No(n) place like home, a solo exhibition by Jaco Sieberhagen

On Saturday 4th July 2009, Jaco Sieberhagen will open his ninth solo exhibition in South Africa, and his first in Johannesburg at Artspace, 157 Jan Smuts Avenue, Rosebank.

Entitled No(n) place like home, the show comprises a series of laser cut metal and perspex scultptures. Visually appealing, these works are however loaded with intricate detail and potent commentary on societal issues.

Sieberhagens latest body of work explores the complexities of place-, and space making in a changing world, governed by interactions that may be real or virtual

"The French anthropologist, Marc Augé, coined the term non-lieux [non-places] in his writings "Non-Place: Introduction to an Anthropology of Super Modernity". He used the term to describe specific kinds of spaces, chiefly architectural and technological, which are designed to be passed through or consumed rather than appropriated, and consequently retain little or no trace of our engagement with them.

These spaces are generally associated with transit and communication and are, according to Augé, the defining characteristics of the contemporary period he calls 'super modernity.' They are the product and agent of a contemporary crisis in social relations and in the construction of individual identities through such relations." (Emer O'Beirne, "Mapping the Non-Lieu in Marc Augé Writings", Forum for Modern Language Studies 42, no. 1, 2006).

Marc Augé further explained his ideas on place, when he said: "If place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which can not be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity is a non-place". He also wrote, "Non-places are contrary to places. They represent the decline of the public man and the rise of the self-obsessed man. Non-places are contrary because of their solitary arrangement and are shielded by pin and credit-card numbers, as well as passwords that create safety as well as solitude and alienation".

In South Africa, the acceleration of the transformation of space is visible and has turned the world we live in, into a strange and somewhat unfamiliar place. The influx of economic and political migrants - legal and illegal; the outflow of familiar friends and family - temporally or permanently; the growing urbanization; increased exposure to new technology; crime; the continual grasping for power in politics; conflicts - personal and public; pollution; and even aging all play a role in changing home into a strange and unfamiliar place.

The place we call home is changing into a non-place where people are mowing through collectively without celebration. Home in the broader sense has changed into a place that no longer creates a sense of belonging for many.

Says Sieberhagen, "In this exhibition, I have attempted to capture some of the tension and energy that exists in the life-drama of place/displace/non-place."

The exhibition will be opened with a glass of wine on Saturday 4th July 2009 at Artspace, Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Ave, Rosebank by Lucia Burger. Please join us for this occasion.

The show runs until the 25 July 2009.
Artspace is open from 10h00-17h30 Tuesday - Friday, 10h00- 15h30 on Saturdays.
www.artspace-jhb.co.za

For more information and images contact

Taryn Cohn
Media Liaison for Artspace Gallery
083 6715139
taryncohn@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za