PRESENT OCCUPATION
Curator at the University of Cape Town, Michaelis Galleries which are part of the Michaelis School of Fine Art.
CURRENT PROJECTS
2019 Exhibition: “The stronger we become”, South African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy. Commissioned by the South African Department of Arts and Culture
2019 Publication: “Decolonising Art and Cultural Institutions”. Co-editor: Prof. Jyoti Mistry, Nkule Mabaso, funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
2019 Publication: “The Mechanisms are Still in Place: Pamela Patshimo Sunstrum”. Co-editor: Dr. Nomusa Makhubu, Funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
2019 Research project: “The Painterly Tradition and Blackwomen”. Lead Investigator with Nontobeko Ntombela, funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa
FORTH COMING PROJECTS & PAPERS
2020 Exhibition: “Tomorrows / Today”, Co-curator, Cape Town Art Fair Special Section.
CURATED SHOWS
2019 Exhibition: Speculative Inquiry #1(On abstraction), Michaelis Galleries, UCT
2019 The stronger we become, Co-curator: Dr. Nomusa Makhubu, La Biennale di Venezia, SA Pavilion. www.thestrongerwebecome.co.za
2018 The Mechanisms are Still in Place: Pamela Patshimo Sunstrum, Co-curator: Dr. Nomusa Makhubu
2018 Ukumisa Intsika: Buhle Wonder Mbambo, Solo Exhibition and Publication: Durban Art Gallery
2018 Tell Freedom: 15 SA Artists. Group Show. Kunsthalle KaDE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands http://www.tellfreedom.co.za Co-Curated by Nkule Mabaso and Manon Braat
2017 Looking After Freedom. Group Show. Co-curated Nkule Mabaso, Rael Salley. Michaelis Galleries.
2016 Fantastic. Group Show. Co-Curator Nomusa Makhubu, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, 06.09.2016 www.fantasticcontemporary.co.za
2016 The Circus and the Zoo. Group Show. Curator: Nkule Mabaso, Michaelis Galleries
2016 Mmagkabo Helen Sebidi. Solo Exhibition of new work. Michaelis Galleries. Curated Nkule Mabaso
2015 Earth Bound. Film Series. 3 part grouped exhibition of scopic works. Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town
2014 Over, Across, Between. Group Show. Blantyre Arts Festival, Former French Cultural Centre, Malawi
2014 Jyoti Mistry. Film Installation and Public Talk of work by Mistry Museum Baerengasse Zurich
2014 Overwhelmingly Ordinary. Film Program with Danish Artists: Museum Baerengasse Zurich.
2013 Same Difference: Sculpture in relation. Kustkammer Schileren, Zurich. John Canciani, Tanja Trampe, Nkule Mabaso, Anne Koskiluoma (Ein Kulturengagement der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Zürcher Bildhauer AZB)
2013 Public Faculty No.7 Zurich with Jeanne van Heeswijk and Silvia Simoncelli (Producer)
2012 Wild Jam Sunday Sessions Township Arts Experience Madadeni Township Newcastle
EVENTS ORGANISED
2017 Decolonising Art Institutions. Conference between Wits, ZHdK, with the ICA, UCT
2015 01 August Two Newcastle’s: Searching for a Shared Context (Between Ireland and South Africa) for the Newcastle creative Network funded by the British Council and the DAC, South Africa
2014 16 April Gabi Ngcobo Public Talk “I’ve got your back/ Watch your back” Baerengasse, Zurich
2014 19 March Being with/ the Other Victoria Undondian, Pierre Fouche, Alaa Abu Assad, Rayelle Niemann, Museum Baerengasse, Zurich
2013 07 December Artistic Practice Public Talk Ed Young, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich
PUBLISHED
BOOKS
2018 Ed. Nkule Mabaso. Ukumisa Intsika. Durban Art Gallery. ISBN: 978-0-6399226-2-1.
2018 Nkule Mabaso, Manon Braat. Tell Freedom: 15 South African Artists. Kunsthal KAdE Amersfoort. ISBN/EAN 978-94-90153-27-4 www.kunsthalkade.nl
2016 Ed. Nkule Mabaso. In this Context: Collaborations & Biennials. Avail: on-curating.org. Issue 32
2016 Nkule Mabaso. Fast Forward Here. Newcastle Creative Network. ISBN 978-0-620-72280-3
2015 Nkule Mabaso. Earth Bound. Michaelis Galleries. ISBN 978-0-620-68231-2
2015 Nkule Mabaso, Nomusa Makhubu. Fantastic. Michaelis Galleries. ISBN 978-0-620-68228-2
2014 Ed. Dorothee Richter. Open Curating Studio (Gasthaus zum Bären / Museum Bärengasse) ISBN: 978-1517311032 avail: www.on-curating.org pg 54, 65, 75, 82, 85, 92
2014 Ed. Nkule Mabaso, Dorothee Richter. Politics of Display. avail: on-curating.org Issue 22.
ARTICLES
2019Paper: “Globaphobia” in Curating After the Global, Ed. Paul O’neill, Lucy Steeds, Mick Willson, Simon Sheik. MIT Press, with the Center for Curatorial Studies Bard College/Luma Foundation.
2019 Paper: “Drinking from our own wells: endarkened feminist epistemology as praxis in a persistent economy of lack”, Publisher L’Internationale.org Online.
