Public Art in Joburg

Orly Genger sculptures in Madison Square Park

New York was is a great city for Public Art, both temporary ...

Ryman Roses on Park Avenue

Breuning Clouds, Central Park South and 5th Avenue

Indiana LOVE on 6th Avenue

... and permanent.

Elíasson Waterfalls under the Broolyn Bridge

Public Art adds interest to the gritty environment in summer and ...

Christo Gates in Central Park

... and much-appreciated color in winter.

Tatzu Nishi's Discovering Columbus

And sometimes it takes the mundane - like the maintenance of Christopher Columbus's statue in Columbus Circle - and elevates it to art.

















Johannesburg is a city that is totally on board with Public Art. It is sometimes hard to keep up with all the commissioned pieces going up all over the city. During the recent Joburg Art Week, we stumbled upon one of the biggest proponents of Public Art in Joburg, the Johannesburg Development Agency. Embedded in the many goals and objectives of the JDA is the recognition of the role Public Art plays in the livability of a city.










They are the people behind some of the most iconic and recognizable works of Public Art in Joburg, like the art on the Rea Vaya - a public transportation initiative of the JDA - and The Eland in Braamfontein.

The Eland is my favorite piece of Public Art in Joburg. This massive 50-ton, 7,5m statue of an eland has transformed the gateway entrance to the inner city from Braamfontein. The statue, which stands at the intersection of Ameshoff and Bertha streets, was designed by Clive van den Berg, a well-known South African artist and exhibition designer from the company Trace. His imposing design was selected as the winner of a competition in 2005 organized by the Braamfontein Art Committee, through an initiative by the Johannesburg Development Agency and the Braamfontein Improvement District. The project was managed by the Trinity Session.

The artists were asked to consider various issues and histories particular to the site, with emphasis placed on permanence and durability. Van den Berg said of the winning brief:

“I started with a sense of what I did not want. Having worked in, studied and theorised about public space for some years, I knew that I did not want to make a heroic sculpture of the Mandela Square variety, nor a sculpture that would be too immediately located in time and place. Eland places a large representation of an Eland on a corner where it has long since disappeared. This majestic animal would, I imagined, bring beauty and grandeur to a busy place.

The Eland in situ

I hope it will also be an emblem that prompts reflection on our relationship to the past, and to the interconnectedness of environmental, cultural and spiritual destinies.

The corner is a busy connector of lateral geography, but what I am concerned with is the geography of memory and the spirit.”

The Public Art exhibit at the JDA was fascinating and extremely informative and filled in so many blanks for me about the various Public Art installations about town. And the JDA is located in a public work of architectural art itself.

The agency is housed in an old Bus Factory in Newtown surrounded by art studios and galleries. There you go, art is part and parcel of what they do.

Walking around Newtown the other day for my graffiti tour, I was once again reminded of Joburg's love for Public Art of which commissioned graffiti is just one of the many means of expression. And there are many other organizations besides the JDA as well as corporations and private individuals who commission Public Art in the city.

We started our graffiti tour in a skate park in Newtown where there are some of the 560 carved wooden heads dotted on plinths found throughout the Newtown precinct.  I do not know who actually commissioned them but they are very cool. 

The carved railroad ties are meant to reflect a sea of faces from Africa. The artists, Simon Guambe, Petrus Matsolo, Dan Guambe and Joe Matola, intended these heads to celebrate African diversity. And they symbolise how for the better part of the last century, Newtown was home to thousands of migrants from throughout Africa and the world. 

Sometimes I lament the fact that Joburg does not have the abundance of museums and galleries that New York has. But then I stumble upon yet another piece of Public Art and I am reminded that Joburg city itself is one big art gallery. And I feel better. Public Art can do that.