Gabi Ngcobo is a South African

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. Currently she is the Curatorial Director at the Javett Art Centre at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

(Javett-UP).

Early life and education

Gabi Ngcobo was born in Umlazi, a district of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

belonging to today's province

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. Ngcobo studied

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

at the University of Durban-Westville. After completing her BA degree, she has worked at the Iziko South African National Gallery and the Cape Africa Platform in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, where she co-curated the Cape 07 Biennale in 2007 together with Jonathan Garnham. In 2010, she completed a Master in Curatorial Studies at the

Center for Curatorial Studies Founded in 1990, the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) is an exhibition and research center dedicated to the study of art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present. The Center initiated its graduate program in 1994 ...

at Bard College in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Career

Since the early 2000s, Ngcobo has been involved in collaborative, artistic and educational projects. Together with

Dineo Seshee Bopape Dineo Seshee Bopape is a South African multimedia artist. Using experimental video montages, sound, found objects, photographs and dense sculptural installations, her artwork "engages with powerful socio-political notions of memory, narration a ...

and Sinethemba Twalo she was the founder of ''NGO - Nothing Gets Organised''. ''NGO'' focuses on process and self-organisation that take place outside of predefined structures and contexts. In 2010 she established, along with other artists, curators, and writers, the Center for Historical Reenactments (CHR). The CHR responds and questions how historical legacies impact and resonate within contemporary art. The CHR was team-led with Kemang Wa-Lehulere and Donna Kukama, among others, and was part of the 11th Biennale de Lyon. Between 2011 and 2020 Ngcobo was a lecturer at the Wits University School of Arts, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. During that time, she was a co-curator of the 32nd

São Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

in 2016, which was presented at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. In 2018 she curated the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in Berlin together with Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza and Yvette Mutumba. With Dr. Yvette Mutumba she also co-curated the exhibition ''A Labour of Love'' in 2015 as part of her residency at the Weltkulturen Museum in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 2018, Ngcobo was part of the selection committee that nominated

Ruangrupa Ruangrupa, stylised as ruangrupa and abbreviated as ruru, is a contemporary art collective based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Founded in 2000 by a group of seven artists, ruangrupa provided a platform in South Jakarta for organising exhibitions, events, ...

as artistic director of Documenta fifteen. Ngcobo was a member of the jury that selected

Emilija Škarnulytė Emilija Škarnulytė (born 1987 in Vilnius) is a visual artist and filmmaker. Existing between the fictive and the documentary, "she works primarily with deep time, from the cosmic and geologic to the ecological and political." Biography Škar ...

as recipient of the

Future Generation Art Prize The Future Generation Art Prize is a biannual global contemporary art prize with the aim to discover, recognize and give long-term support to young artists. The prize was established by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in 2009. The winner is awarded a ...

in 2019. Since 2021, Ngcobo has been the Curatorial Director at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP).

Other activities

* Javett Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) * Horizn Studios, Member of the Art Program Board (since 2018) * Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Member of the Curatorial Advisory Group (since 2018)

Publications

* Gabi Ngcobo, Yvette Mutumba (ed.), ''A LABOUR OF LOVE.'' exhibition catalogue, Weltkulturen Museum, German and English, Kerber Art Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7356-0140-7. * Gabi Ngcobo, ''Don't panic'', English, Jacana Media, 2012, ISBN 978-1-9201-9637-0.

References

External links

Gabi Ngcobo
on WorldCat.
Center for Historical Reenactments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngcobo, Gabi Bard College alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) South African women artists South African women curators University of Durban-Westville alumni Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand South African curators Year of birth missing (living people)