Curiosity CLXXV

Item

Title

Curiosity CLXXV

Description

This selection of objects is featured on p175 of the catalogue for the exhibition Curiosity CLXXV. This exhibition was held on the Michaelis Fine Art campus in 2004 and was prompted by then vice-chancellor Professor Njabulo Ndebele, who wanted a celebration of some kind for the university’s 175th anniversary. The three artist-curators of Curiosity CLXXV – (then) director of the Michaelis School of Fine Art Pippa Skotnes, fellow lecturer Fritha Langerman and Michaelis graduate Gwen van Embden – presented an exhibition that drew together objects from every department ‘to curate the university’, using these objects and collections ‘to trace the historical development of knowledge and teaching at the university’ (Brown 2015: 124). This marked the first time the institution’s teaching, research and historical collections were brought into public view, along with university memorabilia, objects stored in lecturers’ offices and objects in storerooms awaiting disposal.

This particular curation consists of a map from the UCT Avian Demography Unit depicting the distribution of the raptor Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus along political borders. The Bateleur is more frequently found where there is no formal farming. The Ngwato child’s oxhide sandals were collected by Schapera and are in the UCT collection housed at the South African Museum. Beneath them is a page from The Afrikaans Atlas, showing language distribution provided by Rajend Mesthrie of the Department of Linguistics and Southern African Languages.

Date

1 January 2022, 10:30

Date Valid

1 January 2022, 11:00

interactivityType

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