Bespoke new art venue in Jozi shows museum-quality work

There is a distinct lack of properly curated spaces around Johannesburg that aren’t privately run galleries but instead show interesting independent work on an individual project basis. The impetus to use space creatively in this way seems much rarer in Jozi than it is in Cape Town, for example. With that in mind I’ve been keeping an eye on a new(ish) exhibition, installation, and performance space in upmarket Westcliff, called 54 The Valley, somewhat unimaginatively, after its address.

Having previously hosted a meticulously selected and displayed showing of skull paintings by the immensely talented Joni Brenner, the venue has recently staged an equally considered showing of multimedia work by lecturer, printmaker and conceptualist Christine Dixie. Titled The Binding Project, it is an ongoing multi-disciplinary series that engages with the psychological and social implications of the story of the Aqedah (the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham).

Central to the series of installation-based works in the project is the relationship between mother and son — in particular the nature of masculinity for male children and the need for their protection and nurturing in a militarised and often emotionally toxic society.

The first iteration of work in the project was an installation first exhibited in 2010 and now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Additional elements have been added subsequently in conversation with other artists and writers, and in dialogue with the original work, to include video, limited edition Artist’s Books, relief sculptures and an ultra-violet digital print. For the opening of the current showing of work in the project, Dixie’s large-scale prints, relief sculptures and video formed an evocative backdrop for a freeform unplugged music performance by Siya and Zweli Mthembu from The Brother Moves On.

What is the background to the venue coming into being? Did you plan it as an exhibition space?

I am an architect professionally with GLH Architects, and this has been my focus for the last 30 years. I have however always leaned towards the arts. I was fortunate enough to complete a degree in fine arts at Wits before undertaking my architectural studies. This grounding influenced the way I approach a project and the importance I place on design elements such as texture, volume, colour, line, and light. In many ways studying fine art taught me how to see. Those skills have given me a deeper understanding of how to use contrast, depth and light in finding the spirit in a space. After all, we can think of a building structure being a kind of sculpture on a grand scale. During travels abroad, particularly a trip I took to Bangkok, I had the chance to experience the magic of a courtyard house, one which has an inner garden sanctuary protected on each side by structures. This inspired me to rethink my own living space. Then, during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 I had the time to realise this intention and work on a design for making some changes to what was then my own living space.

What’s the thinking behind creating it as an art and performance space?

The initial design is a simple, clean barn structure with double volume and open spaces on two levels. We started construction on it in 2021, and it was intended as my own studio. I was then approached by a friend to use the space as an exhibition venue, and that collaboration was the start of a new life for the space. We found the studio and courtyard garden worked really well as a venue  and since then it has been a pop-up shop, a celebration space and an exhibition and performance space.

How do you curate and decide on work?

It is clear that there are very few venues for artists not formally represented by a gallery, and the studio at 54 has the potential to become such a space. At the moment our approach to curating the space is quite unscripted, and still in the phase of making itself known to me with regard to precisely how it will unfold. But we have made a promising start.