussion at the Cardboard Monument

CREDITS ..................................................................

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use value. A colonial writer once observed: ‘His services are like so many white elephants, of which nobody can make use, and yet drain one’s gratitude, if indeed one does not feel bankrupt.’3

The answer in this case, in terms of our subject, is not icon-oclasm. Neither can we turn a blind eye to the insidious potential nor the symbolic drain of those objects that pro-duce us, as subjects. There must, as Williams’s poem contin-ues, be something beside.

In a setting not far from here, both geographically and con-ceptually, a postcolonial writer comes to terms with a set of so-called elephants in the room – more precisely, with a model pink elephant standing on a pavement, advertising the “Jumbo” Johannesburg liquor shop 4.The narrator, dwell-ing upon the strange proximity of this innocent-looking creature embroiled in such seedy circumstances, describes a scene of fairly odd, sometimes lewd interactions with the elephant by the liquor shop’s clientele. What he describes is visceral, weighty, even draining, when we consider this to be a glimpse of our contemporary societal bankruptcy. Yet there it is: the white elephant is not white at all. It could be pink. It could be worn down by time or the weather. It could be a red wheelbarrow. It is our attention that has changed. The humble thing becomes once again visible, revealing itself as a catalyst, a shaper of new consciousness, complicit in the momentary as well as monumental encounters – upon which, so much depends.

existing structures, made using cheap materials: of a tempo-rary nature. Lenin instructed that these propaganda monu-ments be able to withstand the harsh climate, but most of all, they should catch the eye of every proletarian. Needless to say, most of the commissions were short-lived because of their material quality, but this was not the point. So much depended upon those stone reliefs above apartment doors, those granite-plaster busts in public squares, those figurines set on pedestals. And even after degrading or wearing away, the absence of those things would serve to draw the atten-tion of every citizen-in-the-making to the surrounding struc-tures of what was a nation becoming.

It was a similar, though somewhat inverse logic, which inspired the newly elected South African government, fol-lowing the end of apartheid, to leave the majority of monu-ments and memorials set in place by previous regimes. The hope was that, through a process of reverse psychology, these symbols of a former power would be shamed into a kind of perpetual stasis, while the context around them changed for the “better”. Over time, these forms would become anti-sym-bolic: standing for everything this new nation did not want to depend upon. Some of the more powerful things however, were removed, taken off by governmental dispatches and concerned citizens of the “previous regimes” – stashed in vaults underneath other more palatable national structures. Both these instances point to the paradox of the red wheel-barrow. The absence of familiar facets of memoryscape makes us notice more what is not there, increasing its power in the act of erasure. While above ground, that which remains visible becomes seemingly impotent decoration: “white elephants” of little critical relevance, particularly when com-bined with the forms of a new national consciousness dis-played on politically correct street corners, artworks adorning boutique hotel interiors and bronze sculptures of struggle heroes surrounded by shopping centres.

When one keeps a “white elephant”, it is not long before one realises that the burden of maintenance soon outstrips

.............................................................................................1 William Carlos Williams, “Red Wheelbarrow,” (1923). 2 Daniel Miller, Stuff (Polity Press, 2009).3 Taken from G. E. Jewbury, Letters (1892). 4 Ivan Vladislavic˜, The Restless Supermarket (Spearhead Press, 2001).

Clare Butcher (Harare, 1985) is a curator and writer, currently working as a research fellow with the Centre for Curating the Archive at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT INNOCENT INVENTORY

26 JANUARY 2011Introduction: David Blom (Oom Bolo) with Charles Nkosi

All the participants of the Cardboard Monument project gathered inside David Blom’s House. Oom Bolo, as he is affectionately known, is an elder and community leader well known in Kliptown. He grew up in the area, and despite hav-ing no formal qualifications or profession he is committed to collecting and preserving social and political memory, which is not necessarily represented by government-initiated projects, like the Walter Sisulu Square monument in Kliptown. He has created his own museum in his home, by collecting artefacts from his neighbours and community. There are endless stories connected to each object and its strategic placement in his personal archive. Bolo was aware of the Cardboard Monu-ment project we were about to embark on. On this day he took it upon himself to give a motivational introduction to all young artist participants before showing us a slideshow of photographs and stories on his beamer. He has collected and recorded these over the past 30 years in Kliptown.

Introduction by Oom Bolo, with Charles NkosiAt Oom Bolo’s house, Beacon Road, Kliptown, Soweto

Present: Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Joseph Monnatlala, Victor Mofokeng, Thulani Zondo, Thomas Moremi, Mzie Gojo, Mzi Nyathi, Thulisile Shongwe and Teboho Mokhemisa, Lauren Alexander, Charles Nkosi, Roli Mhlanga, Tumelo Mokopakgosi and Ezekiel Budeli

Oom Bolo: Have you all been to see the Walter Sisulu monu-ment?

(Audience response: No, not everyone has seen the monument yet)

Oom Bolo: So, we don’t yet have an insight of the place. You know, what will happen, you are going to see what the tour-ists see, you are going to take instructions from the infor-mation you will find there. But, you are artists, artists don’t take instructions, they are creative people. So if you have not really looked at the place yet with the eye of an artist. If you don’t say; what is this? Where does it come from? And what can we do to make it work? Or what can we do to make the people of South Africa understand this monument? How many monuments are there around the country? What do they symbolise? What do people do there everyday? Maybe we will say the Kliptown monument; it’s a White Elephant. Maybe the Freedom Park in Pretoria is the same thing?

I’ll tell you guys something, one of our biggest challenges in South Africa, and it has been like this since the 18th century, we have an overwhelming flow of new people into the coun-try. Now we don’t like to make separations and talk about them and us, but none the less, the older generation who were part of the struggle, we want to see our heritage, our museums, historical sites being preserved, being shown to the public. But these people who arrive, have come for jobs from all over the continent, and especially in Kliptown, they are able to find a home. Now when it comes to such sites, especially political sites, it’s a bit difficult, you understand because those people don’t understand what they are about.

That’s why each and every one of you needs to select some-thing that you think is very, very important. I don’t think that your headmaster or teachers should say: “This is what you are going to do”. We need to move away from the mind-set of the classroom, we must close the doors of the class-room behind us. We must become who we are, and what we

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT 26 JANUARY 2011

have learned, and how do we want to implement the knowl-edge that we have already? How do we see ourselves grow, within ourselves, and not based on what the headmaster says? What can we do, how can we change things? If we still have that classroom mentality. We will always wait for the black-board and to be told what to do, wait for instructions. When will you start giving instructions? When will you become your own CEO? When will you become your own director? And say now we are out there and now it depends entirely up to me. What is my creativity? How can I contribute towards this programme? Maybe it’s a suggestion or an idea which we bring to the table? You are not forcing it upon people. You know what is the best thing in life, for somebody not to be scared to be creative, and to talk. You must also remember to talk within the framework of what is needed, we need to stick to what we are doing, and the more you talk, you become innovative, your art comes from the inside. Now when you come, to my museum and you look at the piece of broom in the corner. You could say, look at this broom. How many yards have been swept with that broom? Why do they use a broom like this, with one hand at the back and one hand in the front? Why do people sweep their houses in this manner? Why do some people wake up at 5am and sweep the yard? And today they are not doing it at all?” It’s all a discussion of art. Business has its own language, and art also has its own language. You understand.

Artists, most of the time, question such things, each and every thing symbolises meaning to them. How can it be used in an art form? I’m going to show you images of Klip-town, and I’m going to take you around the area. But what I wouldn’t like to see, is you saying, ok, we see this, we see that, its very nice. You are going to listen to nice stories. But once you are done, then so what? We have listened to this and that, and so what? Whatever you see, whatever you listen to, ask yourself how can I develop it, what can I do with this information - those are the important aspects of being an artist. It is our God given talent that we know how to draw and how to write, but we must know what to do with same

things. What I’m trying to say is, we are going, to one of the very, very big places, the square, the square is so very impor-tant. You know, Kliptown brought our democracy to us, not Soweto. Kliptown is where the democracy started - Kliptown is where most of the compilation of the Freedom Charter started. This place is not a small place, you guys must also think as big as the place is. When you say the Walter Sisulu Square, where the Freedom Charter was adopted, it’s a huge heading, and it is internationally known.

