Barbara Wildenboer South Africa, b. 1973
Barbara Wildenboer (b. 1973, South Africa) investigates the philosophical concept of aesthetics throughout a range of different mediums and processes. By exploring this concept alongside phenomena such as temporality, fractal geometry, and the interconnectedness of all living things, she exposes the connections between a myriad of life forms – from the microscopic to the immense. Wildenboer’s primary focus is on environmental aesthetics, which she sees as encompassing both natural territories and the human interaction with the natural realm. Her work is also concerned with the idea of the mathematical sublime (an aesthetical notion first developed by Immanuel Kant) and how the infinity and boundlessness of the universe transcend the limits of reason.
Wildenboer uses a combination of analog and digital processes to produce a diverse and rich body of work that primarily consists of collages, photo- and paper constructions, installations, digitally animated photographic sculptures, and book arts. A decade ago, Wildenboer started a large-scale book project named “Infinitesimally Small and Unimaginable Large.” This ongoing project, inspired by the short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel,” uses the library as a metaphor for the universe. By altering books, maps, and other found objects from secondhand bookshops and markets, Wildenboer creates three-dimensional paper works that reflect how humankind is affected by globalization, economic upheavals, scarcity, political corruption, wars, epidemics, and natural disasters. In all her paper sculptures and collages, there is a playful aspect of creating references within other references - attention being drawn to our understanding of science as mediated through text and language. As a result, Wildenboer creates in her work an entirely alternate reality that exposes and explores modern human life and the fragility of the symbiotic relationship between man and ecology.
Her most recent body of work entitled LOOT is informed by a growing interest in how meaning is created and shaped by the encounter between Africa and Europe. The artist uses ‘appropriation’ to explore ideas around this. The use of appropriation is on the one side a reference to looted artifacts that have been expropriated from their origins but also to the manner in which Wildenboer usually engages with her medium (altered books and found images for collage), which has always involved appropriating different texts and reconfiguring them in some way.
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(IM)MATERIALITY
Group Show: Águeda's Art Center 1 October 2022 - 15 January 2023Following the success achieved during the presentation in Lisbon, and at the invitation of Águeda's Municipality, the exhibition (IM)MATERIALITY will itinerate to Águeda Arts Center in October. “(IM)MATERIALITY” promotes a...Read more -
(IM)MATERIALITY
GROUP SHOW: Not a Museum 20 May - 12 August 2022'(IM)MATERIALITY' is curated by Graça Rodrigues, Sónia Ribeiro, Katherine Sirois, Lourenço Egreja, and Diogo Bento, and exhibits, through three distinct nuclei, a significant combination of media, ranging from painting to...Read more -
LOOT
Solo Show: Barbara Wildenboer 5 February - 9 April 2022'LOOT' is the first solo exhibition by the South African artist Barbara Wildenboer in Portugal. The show presents about 30 unpublished works, divided into three distinct nuclei. Among these is...Read more -
DISCOURSES OF DECOLONIALITY
Group Show: Not a Museum 24 June - 30 September 2020THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE art gallery, in partnership with Not A Museum - Art Mexto, presents the exhibition “Discourses of Decoloniality'. It will be on display between June...Read more
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CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2023
Group Show: Barbara Wildenboer, Malebona Maphutse, Nicole Rafiki, Pedro Pires and Patrick Bongoy 17 - 19 February 2023Through this project, the gallery aims to generate a dialogue between countries with colonial and historical affinities, reflecting on the concept of decoloniality and seeking...Read more -
AKAA - Also Known As Africa 2022
Group Show: Barbara Wildenboer, Bete Marques, and Pedro Pires 21 - 23 October 2022AKAA - the primary art fair dedicated to artists from Africa and its diaspora in France - returns this year for its seventh edition between...Read more -
African Galleries Now x Artsy 2022
Group Show: BARBARA WILDENBOER, OSVALDO FERREIRA, PATRICK BONGOY, and LUÍS DAMIÃO 30 March - 17 April 2022In the 2022 edition of “African Galleries Now,” THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE Art Gallery presents unique artworksby BARBARA WILDENBOER, OSVALDO FERREIRA, PATRICK BONGOY...Read more -
AKAA - Also Known As Africa 2020
Group Show: Alida Rodrigues, Barbara Wildenboer, and Pedro Pires 12 - 15 November 2020ARTIST CONVERSATIONS AKAA PARIS 2020 - DIGITAL CONFERENCES PROGRAM As a selected artist of the 2020 AKAA Art Fair edition, ALIDA RODRIGUES , represented by...Read more
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(IM)MATERIALITY Águeda's Art Centre
RTP, 8 October 2022 -
(IM)MATERIALITY - Daniel Madeira em ARTE & CULTURA para a Umbigo Magazine
Umbigo, 13 February 2023 -
(IM)MATERIALITY: NOT A MUSEUM receives international art exhibition
por VÁRIOS, VOU SAIR , 14 August 2022 -
Águeda Arts Center hosts exhibition of more than 40 artists: a reflection on the materiality and immateriality
Comunidade Cultura e Arte, 26 September 2022 -
Galleries to watch at Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2023
ARTAFRICA, 15 February 2023 -
LOOT | Solo Exhibition by Barbara Wildenboer
Alícia Gaspar, Buala, 4 April 2022 -
Lusophone Artists arouse interest at the AKAA Fair
Catarina Falcão, rfi, 26 October 2022
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Discourses de Decoloniality
24 June - 30 September 2020 23 March 2023 -
Barbara Wildenboer
About the artist 14 January 2022 -
LOOT
SOLO SHOW BY BARBARA WILDENBOER 5 February 2022 -
Art can help to overcome the post-colonial Portugal-Africa stigmas
Interview with Graça Rodrigues and João Paulo Sacadura 6 June 2022Interview with Graça Rodrigues, conducted by journalist João Paulo Sacadura for the Portuguese radio station 'Observador' - podcast 'Convidado Extra.' Graça Rodrigues is co-artistic director...Read more -
(IM)MATERIALITY
international art exhibition 1 July 2022 -
(IM)MATERIALITY
INTERNATIONAL GROUP SHOW AT ÁGUEDA ARTS CENTER 1 October 2022
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AKAA - Also Known As Africa 2022
Group Show: Barbara Wildenboer, Bete Marques, and Pedro Pires 21 - 23 October 2022AKAA - the primary art fair dedicated to artists from Africa and its diaspora in France - returns this year for its seventh edition between...Read more -
African Galleries Now x Artsy 2022
Group Show: BARBARA WILDENBOER, OSVALDO FERREIRA, PATRICK BONGOY, and LUÍS DAMIÃO 30 March - 17 April 2022In the 2022 edition of “African Galleries Now,” THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE Art Gallery presents unique artworksby BARBARA WILDENBOER, OSVALDO FERREIRA, PATRICK BONGOY...Read more