Rethinking Kakotopia, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa, 6 September – 4 October 2017

The exhibition is based on the premise that transgressive visual interpretation of kakotopia should, but only sometimes does, play an important role in creating awareness of the crisis of exclusion and violence in the world today. Kakotopia, from the Greek 'kakos' (bad, vile, ugly, and unhappy) and 'topos' (place), was the term used by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham to describe a negative state of society, an anti-utopia characterised by chaos and disintegration. The literature describes a kakotopian society as one where the citizens often live in a dehumanised state, with fear of the outside world, having lost respect for the natural world. Rethinking Kakotopia encompasses visual explorations and commentary around the ongoing issues that surround our notions of identity and belonging in the contemporary world; how these notions often negate our 'sense of place'. The exhibition explores stories of (amongst other things), corruption, emotive nationalism, xenophobia, belonging, nostalgia, sentiment, patriotism, freedom, and rage against the decimation of our fauna. The invited artists are asked to formulate reflections on the ability and psyche of people to survive and respond to the challenges of change; to move from kakotopia to utopia. Curator Derek Zietsman selected Remember-dismember (2015) for this exhibition.