Art can be a tricky thing, especially if you don’t understand it. That’s why it’s very important for us to work together and to understand the significance and the importance of differ-ent types of art. Different ways of how people express them-selves through art. You know, not everyone can understand these things. We cannot blame the government for these things - we must blame ourselves.

Charles Nkosi: In fact today, Bolo, we were hoping, to inter-act, through you, with the people of Kliptown, on our way to the square from here. That would help us to understand the soul of Kliptown. The project is not just about taking images and putting them together as part of the concept of the Cardboard Monument; it’s the people that make the concept work. So, if we are here and we are able to relate to the people on the ground, get the ethereal texture and the feel of the place. You don’t just feel the place by walking through it and talking to nobody. The soulness of the whole thing needs to be based on how we interact. For example the last time we came to the jazz breakfast for the elderly of Kliptown held here. It taught us a very good and positive angle, that you are talking to the people who make history. History is not made out of a vacuum, it is made by people. People are the conduits of the spoken word that is taken from way back in time, through oral tradition of history and now if you interview people. We have got cameras and we are able to, as part of the package that we will be having for the Cardboard Monument, record history. There will also be visuals that make part of that history, it’s a story, we are tell-

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT 26 JANUARY 2011

ing a story, kind of interpreting it like you were saying. It is putting us together as a collective, and it shouldn’t leave the people of Kliptown in the peripheral of marginalised people because, this is not a so-called intellectual project that is for the schooled. It belongs to the people, the ownership of the whole idea belongs to the people, because the presentation of this whole project will go to the people of Kliptown, of Soweto, of Gauteng. The people will be talking about it after the presentation of the project, but what is good is that we are looking at it lasting longer than the four days that we will be on the square. So that it should be captured in the peo-ple’s minds, for a longer period.

David Blom (Known as Oom Bolo, "oom" meaning uncle in Afrikaans) Oom Bolo has lived in Kliptown for most of his life. Today he lives in a house located just a few blocks away from the Walter Sisulu Square monument. Bolo is an active community leader and photographer. He has dedicated to the operating of his self- made museum and offers his home as a community meeting place. He runs a small snack bar from his home too, which funds his projects.

Sokhaya Charles Nkosi (Durban, 1949) Charles attended the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in Durban from 1974 to 1976. He is a passionate teacher and from 1986 onwards, he taught at the African Institute of Art (AIA) at the Funda Centre in Soweto. He has participated in major group exhibitions in South Africa and abroad and has held a number of solo exhibi-tions. He is represented in museum and private collections in SA and abroad. He is currently the head of the Funda Community Arts Centre, visual arts department.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT CARDBOARD MONUMENT PROJECT

THE WHITE ELEPHANTLauren Alexander

INTRODUCTION

“White Elephant” is the name given by Kliptown residents to the monument development built in 2005 called Walter Sisulu Square. This term used by various members of the community, refers to the huge and expensive development, which for them represents a false promise. A false promise because it was intended to bring the economy of tourism to the area and create jobs. More importantly the White Ele-phant was intended to celebrate promises which were once made on the square, by the founding fathers of anti-Apart-heid resistance, when they held the Freedom Charter signing here in 1955.

In 2007, I first encountered the Walter Sisulu Square monu-ment. By 2011, I had gathered a team, conceived and co-ordinated a project which could function as critical observa-tion of the mammoth monument, in the midst of a gravely poor neighbouring area. The format of this project would be a collaborative process together with a Soweto based art school called Funda Community Arts College. The process would include fieldwork in the Kliptown area, and thereafter the building of a cheap and temporary monument as a form of commentary, on the usually quiet, unwelcoming, formal space on the square.

As a conceptual starting point, we would re-imagine the Freedom Monument, which is now part of the monument complex, in a new form. We wanted to make a connection to the existing monument structure, in its visual form, but at the same time we would have the freedom to create a new structure based on our research in the area, entitled Card-board Monument.

We formed a team, myself, a South African, Dutch based artist, a Dutch theatre set designer and skilled builder, a UK based project manager, and nine artists who are current or former students from the Funda Community Arts Col-

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT

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lege. We worked together from January until March 2011. Between the 3rd and the 6th of March we formulated a programme at the monument square enabling a platform for what we had created. We invited musicians, performers, and school students from around Kliptown to participate in our four day event. The intention was to temporarily revive the square with a vibrant, young and politically engaged audi-ence.

For a brief few days the White Elephant came alive, and attracted passersby, tourists and friends to join in a lively and warm experience. Conversations were had, children who would usually be begging for money from tourists were able to watch, dance and ask questions. For a brief moment the distance between the White Elephant and Kliptown residents became slightly smaller.

On the day we dismantled our monument, a dark cloud descended over our project. As if the brief joy of the momen-tous success we had achieved had been too much, too soon. We had embarked on an ambitious public art project, and reached many people in the process both in Kliptown and in Soweto. It was all over. We had created our own exhibition space and work, where nothing had existed before. However we were leaving. The logistical and financial support behind the project was no longer there. The artists involved, most living in Soweto, were suddenly aware of their own depend-

ency on these factors, in order to keep the project running. Bitter questions arose, “But how did we benefit?” and “Now what?”

Valid questions indeed. However this project was not intended to be a sustainable or permanent fixture in the Kliptown area. We were funded by a relatively small budget, a combination of Dutch and South African money, on the basis of our temporary monument structure plan. In the process of learning and investigation, we had benefited enor-mously in terms of what we had learned from each other.

I was reminded that the Walter Sisulu square, which we had looked upon so critically during the process of the project was also, to some extent, made with good intentions, and with the purpose of pleasing all it’s stakeholders and public. The monument square has become a disappointment. It has failed to create a suitably sustainable strategy, and therefore the public largely feels isolated from it.

Was there really a difference between what we had created together as temporary public art project and the White Ele-phant? Or had we perpetuated that false promise? I will now start from the beginning, and unravel my story. A network of historical legacy, community and artistic partic-ipation, business investment, and political manipulation, told from my subjective point of view.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT INTRODUCTION

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT CARDBOARD MONUMENT PROJECT

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THE FREEDOM CHARTER

In 1955, on Kliptown’s soccer field and where the Walter Sisulu Square now stands, South Africa’s first Freedom Charter was signed.

This occasion is remembered as a legendary event. It involved many political parties of which the ruling party today, the African National Congress was one. The ANC sent out fifty thousand volunteers into the townships and countryside, in order to collect “freedom demands” from ordinary people of all races.

On 26th June 1955, during a two day event, the summa-rised document was presented to a large gathering of people. Nelson Mandela explains the event is his biography, A Long

Walk to Freedom “…the charter was read aloud, section by section, to the people in English, Sesotho and Xhosa. After each section, the crowd shouted its approval with cries of ‘Afrika!’ and ‘Mayibye!’. 1 Every participant in the peaceful rally, was given food and lodging around the Kliptown area. Eventually during the second day the event was broken up by the police, who claimed that the gathering was an act of treason. The remains of the patchwork document, the Freedom Charter would re-emerge again in the 1990’s when it was pulled out of hiding, dusted off and it’s intentions were to put to good use.

The Freedom Charter made ten promises for the future including2:

The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It!There Shall be Work and Security!The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth!

In Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine”3 she details the transition of power from Apartheid to post-Apartheid, with a specific look at how the ideals of the Freedom Charter failed to come into practice. When the Freedom Charter was first announced in the 1950’s it already came under criticism

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THE FREEDOM CHARTER MADE 10

PROMISES FOR THE FUTURE INCLUDING:

THE LAND SHALL BE SHARED AMONG THOSE WHO WORK IT!

THERE SHALL BE WORK AND SECURITY!

THE PEOPLE SHALL SHARE IN THE COUNTRY’S WEALTH!

