sivivane sogogo!

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SIVIVANE SOGOGO!

an art installation

The exhibition SIVIVANE SOGOGO! inhabited the Sisonke Gallery from October 2023 to March 2024.

It was produced by an artists collective from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Visual Arts and the KwaZulu-Natal Museum.

SIVIVANE SOGOGO! was the final moment in a trilogy, building on ISIVIVANE in 2021 and UKUPHOSA ITSHE ESIVANENI in 2022.

Share your memories of SIVIVANE SOGOGO! with us at isivivaneproject@gmail.com

isivivane

we took inspiration from isivivane, the isiZulu word for ‘cairn’, referring to a physical structure as well as something achieved collectively, bit by bit, over time

lunguza

'sivivane sogogo' comes from an interview with Lunguza kaMpakane in 1909 in which he discussed the meaning of izivivane out on the land

lunguza

Lunguza remembered izivivane where he grew up — passersby would spit on a stone or tuft of grass, throw it on the heap and say, ‘sivivane so gogo!’ (‘isivivane of our ancestors!’) — they were not addressing their own direct ancestors, but a deeper ancestral time, and perhaps also the spirits of the land that came to haunt such places

painting with stones

we made artworks from stones from the museum’s own Teaching Collection, such as bored stones and hand-axes, which can be as old as 1.8 million years!

handaxe contour

each stone represented an individual offering in the present, but also a connection to our ancestors and to the land

handaxe touch

some of the stones visitors could touch, and pick up

mural corner

on the walls we drew a mural inspired by our experiences of working with stones

handprint

visitors added their own markings to the mural

shadow light

another ‘material’ we explored in the space was light/shadow

entrance

a giant morabaraba game board created with an old overhead projector invited visitors to play

playing

people played the game often

school group

sometimes lots of people played, and watched

OHP off

occasionally the projector overheated and switched itself off

OHP

we put a fan onto the projector to prevent it from overheating, which worked quite well

night at the museum 1

we transformed the game board for the Halloween edition of Night at the Museum

night at the museum 2

- and witches and people played the game together

night at the museum 2

stones come to us from long ago, and they are playful - they helped us to have conversations about deep time and ways to move together into the future

ekhaya gallery

more stones and objects made out of stone were displayed in glass cases in the gallery adjacent to the Sisonke Gallery -

mammal hall

- and an installation of rock engravings and ceramic sculptures inhabited the Mammal Hall.

blurry

thank you for being part of this creative experiment!

sivivane sogogo!

an art installation

home1

The exhibition SIVIVANE SOGOGO! inhabited the Sisonke Gallery from October 2023 to March 2024.

It was produced by an artists collective from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Visual Arts and the KwaZulu-Natal Museum.

SIVIVANE SOGOGO! was the final moment in a trilogy, building on ISIVIVANE in 2021 and UKUPHOSA ITSHE ESIVANENI in 2022.

isivivane

we took inspiration from isivivane, the isiZulu word for ‘cairn’, referring to a physical structure as well as something achieved collectively, bit by bit, over time

lunguza

'sivivane sogogo' comes from an interview with Lunguza kaMpakane in 1909 in which he discussed the meaning of izivivane out on the land

lunguza quote

painting with stones

we made artworks from stones from the museum’s own Teaching Collection, such as bored stones and hand-axes, which can be as old as 1.8 million years!

handaxe contour

each stone represented an individual offering in the present, but also a connection to our ancestors and to the land

handaxe touch

some of the stones visitors could touch, and pick up

mural corner

on the walls we drew a mural inspired by our experiences of working with stones

handprint

visitors added their own markings to the mural

shadow light

another ‘material’ we explored in the space was light/shadow

entrance

a giant morabaraba game board created with an old overhead projector invited visitors to play

playing

people played the game often

school group

sometimes lots of people played, and watched

OHP off

occasionally the projector overheated and switched itself off

OHP

we put a fan onto the projector to prevent it from overheating, which worked quite well

night at the museum 1

we transformed the game board for the Halloween edition of Night at the Museum

night at the museum 2

- and witches and people played the game together

small game board

stones come to us from long ago, and they are playful - they helped us to have conversations about deep time and ways to move together into the future

ekhaya gallery

more stones and objects made out of stone were displayed in glass cases in the gallery adjacent to the Sisonke Gallery -

mammal hall

- and an installation of rock engravings and ceramic sculptures inhabited the Mammal Hall.

blurry

thank you for being part of this creative experiment!

Credits

The ISIVIVANE artists collective is made up of Tsholofelo Moche, Saskia Dorland, Naledi Maboee, Shane Rampersad, David Gush, Michael Croeser, Raja Oshi, Julia Arbuckle, Louise Hall, Jessica Draper, Justine Wintjes.

Lunguza kaMpukane's testimony from 'The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples', Volume 1 (Ant-Lyl) is available online at http://emandulo.apc.uct.ac.za / direct link to document

Digital curation prepared by the CVA Collective. All photographs are by Paulo Menezes (2023) except for those with people: Justine Wintjes (2023/2024) and the handprint: Jess Draper (2024). Contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Usage Rights

The materials in this curation are made available under a CC BY-NC-ND licence.

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

Opening Times

Monday to Friday - 9:00 to 16:00
Saturdays - 9:00 to 16:00
Sundays - 10:00 to 15:00

ENTRANCE CHARGES

Adults (over 17 years) : R 20.00

Children (4-17 years) : R 10.00

School Learners on tour : R 3.00 per child

Pensioners & toddlers : FREE