South Africa has withdrawn its official participation from the 61st Venice Biennale, just days before artists were due to confirm their involvement, triggering a backlash from cultural workers.
The decision followed the intervention of Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, who overruled an independent curatorial panel’s unanimous selection of a work by artist Gabriel Goliath.
Curators’ choice overturned
Goliath’s long-running performance work Energy addresses gender-based violence, femicide and collective mourning. Its latest iteration also referenced the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza, including a poet killed during the conflict.
According to artists and cultural…
Marine Conservation: The country has established several marine protected areas
to conserve marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
Wanted Candy
Fun South African Fact: The waters surrounding the 2,500km long coastline are teeming with life. You’ll find great white sharks, African penguins, dolphins and much much more in South Africa’s oceans. Many travellers visit the coast to watch the annual whale migrations. In Hermanus, in the Western Cape, you can see hundreds of whales from June to late November. Simon’s Town, another coastal Western Cape town, is home to Boulder’s Beach. Here you can swim alongside colonies of African Penguins!