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT THE FREEDOM CHARTER

from some, saying that it was too lenient on white oppres-sors by declaring that the land belongs to all people, and land redistribution was for all, insinuating that those involved in the struggle, or affected by Apartheid should be the ones primarily benefiting from the ideals of the charter. When the time came to institute these policies after the 1994 elections, it became apparent that the nationalisation of state owned strong holds of wealth was not going to happen, and neither would radical redistribution of privately owned land. Instead the fragile agreements at the time were steered in favour of a liberal agenda, keeping foreign investors happy. It was believed that this approach would prevent civil war and sta-bilize international investment. In the long term however, it has meant that specifically in an area like Kliptown the lack of basic improvement of housing, sanitation and security has not improved and in some cases has become worse. With this situation as a backdrop the Johannesburg Municipality

in financial collaboration with an investment company called Blue IQ unveiled a 160 million rand (11 million euro) devel-opment to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter signing in 2005.

The land, which was to become the expensive monument, was once a soccer field, until declared a national monument in 1997. By 2002, a competition had been set up for the design of a new open-air monument development. At the unveiling of the winner’s design in June 2002, the square’s name was changed to the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedica-tion. The plan set out by architects and government prom-ised a large-scale development of the entire area, with several nodes celebrating women, arts and culture in the area. The winning design was chosen because it would supposedly transform Soweto into a “city”4 according to the competi-tion judges, instead of the sprawling township it once was.

.............................................................................................1 Nelson Mandela, A Long walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (New York, Brown and Company, 1994), p.150. 2 The rest of the Freedom Charter can be viewed online at http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/gov-ernence-projects/freedom-charter/07_charter.htm (accessed 9 May 2011).3 Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine, the rise of disaster Capitalism, (New York, Metropolitan Books, 2007).4 Lucille Davie, Walter Sisulu Square - the winner's design. (October 25, 2002) http://www.joburgnews.co.za/oct2002/oct25_square.stm (accessed 9 May 2011).

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT THE FREEDOM CHARTER

MARKET VS MONUMENT

The architectural forms present at the Walter Sisulu Square attempt to be distinctly “African” in design, the rawness of bare concrete and details like the use of the rusted iron roofs from shacks removed from the area, with indigenous thorn trees for foliage.

The monumental structures in the complex are heavily loaded with symbolic value. An example are the monolithic Pillars of Freedom, which rise out of the ground like raw concrete giants representing each of the decades of the anti-Apartheid struggle. The Freedom Charter monument in the centre of the square is a tunnel-like shape, which narrows towards the sky and has an aptly X-shaped ventilation shaft in the top, representing the act of voting. Inside, there is a circular stone table onto which the promises of the Freedom Charter are engraved. In the centre of the stone wheel is a torch, out of which an eternal flame is supposed to burn. The flame is out of order, and has been since 2005. The square is flanked by two long buildings, on the one side is the four

star hotel, which overlooks the buzzing market place from its balconies, and on the other side is the Multipurpose Hall, the only official art gallery in Kliptown, and the management offices of the square.

As I later discovered, in the planning stages of construction, the community living around Kliptown was to some extent consulted concerning the upcoming monument.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT MARKET VS MONUMENT

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT

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door

s fo

r th

e pu

blic

, Jos

eph

Mon

natla

la, E

rik

Hop

man

s an

d M

zie

Goj

o. 4

th M

arch

201

1.


P32 P33

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Chi

ldre

n fr

om K

lipto

wn,

and

sur

roun

ding

are

as s

pent

the

day

with

us

at t

he C

ardb

oard

Mon

umen

t. 5

th M

arch

201

1.


This was mainly through community figure, David Blom, better known as Oom Bolo. Oom Bolo explained5 that he

was approached to collaborate in providing information, which could help to incorporate symbolic elements into the planned architectural form. He pointed out some of the less obvious symbolism that was implied at the square. For example many of the large pillars used at the market place, are designed to appear skew, imitating the informal market shops usually made from sticks placed into the ground. Much of the information, which was collected by Oom Bolo by means of interviews and fieldwork at the time, was intended to be used in the small museum situated on the square, but this was eventually not the case.

The market is a very important aspect of life in Kliptown. In the Apartheid years, it was one of the only areas in Soweto where mixed races traded. The original traders were mainly Indian and Chinese. Kliptown’s open field was known as being a market place for finding a mixture of cheap goods. Anybody was allowed to bring his or her goods and sell. Today the situation is very different, with the arrival of the monument complex. A more structured concept of selling has been incorporated in the design. Now traders pay a fee and are given basic facilities like water the shelter. However the situation is highly managed and regulated by the met-ropolitan police. They make sure that traders stick to strict borders around selling spots, and if they disobey the rules, traders have their goods confiscated.

On the square each day two realities exist side-by-side, tour-ists and traders. The traders, desperately trying to stick to the demarcated rules, while at the same time compete with a growing number of traders with varied goods. The other extreme are the visitors and guests of the four star hotel. These might be visitors to conferences or maybe adventurous foreign tourists brave enough to overnight in a township and who want to experience an “authentic” township expe-rience. The manager of the hotel is compassionate towards Kliptown’s development and has recently been encouraging arts and community groups to be involved in the beautifica-tion of the area. The hotel was host to many organisational

16. S

tall

at th

e m

arke

t pla

ce a

rea

at W

al-

ter S

isul

u Sq

uare

. (20

11)

15. O

om B

olo

insi

de h

is se

lf-m

ade

mus

eum

. (2

011)

17. T

ouris

ts w

aitin

g on

Wal

ter S

isul

u Sq

uare

w

ith th

eir t

our g

uide

. (20

11)

P34 P35


meetings that we held as part of the Cardboard Monument project. We forged a valuable relationship with Masentle Mokhele the manager’s assistant in charge of hotel mar-keting, who grew up in Kliptown. Today, because of her position at the hotel, she is often questioned by the people she grew up with. Why and how could the hotel be of ben-efit to the people of Kliptown, when just across the bridge, people are living in cardboard boxes, with a view of the presi-dential hotel suite.

On the 26th of January 2011, as part of the Cardboard Monument project, myself, Ezekiel Budeli, Erik Hopmans, Mzie Gojo, Roli Mhlanga, Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Victor Mofokeng, Tumelo Mokopakgosi, Teboho Mokhemisa, Joseph Monnatlala, Thomas Moremi, Mzi Nyathi, Charles Nkosi, Thulisile Shongwe, Thulani Zondo embarked on a research investigation in the Kliptown area. Our first destina-tion was Oom Bolo’s house. Here he prepared a lecture for us about the Kliptown he had grown up in, and the monu-ment he had watched grow. He told stories of forgotten heroes, who are not celebrated in the official monument museum, he told us about the lost ruins of houses in Klip-town, where Nelson Mandela was said to have slept. He painted a vivid and exciting picture of a truly multicultural place, unique in Soweto. A place where many ethnic groups and races lived together in relative harmony. Bolo is proud of his home. Probably his most important legacy is his house.

He has created his own museum by collecting objects from his neighbours and arranging them in an attractive display. He tells animated stories for hours on end. Bolo provided his home as a research base and resource centre for our field-work.

Artists Joseph Monnatlala and Teboho Mokhemisa both live very close to the monument. They have witnessed the changes in the area on a personal level. They had perhaps walked through the monument square before, but they had not noticed the historical significance that it attempts to communicate. Perhaps it was for this reason that Teboho and Joseph formed an instant connection, and embarked on doing their research as a team. Teboho has his own camera and so the two were able to assist each other and document their encounters. Teboho, did not grow up in the area but moved here when he came to study in Soweto. He joined a drama and arts group at the time, and that way became more

18. V

iew

of t

he W

alte

r Sis

ulu

Squa

re m

onum

ent

from

the

brid

ge, w

hich

cro

sses

to th

e K

lipto

wn

Squa

tter c

amp.

(201

1)

19. D

iscu

ssio

ns w

ith C

harle

s Nko

si a

nd a

rtis

ts a

t Oom

Bol

o’s M

useu

m. (

31 Ja

nu-

ary

2011

) Bel

ow: A

udie

nce

liste

ns to

Oom

Bol

o’s L

ectu

re (2

6 Ja

nuar

y 20

11).

