Roma The road to contemporary art, Rome
06.05.2011 — 08.05.2011Roma The road to contemporary art, Rome
06.05.2011 — 08.05.2011Simon Gush
Sale (planes.trains.aeroplanes) bought object, 2005.
Simon Gish had been watching with interest the micro economy that takes place within the area outside of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), South Africa. The JAG is positioned in close proximity to Hillbrow, one of Johannesburg's most vibrant and dangerous inner city neighbourhoods. The streets are home to many informal traders, including luggage carriers. The luggage carriers, or trolley shuttlers form one of the many makeshift economies in the city. They use shopping trolleys from local supermarkets and modify them to transport goods and stalls for traders as well as pedestrians' luggage, moving between the main public transport nodes like combi-taxi ranks and the Johannesburg train station. Effectively, they transport clothes, bags, and furniture and whatever is too heavy and bulky to move easily in the congested streets. Against this background, Simon Gush negotiated the purchase of a trolley to be shown 500kms away in an exhibition in Durban.
Thanks to Sam Matentji for his help with the realisation of the piece.