2019 Catalogue Essay “Of Assertion: Mawande Ka Zenzile”, Stevenson Gallery.
2019 Nkule Mabaso “mating birds: still caught in the Acts” Third Text Online
2019 Nkule Mabaso “immorality act stripped to its essence” Mail and Guardian, Online and Print
2019 Nkule Mabaso “Umhlaba! The World” short essay. Field-Journal: a journal of Socially engaged art criticism
2018 Nkule Mabaso “Folklore as material and conceptual praxis”. Catalog Essay: Helen Sebidi for Norval Foundation
2018 Nkule Mabaso Questions of Abjection in Two Paintings by Mxolisi “Dolla” Sapeta. April 18, 2018. Available: http://asai.co.za/category/word-view-authors/nkule-mabaso/
2017 Nkule Mabaso “Black Women in Art” Africanah.org. July 10, 2017. http://africanah.org/black-women-in-art/
2016 Nkule Mabaso (ed.) “OnCurating Issue 32: In this Context: Collaborations & Biennials” – October 20, 2016. Research Publication, Oncurating Journal www.oncurating.org
2016 Nkule Mabaso “Perched at the edge of Precarity: Simphiwe Ndzube’s ‘Becoming’”. Artthrob. November 22, 2016. https://artthrob.co.za/article-author/nkule-mabaso/
2015 Nkule Mabaso “Nothing Wrong with Speaking Backing: Views on an Exhibition” www.nkulemabaso.co.za
2015 Nkule Mabaso “The Art of The Possible: Mawande Ka Zenzile” Arthrob www.artthrob.co.za
2014 Nkule Mabaso “The Adequate Compensation for Suffering” in Digging Our Own Graves by Gabi Ngcobo and CHR for the Berlin Biennale. Edition Newspaper publication.
2014 Nkule Mabaso, Dorothee Richter. ”Curating: politics of display, politics of site and politics of transfer and translation”. Editorial. OnCurating.org Journal. Issue 22. April 2014
2014 Nkule Mabaso. “Interview with Anton Vidokle”. Interview. OnCurating.org Journal. Issue 22. April 2014
2013 Nkule Mabaso, Michael Birchall. “On Artistic and Curatorial Authorship: Artist-curator Gavin Wade on authorship, curating at Eastside Projects and the post-industrial city“. Interview. OnCurating.org. Issue 19.
CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA
2019 23-25 May. Symposium >>Decolonising Pedagogies<< Valland Academy, Gothenburg University, Sweden
2019 21 May. Keynote >> Who Writes the Future<< L’Internationale, Gothenburg University, Sweden
2017 14-16 September. Conference. >>Curating After the Global<<. Arles, France. Luma Foundation
2017 24-26 August. Symposium. >>Decolonising Art Institutions<<UCT, Michaelis and ICA (Producer)
2017 20 June. Symposium. >>Decolonising Art Institutions<< Kunsthaus Basel, Switzerland
2017 19 June >>Decolonisation and the Scopic Regime<<. Corner College Zurich, Switzerland
2017 08 May >>Tell Freedom: The Exhibition<< Narratives of Hope: Curating Africa in the European Context. University of Groningen, Netherlands
2017 >>Ohne Titel<< Center for Curating the Archive, University of Cape Town, South Africa
2017 >>Decolonising Art Institution<< Visiting Artists Program, Stellenbosch Art Gallery
2016 06 May >>Feminist Urgencies in Collaborative Artistic/Curatorial Practise in South Africa<< Symposium Curating in Feminist Thought. Migros Museum, Switzerland
2016 Fantastic: Colloqium. A seminar co-convened by Nomusa Makhubu and Nkule Mabaso, UCT
2015 04 June >>No Particular Strategies from the window to the wall<< CCA Speaker Series #15 Center for Curating the Archive, University of Cape Town, South Africa Organised by Nancy Dantas
2015 13-15 March >>Politically No Longer Possible<< Between democracies 1989-2014: Remembering, narrating and reimagining the past in Eastern and Central Europe and Southern Africa, UJ, SA Convened by Judy Peter
2014 06 October >>Filed note: Positions on Collaboration<< Chair of Discussion, Blantyre, Malawi
2014 04 April, >>Activating the local<< Art & Community. Connecting Spaces, Hong Kong. Presenter.
2014 13 March >>Newcastle Creative Network: Collaborated Communal Practices in Public Space<< Research Presentation: Trans-disciplinary Studies ZHdK, Zurich + workshop for MA Students
2014 30 Jan >>Vulnerability and Resistance| The Public Dis/Appearance of Bodies<< Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna. (Delegate) Produced by Elke Kransy
2013 8,9th Nov >>Third, Fourth and Fifth Spaces: Curatorial practices in new public and social (digital) spaces<<. 2013 4 May >>Who’s afraid of the Public? << ICA London, United Kingdom Symposium (delegate)
2013 10, 12 March >>Curate Your Context<<, CCA Tel Aviv, Israel Workshop led by Dorothee Richter
2012 24,25 May >>The Art of the Creative Economy<<, ACT/UJ Arts & Culture Conference , Johannesburg, SA
COMPETITION ADJUDICATION
2020 MAC International, Belfast
2019 Heinrike Grohs Art Award ,Goethe Institute
2017 Sanlam Portrait Award National Competition Rust-en-Vrede Gallery
2016 ABSA L’Aterliers Competition Western Cape Regional Selection
2014 Wits Young Artists Award. Class Award