P36 P37


familiar with Kliptown. Teboho lives in one of the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses that were built in Kliptown, and originally promised to those who are still living in the Kliptown squatter camp. Today they are rented out to people who migrate to Kliptown from other areas, like Teboho. For his research as part of the Cardboard Monument project he chose to focus on the friends that he had met when he first came to Kliptown. He wanted to ask them about their lives in the squatter camp.

On the 8th of February 2011, we went to meet Mfundese Adolfus Masithe at his home at the squatter camp in Klip-town. Teboho had visited him before, and asked if we could return to record a conversation with him, using our video camera. Teboho conducted the interview. Mfundese was living in a small shack with his children. His wife was cooking and his youngest child had just arrived home from school. Mfundese was eager to share his current difficulties related to his living conditions in the Kliptown area and also related to the plight of market sellers at the monument market space.

The rent has increased, and the competition has grown too stronger at the Walter Sisulu Square market, and he has used all of his savings to send his children to school. He was therefore left with no capital to continue with his business ventures. He had led a group of market workers and recently they had held a protest at the monument. He wanted to show us the photocopies of these images from the protest. When our interview was over, we walked outside. He wanted us to look around the area, next to his house, he wanted us to see the open sewers that run in between the houses. He wanted us to look at the toilets that are sometimes shared by 50 people. He wanted us to go and tell people in Johannes-burg, or even in the rest of the world that this is no place for humans to live. As we were leaving Mfundese’s house that day, a large tour bus drove past, above us on the highway.

20. J

osep

h M

onna

tlala

and

Teb

oho

Mok

hem

isa

visi

t Nat

han

Ruph

us,

resi

dent

of t

he K

lipto

wn

Squa

tter c

amp.

21. M

fund

ese A

dolfu

s Mas

ithe

at h

is h

ome

in th

e K

lipto

wn

Squa

tter c

amp.

Bel

ow:

Doc

umen

tatio

n sh

own

durin

g ou

r int

ervi

ew w

ith M

fund

ese

of a

wor

kers

mar

ch a

t Wal

ter

Sisu

lu S

quar

e.

P38 P39


P40 P41

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Vis

itors

at

our

exhi

bitio

n in

side

the

Car

dboa

rd M

onum

ent.

In

the

back

grou

nd a

re d

ispl

ay p

ortr

aits

of a

ll of

the

Klip

tow

n re

side

nts

that

we

inte

rvie

wed

.


P42 P43

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Nat

han

Rup

hus,

rep

rese

ntin

g a

Klip

tow

n yo

uth

grou

p, s

peak

s du

ring

the

Clo

sing

Day

dis

cuss

ion

on t

he 6

th M

arch

201

1.


Suddenly the bus slowed down. Inside the luxury tourist bus, tourists who had just been visiting the Freedom Monu-ment at the Walter Sisulu had stopped the tour bus on the highway. Tourists were peering, with their zoom lens cam-eras from the bus window over the sea of iron shack houses in front them.

Mfundese said that this happens all the time, usually when he is eating his breakfast he sees them. He said he thinks that the tourists make money by selling the photographs that they take of him and his neighbours.

RECLAIMING SPACE AND FORM

SPACE

While spending time in Kliptown, engaging with Bolo and other members of the community, we asked each person what they thought about the Walter Sisulu Square monu-ment? The response was almost always the same. It was generally felt that the space did not belong to the residents of Kliptown. Residents felt that they could visit the market in Kliptown, but that the square was a space specifically designed for tourists, or as some people describe it as a place for “white people”. Compared to other public parks and spaces in Soweto, where community members voluntarily look after the grounds and facilities, this space severely lacks a feeling of ownership on the part of the people who live in the area.

The result of our research gathering process in the Klip-town area would be a sculptural object or display placed on the square. One of the questions taken into consideration was whether it was a good idea to place an exhibition at the square, where people from the Kliptown area did not feel welcome. Considering the main intention of the exhibition was to be able to attract people who had participated in our research process and their friends and families, and hopefully broader community. We wanted to communicate through our work, information and visuals that might usually be inac-cessible to the residents of the community. Other options of where to place the monument could have been outside Bolo’s house for example, or maybe inside the squatter camp, where there may have been a lot of curiosity, and attendance from the poorest of the community.

The decision to finally place our project on the monument square itself, proved more difficult that initially anticipated. The management of the Walter Sisulu Square, were not pre-pared to give us a space on their open square without an exchange of a considerable amount of money. As the man-

.............................................................................................5 Lauren Alexander, Interview with Oom Bolo at Funda Centre, 21 January 2011

22. A

tour

ist b

us, s

tops

on

the

high

way

to p

hoto

grap

h th

e K

lipto

wn

Squa

tter c

amp.

P44 P45

THE WHITE ELEPHANT RECLAIMING SPACE AND FORM

agement received almost no budget from the government or any other sources to carry out its projects and developments in Kliptown, it is understandable that this may become an issue, but simultaneously carried the same message as we had been hearing from the community… this is not a public space, but a disguised private space. This became the core reason in the crusade to be able to use the monument space with the support of the management and their superiors, without having to pay!

Eventually we succeeded, with the help of a stakeholder body, which was set up in November 2010. The aim of this stakeholder gathering was to bring together all the parties who may have been interested in participating in an event or in a project like the Cardboard Monument. We met inside the Soweto Hotel on the 4th of November 2010, and then again in February 2011. Through establishing contact with the influential manager of the Soweto Hotel, we were able to get through to members of Government, the actual owners of the land, who could then allow us to use the space for free. But as nothing comes for free, we would be obliged to make our research available to the governmental agency who owned the land. The trick was that being the owners of the land, they had a vested interest in attempting to fix the situ-ation at the Walter Sisulu Square. They were in full agree-ment that the monument development had been a rather disastrous failure, which in their view meant that tourists who visited the monument, were not actually contributing to

the creation of jobs and economy, because they were neither staying at the hotel, nor spending money at the market place. Nonetheless our deal concerning the usage of the space was agreed. In exchange for our research findings, whatever that might have been, and this Governmental agency would also come and place one of their marketing flags or banners near to our project on the square during the time it was open.

FORM

On the Walter Sisulu Square at the moment, the main tourist attraction is the Freedom Tower. The tower is made from bricks and forms a cone like shape which reaches up to about 10 meters high. Inside, the Freedom Charter phrases are etched into stone on a round table. The structure has no direct reference to any existing symbolic monumental struc-ture, and it is not quite clear where its form was derived from. During our meetings at Funda we speculated about the meaning that the structure could possibly portray. One suggestion was that the structure could be a reference to something like an ancient ruin, a sort of historical time cap-sule. The charter etched into stone is reminiscent of a tomb-stone or a relic that is made in order to stand weathering of hundreds of years to come.

23. S

take

hold

ers m

eetin

g, S

owet

o H

otel

, 4t

h N

ovem

ber 2

010.

24. O

rigin

al sk

etch

of t

he C

ardb

oard

Mon

umen

t m

ade

in 2

009,

for p

roje

ct p

ropo

sal b

y La

uren

A

lexa

nder

.

P46 P47


The structure, which we would place on the monument square was intended to weave together our research inves-tigation. We started with an open call to all participants of the project to bring together ideas related to how the form of the structure should look. The initial plan was for our new monument to have a resemblance in form to the brick Freedom Tower. In this way we would be able to comment on or make fun of the obscure Freedom Tower using it as visual reference. Some ideas included cutting it in half and exposing the locked-in-stone Freedom Charter for all to see. Eventually we based our Cardboard Monument on the drawing that Tumelo Mokopakgosi suggested.

This drawing included in it’s design, the Freedom Charter statements exposed to the outside world, and at the same time was reminiscent of a “spaza”6 market stall, frequently found in townships like Soweto. The parameters for the

structure were that it should be functional both as a stage and exhibition platform. It needed to be robust enough to be closed at night and store all of the exhibition contents. When it was opened up to the public we wanted the struc-ture to be as open as possible to encourage interaction and openness with the public. The structure was a basic starting point, in which we would consider how to curate the works of all the participants involved.

