Gabi Ngcobo

Gabi Ngcobo is a South African curator, artist and educator.[1] Currently she is the Curatorial Director at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP).

Gabi Ngcobo
Ngcobo in 2012
Born
Umlazi, Durban, South Africa
CitizenshipSouth African
EducationArt History (Bachelor's degree), Curatorial Studies (Master's degree)
Alma materUniversity of Durban-Westville, Bard College

Early life and education

Gabi Ngcobo was born in Umlazi, a district of Durban belonging to today's province KwaZulu-Natal.[2]

Ngcobo studied Art History 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, where she co-curated the Cape 07 Biennale in 2007 together with Jonathan Garnham.[3] In 2010, she completed a Master in Curatorial Studies at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York.[4]

Career

Since the early 2000s, Gabi Ngcobo has been involved in collaborative, artistic and educational projects.[5] Together with Dineo Seshee Bopape and Sinethemba Twalo she was the founder of NGO - Nothing Gets Organised.[1] 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).[6][7] The CHR responds and questions how historical legacies impact and resonate within contemporary art.[8] The CHR was team-led with Kemang Wa-Lehulere and Donna Kukama, among others, and was part of the 11th Biennale de Lyon.[9]

Ngcobo was co-curator of the 32nd São Paulo Biennial in 2016, which was presented at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion in São Paulo.[10] 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.[11] 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.

Between 2011 and 2020 she was a lecturer at the Wits University School of Arts, in Johannesburg. Since 2021, she has been the Curatorial Director at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP).[12]

In 2018, Ngcobo was part of the selection committee that nominated Ruangrupa as artistic director of Documenta fifteen.[13]

Ngcobo was a member of the jury that selected Emilija Škarnulytė as recipient of the Future Generation Art Prize in 2019.[14]

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.[15]
  • Gabi Ngcobo, Don't panic, English, Jacana Media, 2012, ISBN 978-1-9201-9637-0.

References
  1. Selvin, Alex Greenberger,Claire (20 May 2021). "25 Curators Shaping the Art World Today". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  2. Blignaut, Charl. "Meet Gabi Ngcobo, one of the most powerful curators in the world right now". W24. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. "Cape 07". Artlink Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  4. "Gabi Ngcobo". CCS Bard. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. Peter Eckersall, Bertie Ferdman (2021). Curating Dramaturgies - How Dramaturgy and Curating are Intersecting in the Contemporary Arts. New York: Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 9780367711993.
  6. Smith, Terry E. (2012). Thinking Contemporary Curating - Issue 1 of ICI perspectives in curating. the University of California: Independent Curators International. p. 156. ISBN 9780916365868.
  7. "Center for Historical Reenactments". Center for Historical Reenactments. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  8. "Gabi Ngcobo". www.rawmaterialcompany.org. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. "Artistes de l'exposition internationale". Biennale de Lyon (in French). Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  10. "32nd São Paulo Biennial, 2016". universes.art. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  11. "We Don't Need Another Hero - Biennales - Berlin Biennale". www.berlinbiennale.de. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. "Gabi Ngcobo Officially Appointed Curatorial Director of Javett-UP". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  13. Catherine Hickley (16 July 2018), Documenta to name new artistic director by early 2019 The Art Newspaper.
  14. Alex Greenberger (22 March 2019), Emilija Skarnulyte Wins PinchukArtCentre’s $100,000 Future Generation Art Prize ARTnews.
  15. "Weltkulturenmuseum - Publications". www.weltkulturenmuseum.de. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
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