Nomusa Makhubu

Over the last twenty years, there has been an increase in unconventional art forms and popular cultural interventions in African urban spaces that not only challenge the traditional tenets of the art history discipline but can also be seen as complex forms of political and social engagement. A common thread in these art forms is performance and live art. This study approaches live art interventionist aesthetics as significant discourses that illuminate the paradoxes of social practice in contemporary African cities. The initial research for this study focuses on two cities: Lagos and Cape Town. Based on my doctoral research, it interrogates the ways in which performance in live art, video art and video-film is used to renegotiate ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres in continually changing and enigmatic urban spaces of Africa.