.............................................................................................6 A spaza shop is an informal shop, usually run from a home, with a small hatch window opening onto the street.

25. W

orki

ng sk

etch

of t

he C

ardb

oard

Mon

umen

t str

uctu

re m

ade

by T

umel

o M

okop

akgo

si, F

ebru

ary

2011

.

26. A

rtic

le p

ublis

hed

in P

imvi

lle n

ews,

a lo

cal k

nock

-and

-dro

p ne

wsp

aper

in K

lipto

wn,

24t

h Fe

brua

ry 2

011.

P48 P49


P50 P51

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Mni

na T

siph

i, an

Afr

ican

dru

mm

ing

grou

p pe

rfor

ms

trad

ition

al T

swan

a da

ncin

g, 5

th M

arch

201

1.


P52 P53

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Car

dboa

rd M

onum

ent

visi

tor

page

s th

roug

h Jo

seph

Mon

natla

la’s

vis

ual d

iary

on

view

at

the

mon

umen

t.


LOST HEROES

Oom Bolo had told us about icons and hidden ruins located in the Kliptown area, which he felt were not represented at the official museum and monument. We went hunting. Mzi Nyathi, a Zimbabwean artist, who came to stay in Johannesburg when he began his studies at Funda, was fas-cinated by the female historical figure, Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke. Charlotte lived in Kliptown and became the first black woman to obtain a university degree from the Wilber-force University in the USA. She later went on to establish a church in Kliptown, a school and she started the Woman’s League of the ANC. On the 31st of January 2011, we were lucky enough to find Charlotte’s grave, which was rumoured to be located just outside of Kliptown, next to the highway.

It was a black marble tombstone, with golden letters inscribed. Mzi was ecstatic. Since there was minimal informa-tion about Charlotte to be found in Kliptown, or even on the internet, seeing the tombstone with its engravings made our lost heroine feel slightly more tangible.

Victor Mofokeng was fascinated by what Bolo had described as the “Griqua people” who were currently living in Klip-town. He had heard about the Griquas, a group of people who did not consider themselves black nor white, but a unique ethnic group with their own characteristics. Together with Mzi and Victor, we went onto the Kliptown streets in search of clues. Our first stop was the church with no sign outside, but which was known as the Griqua church.

The church was closed, but outside was a house on the church grounds. We went to knock on the door and enquire about when the church would be open. The lady who answered the door was remarkably small. She explained to us that she was a Griqua, and that the church and the Griqua community gathered on Sunday. She said that her people spoke what they called “Hollands” which was not Afrikaans, but a form of it closer to Dutch. She invited us into her home to have a look at the Griqua flag and calendar.

27. G

rave

of C

harlo

tte M

axek

e, fo

und

on 3

1st

Janu

ary

2011

with

Vi

ctor

Mof

oken

g an

d M

zi N

yath

i, cl

ose

to K

lipto

wn.

28. H

ouse

on

the

prop

erty

of t

he G

riqua

Chu

rch,

vis

ited

on 3

1st J

anua

ry 2

011.

Be

low

: Vic

tor M

ofok

eng

mee

ting

the

Griq

ua re

side

nt, c

urre

ntly

livi

ng in

side

the

hous

e.

P54 P55

THE WHITE ELEPHANT LOST HEROES

The flag that she showed us was bottle green, with a Dutch flag shown as diagonal stripes across it. The Griqua emblem was a specific flower called the “kanniedood”, which means, “Cannot die”, in Afrikaans.

She explained to us that many people think that the Griqua people may die out soon, but they are confident of the resil-ience of their race. We left a message for the pastor from the church, that we had been and were curious to find out more.

While walking around Kliptown that day we came across the ruins of the former cinema called “Sans Souci” (meaning “no worries”).

Today the ruins are used as a hide-out for drug addicts, but this spot was once a lively and important cultural hangout

in Kliptown. It was built in 1948, and was a stage for music performance, dance, cinema and community organised events, like beauty pageants, featuring stars like Miriam Makeba, Kippie Moketsi and Abdullah Ibrahim. The cinema was one of the few cinemas that black people were allowed to visit during the Apartheid years. The cinema was func-tional until the 1990’s, when it was frequently vandalised, and eventually closed down. The ruins of the building were somewhat of a landmark in the area, until a few years ago, when heavy rain toppled the ruins, and now only a small piece of the foundation is left. Bolo told us that over the years, many architects had tried to initiate projects that could allow the Sans Souci cinema to open once more. The cinema occupies precious and fond feelings among the community who remember it, and for this reason, it is believed that bringing back the cinema may in fact revive a feeling of lost community- a brief escapism from the hardships of poverty. Until now, none of the initiated ventures have materialised, presumably due to the lack of funding needed to sustain a permanent cinema centre.

Mzie Gojo felt particularly attracted to the nostalgic memo-ries connected to the remains of the Sans Souci. He was interested in speaking to people about their memories of the golden days of the cinema, and what the experience meant to their community. Mzie was able to interview several people living in the neighbourhood of the Sans Souci ruins.

29. A

Griq

ua n

eck-

tie w

ith lo

go, a

lso

used

on

the

Griq

ua fl

ag.

30. M

zie

Goj

o, st

andi

ng o

n th

e ru

ins

of th

e Sa

ns S

ouci

Cin

ema,

Klip

tow

n.

(Feb

ruar

y 20

11)

31. T

he o

rigin

al S

ans S

ouci

Cin

ema

cent

re.

Dat

e un

know

n.P56 P57

THE WHITE ELEPHANT LOST HEROES

Extract from interview at Francis “Poppetjie” Gilbert’s home Beacon Road, Kliptown

31st January 2011

Mzie: How was the feeling inside Sans Souci, compared to the cinemas that we have now?

Francis: Aww… you won’t believe it, when there were action movies, like maybe that time it was about Jackie Chang, and those guys, when there was action, the people were screaming, and they were excited and maybe that time it was around Halloween, and the people would scream; “Look behind you!” “Look behind you!”. And there the Halloween man was coming to slice you! (laughs) It was very exciting. And as I grew up, my uncle worked there, and I started working there too in the tuckshop. And then eventually I married a man who worked there too.(laughs) My whole life was around Sans Souci, actually, it was wonderful.

Mzie: Do the cinemas of today have the same vibration that Sans Souci had?

Francis: In cinemas today, its more about quietness, and eve-rybody wants to be on his own, and those days, you know, it was just wild, it was alive, if you are excited you can scream, if you are not excited and its boring, you can just stand up and walk out. You know, its not like a big disturbance, like maybe it would be today. Today it is more high class. Maybe its also because now we can only watch movies in the sub-urbs, always in big malls, and at that time it was only for Afri-cans and Coloureds, no whites. Because now we are mixed with whites, the movie watching experience very different.

ART WORKS

The production and translation of research concepts into artistic forms was done during the month of February 2011 at Funda Community Art Centre. What used to be a thriving art centre started in the 1980’s, and a strong voice during the anti- Apartheid struggle has, since three years ago been reduced to a struggling, impoverished and diminished visual arts department.

The reason for this was that invaders who attempted to take over the whole complex and intimidate it’s inhabitants by looting and burning artworks. The grounds on which the invaders were able to stay were based on powerful political connections, but they currently do not use the property for any particular purpose. The Funda visual art depart-ment was the only department that stood in defense of their school, and withstood the squatters. The results are that Funda needs to hire its own security company to be able to look after its building, they are not able to keep any valuable equipment including computers on the premises and they experience mysterious electricity cuts.

Funda does not have many resources or facilities, so we needed to be resourceful with cheap materials and innovative means of production. Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, a printmaker, wanted to use the Cardboard Monument as a platform to set up a market-like stall installation.

32. L

ehlo

hono

lo M

khas

ibe

inte

rvie

ws a

m

arke

t sel

ler w

ho h

as b

een

selli

ng a

t Wal

-te

r Sis

ulu

Squa

re si

nce

the

1950

’s.

