April at Iziko Museums In this edition of i on iziko, we highlight three exciting events that happened at Iziko over the past few weeks: an Earth Day walkabout with mining and earth artist, Jeannette Unite; a public talk at the Planetarium with Jim Adams - former Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA; and the opening of a new exhibition, Who were the enslaved? Commemorating lives under enslavement at the Cape of Good Hope at the Iziko Slave Lodge.
We also feature a new video series - put together by the Iziko Collections Department - that will be aired monthly on YouTube.
We hope you enjoy this edition of i on iziko! | | | | | Jeannette Unite (right) takes media and visitors on a walkabout of PLOT: Critical Zones at the Iziko South African Museum in celebration of Earth Day , 2022. Image courtesy of the artist. | This Earth Day, we highlighted PLOT: Critical Zones at the Iziko South African Museum Mining and Earth artist Jeannette Unite’s exhibition, PLOT: Critical Zones, interrogates humans’ relationship with minerals – specifically those at the heart of mining, industrialisation, manufacture, and consumption – through an installation of "bar-code" paintings. Gold, platinum fines, copper, coal, cobalt, iron and chrome are among the elements in the paint ingredients that Unite has collected directly from mines since the 1990s.
These elements were all extracted from the Critical Zone – the Earth's outer layer, from above the treetops to below ground water, where life has arisen and been sustained over millennia. The exhibition is a manifestation of the artist’s research across more than 30 countries on how Earth is owned, measured, divided, allocated by title deeds – and the implementation of legal rights over land and resources. At its core, Unite’s artistic, archival, and on-the-ground research addresses the question of why Earth matters. | | | | From left to right: Mathipa Sebitsiwa (Planetarium Manager, Iziko Museums), Steve Sherman (Chief Imagination Officer, Livings Maths), Jim Adams (Former Deputy Chief Technologist, NASA), and Dr Sally McFarlane. Photograph: Nashad Soeker © Iziko Museums of South Africa. | Bringing the stars to Iziko
In an exciting first, Iziko hosted former Deputy Chief Technologist of NASA, Jim Adams, for a public discussion at the Planetarium
If there’s anyone who can give insight into the many wonders of our Universe, it’s Jim Adams. Retired Deputy Chief Technologist at NASA with over 35 years’ experience in space exploration, Adams has been involved in over 30 spaceflight missions to explore the Earth, the Sun and our Solar System. He’s also served as NASA’s Deputy Director of the Planetary Science Division (PSD), and has been awarded three medals, by NASA, for outstanding service and leadership.
A gifted storyteller too, Adams engages the curiosity and imagination of his audiences, and inspires emerging scientists and entrepreneurs to think creatively and inventively. And now, for the first time, Iziko visitors had the opportunity to hear about Adams’ many journeys to the stars. On Friday, 22 April 2022 from 17h30 until 19h00 visitors joined Iziko for a stellar evening with Jim Adams at the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome!
“Iziko’s Planetarium and Digital Dome prides itself in being the most advanced digital planetarium on the African continent, showcasing the best of digital technology through immersive shows for the public,” says Mathipa Sebitsiwa, Planetarium Manager at Iziko Museums. “For us at the planetarium, hosting someone who has spent most of his career focused on innovation and new technologies at NASA is in alignment with what we offer to our audiences – we are a hub for innovation and discovery.”
The event was also streamed live - and if you couldn't make it, you can now watch it at the link below! | | | | Image of artist Wilhelm Heinrich Franz Ludwig Langschmidt’s oil painting depicting Long Street, Cape Town, in 1845. When looking across Long Street into Pepper Street, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church is visible in the distance, below Devil’s Peak. Although we do not know their names, the street is filled with people, such as a washerwoman carrying a bundle of laundry on her head, a trader carrying baskets filled with fresh cauliflowers and carrots, free black women dressed in coloured skirts and embroidered scarfs, as well as a man with an umbrella wearing pointed shoes – a testimony to Cape Town’s varied post emancipation society. Iziko William Fehr Collection CD115. | Who were the enslaved? Commemorating lives under enslavement at the Cape of Good Hope
New exhibition opens at the Iziko Slave Lodge
At the Iziko Slave Lodge, must-see exhibitions include the new exhibition, Who were the enslaved? Commemorating lives under enslavement at the Cape of Good Hope. Here, spaces in the Slave Lodge have been renamed as we seek to answer the questions: Who were the enslaved? What work did they do? How did they manage to survive a new, often violent environment once they arrived? How were they able to communicate with each other when they came from far-flung regions: South Asia, South East Asia, Madagascar, East Africa and, initially, West Africa? As you explore the ground-floor, with its renamed rooms, you will find the stories of those enslaved at the Cape of Good Hope. These are the narratives of the enslaved, of free blacks, of the formerly enslaved, and of the Khoi – and throughout the exhibition, you will sense their resilience amid hardship. | | | |
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