Browsing by Author "Erdmann, Heidi"
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- ItemConstructs of expedience / places of experience: National Art Galleries and the formulation of national imaginaries(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Erdmann, Heidi; Van Robbroeck, Lize; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It has been widely suggested that ideological state apparatuses such as national galleries play a significant role in the construction of national imaginaries. This study considers whether the state institution of SANG can fulfil this task of narrating the national imaginary in the postcolony, given the financial neglect of the institution by the postcolonial state. I explore the formulation and narration of a post-apartheid national imaginary through a critical analysis of four exhibitions which all draw exclusively or extensively from the SANG’s permanent collection. I contend that each of these exhibitions attempts such a narration of a new national imaginary, regardless of the extent to which the curators had to manage with severe financial restrictions. The survey period of 1994 to the present allows for this institutional emergence of a new South African national imaginary to be explored through a range of discourses including rainbowism, the African Renaissance, ethnic particularism and supranational identities.