(2nd

Feb

ruar

y 20

11)

P58 P59

THE WHITE ELEPHANT ART WORKS

During his research process he was sparked by the stories of the market sellers. He spoke to some market sellers, who had been selling since the time of the Freedom Charter signing in the 1950’s. The sellers which he had spoken to had wit-nessed the changes in regulation which suddenly appeared in recent years at the monument market place. Lehlohonolo met an elderly lady who sells smoked mielies or corn. She struggles to find enough space in her demarcated selling area to make room for her fire barrel, which she uses to cook her corn before selling it. Lehlohonolo created images expressing the changed role of the market place in the community.

He discovered that Kliptown is well known for its second hand clothing sales. Cheap clothing that is bought from clothing vendors in central Johannesburg and brought to Kliptown to sell to township residents. He made lino-prints for the project, and printed them onto second hand clothing.

These prints ranged from images of lost heroes of Kliptown, to scenes which we had witnessed including the tour busses stopping to photograph squatter camp dwellers.

Victor Mofokeng collected all the information that he could gather about the Griqua people that we had met during interviews in combination with other collected fragments.From images that he collected, he created lino-prints depicting various scenes from what he perceived as a possible narrative of Griqua history. These include images of family portraits, where one is able to see the mixed and blurred ethnic descent of the family members. As well as a portrait of the Griqua church which we visited during our field research.

Victor is a sign writer by profession, and uses this skill to earn a living outside of his studies. Together we formulated new phrases, or adaptations to the Freedom Charter. These large slogans, place the words of the Freedom Charter within the present, or even question their relevance today.

Mzi Nyathi used the images and information that he had found connected to Charlotte Maxeke, to create a giant three-dimensional coin as a sculptural element to be seen at

33. L

ehlo

hono

lo M

khas

ibe’

s lin

o-pr

ints

of l

ost h

eroe

s, pr

inte

d on

to se

cond

han

d cl

othi

ng. I

nsta

llatio

n vi

ew b

elow

, was

on

disp

lay

at th

e C

ardb

oard

Mon

umen

t. (F

ebru

ary

2011

) 34. P

rints

from

lino

-prin

ted

book

title

d “U

nfol

ded

Griq

ua

His

tory

” by

Vic

tor M

ofok

eng,

dis

play

ed a

t the

Car

dboa

rd

Mon

umen

t. (F

ebru

ary

2011

)

P60 P61


P62 P63

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Vie

w o

f the

Car

dboa

rd M

onum

ent

duri

ng C

losi

ng D

ay d

iscu

ssio

ns o

n 6t

h M

arch

201

1.


P64 P65

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Stor

ytel

ling

with

Afr

ican

inst

rum

ents

by

Tal

low

ah S

unts

ha a

nd Z

anel

e N

dlov

u. 5

th M

arch

201

1.


the Cardboard Monument. Charlotte died in the 1930’s and is therefore not a household name in Soweto. By placing her face on a coin, Mzi harks back to the tradition of placing cel-ebrated figure heads on coins, a practice not done in South Africa today. However, for him communicates her value to a young audience of today.

Mzie Gojo made a selection of edited fragments from the videos, which we had made during interviews that he con-ducted in Kliptown, specifically about the Sans Souci movie theatre. He combined the most relevant parts of the inter-views with the soundtrack of the movies which interviewees refered too. He also added his own images taken of the cur-

rent Sans Souci ruins. Mzie was fascinated by the way that people told their story in an extremely animated way, some-times even singing the soundtrack of movies that they had watched fifty years ago.

Teboho Mokhemisa used photographs that he had taken together with Joseph Monnatlala in Kliptown, in combina-tion with sound recordings to create a video montage. He wanted to tell an auto-biographical inspired story, of arriving by train as an outsider to Kliptown, and discovering the squatter camp area as a new home. Teboho and Mzie showed their video pieces as part of the video installation at the Cardboard Monument.

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ACTION!

On the 3rd of March 2011, at about 5pm, all participating artists huddled inside the Cardboard Monument. For the opening ceremony we simultaneously pulled ropes located on the inside of the Cardboard Monument, and ceremoni-ously lifted the doors of our new monument, exposing the adapted Freedom Charter statements to public view. The crowd, waiting for the opening speeches to begin, cheered as artists appeared inside the exhibition platform. Our opening was well attended, by Kliptown residents, art lovers and friends from Johannesburg, family members of artists, and most importantly by those who had taken part in our research process.

The opening speeches were given by Bongi Dhlomo-Mautloa, artist and friend of Funda and Sipho Mdanda,

curator from the Freedom Park monument in Pretoria. Also part of the opening programme was singing by Tallowah Suntsha, a talented singer, musician and friend of the project and a young group of drummers and dancers called Mnmina Tshipi, related to the former music department of Funda. Refreshments were available for the public.

The following days to come, brought a fascinating mix of scheduled events, overwhelming participation by the children of Kliptown, and surprise appearances. From Thursday until Sunday we experienced tremendous sunny weather, warm evenings and a spectacular sunset over the Kliptown squatter camp, allowing us to stay outdoors until 7pm without needing electricity. The Walter Sisulu Square, which is usually considered dangerous, especially at night, seemed a friendly and warm space, filled with music and activity.

Friday the 4th March, was set aside for the participation of local schools, who came for a tour of the Cardboard Monu-ment and played games curated by artist Thomas Moremi. Friday evening was a scheduled drama and poetry session, with spontaneous and scheduled contributions by Mzi Nyathi and Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, as well as a drama per-formance by Nathan Ruphus and his team from Kliptown. The morning of Saturday the 5th March was set aside for

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT ACTION!

the participation of children from Kliptown, who painted a large banner in dedication of their hometown. In the after-noon, we listened to a special story telling session, organised by Tallowah Suntsha. On Sunday the 6th of March, we were again joined by many local children, marimba drum players and, as a closing gesture, we held a discussion and certificate handing out ceremony for all participating artists.

A few months later, I am sitting in my studio in Amsterdam, and the entire project feels like a dream. It seems extremely distant, but yet vivid in my imagination. I am still trying to fully grasp what the project means to me today. Among many things, I learnt about the vibrant Kliptown people, the hardships of the squatter camp and about the lives of art stu-dents living in Soweto and all the many joys, hardships and frustrations which these things bring.

This project allowed us to witness many aspects and prob-lems present in a South African context today. For example, we saw the lack of consideration, on the part of the Govern-ment, for a community in desperate poverty when it decided to construct a tourist venue on the doorstep of a squatter camp. We experienced how the act of listening and providing a platform, could bring a valuable sense of empowerment to those in the squatter camp. As a collaborative team we experienced the limitations, which can occur between art-ists of different ages, backgrounds and cultures working together. We experienced the limitations of not being able to fully understand one another and yet I’m convinced that we shared an incredible experience, and felt the potential for using our common artistic practices in order to engage and inspire a community.

The Cardboard Monument project exposed moments where an alternatively organised interpretation of commemoration and acknowledgement could emerge, in sharp contrast to the

methodology adopted by the Walter Sisulu Square. One of the most apparent examples of this are the activities at Oom Bolo’s self-made museum, which served both as resource centre and meeting place. The project allowed for a tempo-rary alternative structure to open up a space for people from Kliptown to re-imagine their historically important area, as an open space where children felt safe to play. It became a brief meeting place for the artists involved, with a particular knowledge of Soweto, to exchange information with local Kliptown residents, in a format of equal collaboration.

Perhaps one of the most powerful collaborations shows the potential to run beyond the duration of the project, and have a long lasting resonance, and I believe has true poten-tial to spark empowerment. This is the connection forged between artists living in Soweto and the community groups in Kliptown. Teboho Mokhemisa and Joseph Monnatlala were able to connect very well with Mfundese and Nathan who we met in the Kliptown squatter camp, (pg. 39) which enabled us to interview them, and eventually sparked their enthusiastic participation in the Cardboard Monument pro-ject. Teboho explains during the discussion on the closing day at the monument, (pg. 79) that he was amused when he showed an interest in people’s stories in Kliptown, that they instantly thought he was a politician. For Teboho the act of connecting and listening was something that came natu-rally to him, and he was eventually driven to make a docu-mentary installation as his contribution to the project. Just like Teboho, what this project enabled for all of us, was the ability to see the act of listening, asking questions and obser-vation as part of our artistic practice, in whichever direction that may take us.

