This exhibition explores the ways in which the material and immaterial are
connected in the museum through the interrelations between artworks, artists,
curators, audiences and ideas. Artworks are the material expression of artists’
ideas. Traces of how artworks are created are one way the relationship between
the artist and their thoughts are made visible. Curators propose ways of
interpreting artworks by creating relationships between them in exhibition
spaces. Audiences come to their own interpretations of art by engaging with the
meanings that artworks hold for them, as well as the ideas presented through
the curators’ arrangement. By embodying meanings about the imaginary, social
and spiritual worlds, artworks collapse notions of the material with the
immaterial.
Artworks from the Wits Art Museum holdings that explore matter, spirituality,
agency, and music are included in order to pose questions about what art is, and
how we might understand the relationship between the seen, the invisible, and
the audible. Multiple audiences’ roles in making meanings from their encounters with
artworks are foregrounded in this exhibition.
For more information on the creation of the exhibition, and subsequent work go to
The installation photos below were taken by Kiara Lauren Affat.