Kim Gurney: Writer, Researcher, Artist
Cape Town/ South Africa
ARTYFACTS
Welcome to my website, where you can get a sense of my writing, research and art. In reality, these pursuits all cross-pollinate with artistic thinking in the lead. My previous website, crafted for over a decade, suffered a surprise digital death. This new one is a work in progress. The idea is just to register some key touchstones. A ghost version of the far more substantial predecessor is archived on Wayback Machine.
Intro
I am an interdisciplinary writer, researcher and artist with advanced degrees in journalism, fine art and cultural geography. I explore the world around me with deep curiosity - sometimes through words, sometimes through visuals, often both. I favour long-form narrative but am agnostic about form in the sense that it is completely integral to subject matter. Recent narratives range from digital storymaps to photo essays, paintings to soundscapes, journal articles to books.
My books are at the heart of my interests and expertise. They are: The Art of Public Space - Curating and Reimagining the Ephemeral City; August House is Dead, Long Live August House! The Story of a Johannesburg Atelier; Panya Routes - Independent art spaces in Africa; & Flipside - The Inadvertent Archive. [See Books].
My pivot from journalism into the art world (via art school) brought poetics, spatiality and a whole new world of theory into my perception. A decade-long association with the African Centre for Cities (University of Cape Town) followed, initiating a special interest in public space - in particular ‘offspaces’ or sites of imagining otherwise. I have worked for several years at the Centre for Humanities Research (University of the Western Cape), where I currently extend my focus upon independent art spaces in different African cities and their DIY working principles. I am part of a new SA-UK research chair on Culture & Technics, which I help to convene. [See Research]
My own art practice is a slow burn that responds to disappearances of different sorts and makes restorative gestures. These have ranged from threatened species to defunct instruments, forcibly disappeared people, underground structures, and financial crisis lexicons. I also run ad hoc a nomadic platform, guerilla gallery, that offers small-scale interventions in public space. My latest collaborative project is ’Tales of History Retold’, co-curated with Carlyn Strydom (2024, Iyatsiba Gallery).” [See Exhibitions]
Books
All four of my books are non-fiction. Three are designed bespoke as artefacts so that their form communicates their meaning, as artistic objects in their own rights. They are the result of long-term research, published in association with various partners including universities I have been associated with, and published internationally.
Research
Over the past decade, my research has focused upon independent art spaces - or offspaces - of various kinds, from art in public space to artist studios or collectives, artisanal workshops and backroom archives. I’m currently working on mapping the southern African genealogy and ethos of an artist-run workshop developed in the 1980s and its contemporary afterlives. You can read more about my research profile at UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research.
Fine Art
My art practice engages disappearances of different kinds and makes restorative gestures. I’ve held two solo exhibitions in Johannesburg and participate annually on group shows. Occasionally, I curate. And have some serious play with guerilla gallery, collaborating ad hoc on small-scale, ephemeral & site-specific public space interventions. The images below include key artworks from over the years.
[For a more comprehensive former website, visit “Wayback Archive” button.]
Title: Indice
Medium: Ink, beeswax, tracing paper, thread on Fabiano
Edition: 24 unique artworks
Collection: Artist studio (available)