Lauren Alexander (Pretoria, 1983)Lauren is a South African graphic designer/artist, whose interest in post-Apartheid branding led her to initiate the Cardboard Monument project. She obtained a Mas-ters degree in Design from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam (2008) and there-after, a Masters in Fine Art at the Dutch Art Institute, Arnhem. Living in Amsterdam, she currently collaborates with a foundation called Foundland, a creative collective, working on projects within the realm of culture and politics.

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6 MARCH 2011Closing day

On the closing day of the Cardboard Monument on the Wal-ter Sisulu Square, we planned a discussion as a reflection of the four day event. This included a panel of representatives from Funda Community College and various other organi-sations. Lehlonolo Mkhasibe is an artist participant of the project. Charles Nkosi is the head of the Funda Community Art Centre. Also included on the panel was ex-Funda stu-dent and member of an organisation for art and education, Roli Mhlanga. Nathan Ruphus is one of the young leaders from the Kliptown community who we interviewed at the start of the project research. He is part of an aspiring drama and arts group based in the Kliptown squatter camp. Oupa Morare, the owner of the Becomo Gallery on the Walter Si-sulu Square was also invited to participate but was unable to attend.

The intention of the discussion was to bring together differ-ent opinions about the project, to evaluate the four days that we had spent together at the monument. It was a moment to consider the role that we had played as artist within the pub-lic sphere. At this point it was not clear what we would do with the parts of wood and other materials constituting the Cardboard Monument, and this discussion moment was an opportunity to brainstorm about the significance of preserv-ing what we had made.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANT CLOSING DAY

CLOSING DAY 6TH MARCH 2011

Extract from discussion at the Cardboard Monument on Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown, Soweto

The invited guests, for the discussion at 3pm on 6th March were:Roli Mhlanga, Nathan Ruphus, Lehlonolo Mkhasibe, Charles Nkosi, Oupa Morare (unable to attend), Oom Bolo (unable to attend) Moderator: Lauren Alexander

Lauren Alexander: What do you think about the audience that we managed, or perhaps failed to reach by being situated on the Walter Sisulu Square?

Roli Mhlanga: I expected to see more elderly participants at the monument, and unfortunately that hasn’t happened to the extent that I would have liked to see, them supervis-ing, certain activities, being a part and wanting to learn more about how they could improve the situation that they are in, because the Freedom Charter is not necessarily about Klip-town at all, but it is document, or a statement which was once laid out by our predecessors, let me say, but now we seem to be letting go of that same freedom that these guys have fought for. Im thinking. I want to borrow the monu-ment and erect it inside of Kliptown. I wouldn’t like to see it here, I’d like to take it and build it inside of Kliptown squat-ter camp. I would like to obstruct their passages, so they cant get around, they need to choose a different route, for them to really engage with the monument and what it is about. The message that it’s telling, the significance. I think that people havn’t really seen the significance of us putting this monument here. I think we have so much to do, and when it comes to Nathan and his group, I wouldn’t blame you for not being able to attract a lot of youth to the monument. What I’d like to do is to commend you for what you have done. To be able to actually have you participating here, in

this event has made it worth it, you know. I would perhaps suggest that we formulate maybe a supplement of some sort, an education supplement perhaps, for you to be able to get the message around the Freedom Charter in a more simplis-tic way. For you to be able to communicate it. Because at the moment, the language barrier, plays a big part, we cant re-ally relate a lot of the things that are happening here. Maybe that’s the problem. So, lets find a way to actually commu-nicate the message that the monument is about in a more simplistic fashion, I think that way we will be able to gather more people for the coming year, if we should have another event in the coming year.

Lauren Alexander: Do you want to respond to that, Nathan?

Nathan Ruphus: Yes, thank you. I’m also disappointed about the people from my area, in Kliptown, because I expected more numbers attending this weekend, and Im just seeing now my group only, but I don’t see others from Kliptown. Which was very much important for them to be here, and for them to share their input. If you take a look, they are the ones who are feeling the pain, and they are the ones who know it better than you guys. So, again coming to the point which you have just raised now, by taking this monu-ment and planting it within the area of Kliptown, I think that would be attractive for them, because it seems like now, they are running away from it. Because most of the people they can see it that there is a similarity to the other monument, but why cant we go there and just observe? Just sacrifice a few minutes to hear what they are trying say. What message are they trying to convey to us, but they are failing to do that, so I think by doing that and putting it inside the squat-ter camp, no, they wont burn it, (laughs) Especially when it comes to the youth, we the youth, we like music, you see, just plant your speakers, song of the year, Jezabell! And then when they come, they are there and then you change the topic, and that’s how they will participate.

(Comment from the audience)

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Mzie Gojo: On the issue of involving elders in these sorts of projects; I was interviewing them, talking to them, and they are very tired, they gave up. They claim that they have suf-fered years of broken promises so I think that’s also one of the reasons why they don’t come here.

Nathan Ruphus: Just to add to that, I know my people, they are not, and they are tired. They are both. If you take an-other look. If they see this structure and us standing here. They think we having fun. But if you approach them, and ask them, Ubhuti, can you please come and attend and hear about the Freedom Charter, the first question from someone in Kliptown, the first question that you will hear is: Are there gonna be houses? Yes, I am also tired. So that’s why they have lost hope, and most of them are saying, to participate in the elections, the government has made them tired. When they try to protest, they are scared of the rubber bullets, re-member the strike, I think it was in 2006. When many peo-ple in Kliptown were shot, so those are the things that make them become tired and lose hope.

Lauren Alexander: Do you have any ideas about how exactly we could engage those people? To say, this is a platform, you can come and say: “Where is my house? You can do that here!

Nathan Ruphus: We should have given pamphlets, and men-tioned that this is their platform to be able to challenge the government about their needs and their wants. They would have come in numbers, but I think that the problem lies with the pamphlets and the lack of invitation. I know my people. Every time there are local meetings, I participate, I also add my input, If we would have made pamphlets or interview them, we could have started a meeting in the community. This is the Cardboard Monument and we will be talking about the following issues. By participating, we will be able to go to the government with your demands, and by doing this I think that people would come.

Lehlonolo Mkhasibe: To add onto that, we approached or-ganisations, where we know that there is active youth. And we have approached people in Kliptown with this idea. And we assume that these organisations who are connected will be able to spread the gospel. It’s one of those things, because you know all of the corners of your community, you know your people as you say. But you fail to approach your people.

(Comment from the audience)

Teboho Mokhemisa: Before building this structure, we did a series of interviews. Most of our works came from the peo-ple’s thoughts and what they know, it was not all about us and what we think. I think most of the research that I did was together with your people, Nathan. In terms of handing out pamphlets which would invite people, that was the final task for us. What we realise now is that people are completely influenced by politics, and that really played a significant role. When we were speaking to people and even handing out pamphlets, people were asking, “Is this an ANC thing?”. And we said no, its not all about that, and we told them about the project. Why I am saying this is: maybe the reason why we did not get so many people here, is because people have it in their minds that it has something to do with the upcoming elections. They think that we are representatives of a certain organisation, and yes indeed we are here representing a cer-tain organisation, which is an art organisation. It has nothing to do with the ANC, or Azapo. Joseph and I were laughing because people thought that we looked like politicians.

Ezekiel Budeli: I’m not sure if we are trying to interrogate our strength or the impact we had? What we did, I think, is enough. I mean we didn’t have high hopes for a lot of people coming around here. What we wanted is to spread the mes-sage. I think we need another scientific approach where we can come up with statistics, which will be able to satisfy us about the impact that we have made. Now we are looking at social problems that we may not be able to address. We

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have tried a little, which leads us to push harder next time. To come with a collective way of working, that now we have realised that we don’t have much support from organisations on the ground, next time we need to go deeper than we did to get good feedback.

