Bio
I’m a conceptual artist, educator and researcher, living and working in Cape Town (South Africa) and I’m currently registered in the PhD Programme at the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology. My PhD is focused on understanding the implication of community led cultural programming on the governance arrangements in the Arts and Culture and Culture sector, through the application of nodal governance framework. He is currently working as an embedded researcher at the City of Cape Town’s Arts and Culture Branch through Knowledge Transfer programme supported by Mistra Urban Futures. The research is focused on the cultural mapping and planning process that the city has been engaged in since 2015 and expands on his interest in participatory methodology and cultural governance.
As an established artist, practice explores my interests in interdisciplinary and participatory practices, and the place of art in various social contexts. In response, I have developed a considered practice the reflects on the relationship between the everyday, infrastructure and people. Through employing site-specific strategies and participatory practices, I have designed collaborative projects with choreographers, theatre-makers and residents to develop alternative ways of perceiving and engaging with a city.
I’m currently a researcher for the Institute for Public Art, an independent network initiated by the Centre for Public Art, Shanghai University and have presented at three related conferences in 2014, 2016, 2017. More recently I presented at the Participatory Governance in Culture: Exploring Practices, Theories and Policies. DO IT TOGETHER Conference in Rijeka, Croatia. In 2016 I curated an exhibition and programme, APPROACH: Cultural Production in a Social Context, at the KZNSA in Durban and in 2015 was the programme convener for Remaking Place: Public Art Symposium hosted by GIPCA in Cape Town.
Before joining the ACC I worked as a researcher for the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (2013-2017), in Revolution Room, a public art programme in Johannesburg, South Africa. Over the same period, I worked as a freelance exhibition designer for the South African History Archive.
PUBLICATIONS
Book
- Sari Middernacht, Molemo Moiloa, Patrick Mudekereza and Vaughn Sadie. 2017. Revolution Room. VANSA, Johannesburg.
Articles
- Vaughn Sadie. 2017. ‘Cosmo City Knowledge Project’ in Revolution Room. VANSA, Johannesburg.
- Vaughn Sadie. 2010. Arguments for light in Art South Africa. 9.1. Cape Town.
- Vaughn Sadie. 2007. Dineo Bopape. Art South Africa. 5.1. Cape Town.
Relevant Public Discourse (10 Years)
(Participation, public art, cultural governance and heritage)
- 2017 – Participatory Governance in Culture: Exploring Practices, Theories and Policies. DO IT TOGETHER Conference | Rijeka, Croatia | Paper presentation
- 2017 – The 3RD International Public Art Researchers Network Meeting, Institute for Public Art (IPA), Shanghai, China | Paper presentation
- 2016 – APPROACH: Cultural Production in a Social Context, KZNSA, Durban | Curator, convener and panel moderator
- 2016 – Southern African City Studies Conference, Durban | Paper presentation
- 2016 – The 2ND International Public Art Researchers Network Meeting, Institute for Public Art (IPA), Shanghai, China | Paper presentation
- 2015 – Remaking Place: Public Art Symposium | GIPCA, Cape Town, SA | Programme convener and panel moderator
- 2014 – The 1ST International Public Art Researchers Network Meeting, Institute for Public Art (IPA), Shanghai, China | Paper presentation
- 2013 – Revolution Room Colloquium, Johannesburg | Programme convener and Paper presentation
- 2013 – Reflecting on Practice, Parking Gallery, Johannesburg | Paper presentation
- 2011 – Alternative Archiving, South African Museum Association, Eshowe | Paper presentation
- 2010 – Colour Colloquium, Rhodes University, Grahamstown | Paper presentation
Artist and Curatorial Projects (10 Years)
Selected Curatorial Project
- 2018 – Spier Light ART, Spier, Stellenbosch – co-curator
- 2016 – APPROACH: Cultural Production in a Social Context, KZNSA, Durban
- 2010 – Performing the streetlamp, The Bag factory, Johannesburg
- 2010 – Conflicting Context, The Durban Art Gallery, Durban
- 2008 – Light Show, co-curated, Bank Gallery
Selected one-person shows
- 2012 – Streetlights, Goethe on Main, Johannesburg
- 2010 – situation, AVA, Cape Town
- 2010 – untitled (sleep state), Main Street Life, Johannesburg
- 2009 – situation, Bank Gallery, Durban
- 2005 – Spill light, Young Artists Project, KZNSA Gallery, Durban
Selected Group shows
- 2016 – Through Positive Eyes, Durban Art Gallery, Durban
- 2016 – Share/Cheat/Unite, Te Tuhi, Auckland, New Zealand
- 2014 – After 20 year, 20 Artists, KZNSA Gallery, Durban
- 2014 – Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa, SFMOMA in partnership with the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), San Francisco, USA
- 2012 – MTN New Contemporaries, Cape Town
- 2012 – Live Art, Cape Town
- 2012 – Infecting the City, Cape Town
- 2011 – VANSA Two Thousand and Ten Reasons to live in a Small Town, Goethe on Main, Johannesburg
- 2011 – Collaborations/Articulations, FADA Gallery, Johannesburg
- 2009 – Social Pattern, AVA, Cape Town
Selected Collaborations
- 2014 – Inhabitant with Sello Pesa and Ntsoana Contemporary Dance Theatre, SFMOMA in partnership with the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA),San Francisco, USA
- 2013 – Dundee : Living within History with Neil Coppen, Dundee, KwaZulu Natal
- 2012 – Mabele Mabele Habata with Sello Pesa, Brian Mtembu and Humphrey Maleka, MTN New Contemporaries, Cape Town
- 2012 – frequency, lumens, place with Dean Henning, Live Art, Cape Town
- 2012 – between with Sello Pesa, Jeppestown, Drama for life, Johannesburg
- 2011 – Teka Munyika with Sello Pesa, 1ST Johannesburg Public Art Conference
- 2011 – Inhabitant with Sello Pesa, iDANS 05, Istanbul
- 2011 – frequency, lumens, place with Dean Henning, The ABSA KKNK, Oudshoorn
- 2011 – Dundee : Living within History with Neil Coppen, Dundee, KwaZulu Natal
- 2010 – frequency, lumens, place with Dean Henning, The Durban Art Gallery, Durban
- 2010 – Qaphela Ceaser, with Jay Pather, Cape Town
- 2010 – Body of Evidence, with Jay Pather, The Haag, Netherlands