Roli Mhlanga: Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing to look at this critically; we are just looking at where our strengths and weaknesses are. I think this is the platform to do that. To go back to another point that brother Charles made earlier. That is that we don’t need to hold onto the structure of the Cardboard Monument to be able to succeed collaboratively. I think we have gained an identity, with this project and I wouldn’t like us to say, I mean I think that everybody is here because they have a stake in the project. Why not move with that.

Charles Nkosi: I would recommend that we move forward, I think that now we are caught up into critiquing the whole project. This was not about campaigning, for the Cardboard Monument, it was about education, or educating the com-munity about something that they should hold dear to their hearts. Through the art form, as a conduit to make people aware what we have to do now is to move forward and to continue networking, workshop each other and go forward. We could stay here for a month trying to talk to the masses, and the populace without any success, because you have to identity ourselves, who are you, and what brings you here.

Lauren Alexander: I have to disagree Mr Nkosi, I think that if artists can have a political voice, that it is in fact very pow-erful, and we are not just artist who make pretty picture, we have actually made a huge statement here guys, I don’t know if you realise, I mean there may not have been that many people who came to see. But the fact that this monument (pointing) is standing next to that monument (pointing), is a huge statement to the government, if we think that the one that we made is saying, well that we are not happy with the other one. It’s very powerful, as an image it is very powerful,

we shouldn’t forget that. But I do agree that we should have gone to better lengths to get the community involved on a level which could be more easily understood. And it certainly shows you how powerful art can be when people think that we are politicians! (laughs)

Charles Nkosi: What I meant is that I have been involved in making political statements through art a great deal, but what I’m saying is that we have exhausted the message that this whole project contains, and it has done so much within a very short space of time. It is so confined that from the 3rd until the 6th this was put on show, but before this it took a whole year of planning. But now, what I’m concerned about is for us to network, we can network better with the people if we network first as organisations in order to understand the area.

Roli Mhlanga: Let's not think about the Cardboard Monu-ment as being an annual event. I don’t know. Now that it has started I don’t see the reason why it should stop. I think that we can continue. We have Nathan here, who has a plan for Kliptown and he is struggling, why not create or establish a foundation which can support him in his initiatives. I want to come back to the point of actually thinking of the best way to create this movement. We have already created an identity, why stop now. We are sitting here talking about our errors, or where we could have done better. Lets improve on that. Lets do something more. Is that possible? Do you agree? Do you think that you can go and perform inside a squatter camp? Do you think its possible to set up an easel inside of Kliptown, Do you think its possible. We are already referring to the Cardboard Monument as was, but lets carry on.

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CARDBOARD MONUMENTPROJECT, 2011 Please note that not all artworks, inter-views and stories produced during the Cardboard Monument project were able to be documented in this publication. However all artworks will be present on the upcoming project website please check: www.cardboardmonument.net

DAI PUBLICATIONS is a collection of artist’s books issued by the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) and distributed by the Werkplaats Typografie (WT). The 2011 edition consists of 16 publications. In close collaboration with one or more guest authors, artists team up with designers to produce an artwork in the form of printed matter. From very diverse perspectives they reflect on pub-lishing as a versatile medium.

DAI and WT, both located in Arnhem are Master’s programs of ArtEZ, one of the major arts universities (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) in the Netherlands. Gabriëlle Schleijpen, head of program at the DAI, founded DAI PUBLICA-TIONS in 2003. It began as an ex-perimental and innovative research and publishing platform aiming to address the specific process of artist books pro-duction, it is now an acclaimed editorial project. Since its inception more then 90 artist books have been published. As of 2006 the series is supervised by an annually appointed collection editor; for 2011, visual artist Rebecca Sakoun.

IMAGE CREDITS

White Elephant Images:

Photographers:Lauren Alexander: 1,4, 12, 14- 16, 19, 26-30, 32 -34Erik Hopmans: 21, 22, 35Andrew Matatanya: 23Teboho Mokhemisa: 3, 20, 31, 36- 39Alex O’Donoghue: 18Thulani Zondo: 13, 17

Image sources:6. A photographed image from Oom Bolo’s Museum, original photographer unknown.7. Image of Freedom Charter document: http://www.sahistory.org.za8. Archive poster: http://www.saha.org.za9. See the full Freedom Charter at:http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?include=docs/misc/1955/charter.html10. Kliptown Business Plan:www.jda.org.za/keydocs/kliptown/busi-ness_plan.pdf11. WSS architectural proposals: http://www.joburgnews.co.za/oct_2002/oct25_square.stm31. A photographed image from Oom Bolo’s Museum, original photographer unknown.

Colour Images:

Photographers:Lauren Alexander, Erik Hopmans and Teboho Mokhemisa.

"I dream as I want to believe you have dreamed, and I will continue to strive, for an integrated con-tinent of generosity, economic justice, creativity, civil and civic responsibility. A continent that will develop its own sustainable modernity far away from Western “universalist” models of globaliza-tion serving only the masters. A continent that knows its primary wealth is its diversity of cultures. A continent whose citizens will stop blackmailing and whitemailing one another and the world with politically correct subservience and the “blame-us-on-history” syndrome. A continent that will under-stand the sense and the importance of the public good. A continent that will stop begging and steal-ing, and where the totalitarian conflation of nation and state and party in power will be abolished..."1

An extract from a letter called Mandela's Smile; Notes on South Africa's failed revo-lution written by Breyten Breytenbach and addressed to Nelson Mandela. Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and poet. He served seven years in South Afri-can prisons for his anti-apartheid activities before going into exile in the 1960's and since resides in France. This letter was written after a return visit back to South Africa.

.............................................................................................1 Breyten Breytenbach, Mandela's Smile; Notes on South Africa's failed revolution. Originally published in Vanity Fair magazine, December 2008. Available online: http://www.harpers.org/ar chive/2008/12/0082308 (accesssed 1 June 2011)

CREDITS

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COLOPHONPublication ConceptLauren Alexander in collaboration with Ghalia Elsrakbi

Author (s)Lauren Alexander and Clare Butcher

DesignGhalia Elsrakbi, www.foundland.org

Collection editor 2011Rebecca Sakoun

Copy-editingAnnie Wu and Eileen Alexander

CoverOriginal illustrations by Victor Mofokeng

PrintingDrukkerij Confiance, Amsterdam

Edition250 copies

Publisher Dutch Art Institute/ArtEZwww.dutchartinstitute.nlwww.artez.nl

DistributionWerkplaats Typografiewww.werkplaatstypografie.org/www.foundland.org

AcknowledgmentsThe DAI wishes to thank Anniek Brat-tinga and the team of the Werkplaats Ty-pografie for their ongoing commitment to the Publications Project.

Project made possible thanks toArtists and teachers, Funda Community Art CentreCharles Nkosi Ezekiel BudeliTumelo MokopakgosiMzie GojoLehlohonolo MkhasibeVictor MofokengTeboho MokhemisaJoseph Monnatlala

Thomas MoremiMzi NyathiThulisile ShongweThulani ZondoFunda Board Members

Walter Sisulu SquareMasentle MokheleOupa MorareLindiwe Sangweni - SiddoFanis Sardianos, JPCSteven Sack, Johannesburg Arts and Culture

Cardboard Monument support teamGay Alexander & Avril LangleyEileen, Ross, Graham AlexanderFoundlandErik HopmansAlex O’DonoghueAndrew MatatanyaMargien Rogaar

Kliptown and Cardboard Monument event programmeDavid Blom (Oom Bolo) and his assistant MosesMfundese Adolfus MasitheMnina Tsiphi groupRoli MhlangaNathan Ruphus and friendsUbhuti Moloi, Andile, Bonginkosi and Jethrow from Funda music departmentPhindile Tallowah Suntsha and friendsZanele NdlovuLebo from Urban News newspaper, Caxton Press

This publication was made with the generous support ofMediafonds, The NetherlandsNational Arts Council, South Africa

ISBN 9789490294298

© 2011, Lauren Alexander, DAI / ArtEZ, Institute of the ArtsAll rights reserved. No part of this pub-lication may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.

CREDITS

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The White Elephant

Documents

Transcript of The White Elephant