We are open for something that feels a lot like business, minus the money

  Alexander Opper, Negotiation, 2010, Site-specific installation – equal volumes of repositioned soil and lawn from the main courtyard of the Johannesburg Art Gallery and Joubert Park respectively . Image courtesy of the artist.

A huge thanks to everyone who came to the the opening of Time's Arrow at the JAG last night. We had a great crowd, enough wine, and plenty friends from the insect kingdom in the wings to help direct the party elsewhere after nightfall.

This time-based exhibibition has now begun, which means that curatorial changes will start taking place from next Monday, and every Monday thereafter, for the duration of the exhibition, works will be moved, added or removed from the show (please note that the JAG is closed on Mondays). Works to look out for in the coming weeks are James Sey's video installation Sublimation and Reversibility, which uses painting conservation x-rays from the JAG archives as a starting point for an examination of sublimation and sublimity in the formation of art and urban archives; a growing installation by Alexadra Makhlouf, which responds directly to works in the exhibition; and lots more. Watch this blog for updates and documentation of changes.

The work pictured above is Alexander Opper's land work Negotiation. For this work, Alex excavated three square metres of grass from Joubert Park and grafted it into the courtyard of the JAG to spell the word "PARK". The are dug out of the park was then filled with soil from the JAG courtyard to spell the word "Museum". See Alex's page (in the sidebar) for his persctive on this work, and on another work of his on the show, Accumulation #1: approximately a century's worth of cornice dust from the Johannesburg Art Gallery (a huge hit at the opening).

Stolen moments during installation

The exhibition is just about up, and looks good for a half-cooked something. Sunday is showtime, and more pictures and content will come after then.

 This is Serge Nitegeka installing his work Equilibrium
in the East Wing of the Johannesburg Art Gallery

Serge with Equilibrium again. In the backgroun you
can seeJane Alexander's Integration Programme
and Phillip Wilson-Steer's Lime Kiln (1887).

This is Thenjiwe Nkosi rearranging the display case from
the JAG's Foundation Collection room with some previously
un-displayed photographs and newspaper clippings
dug up in the JAG library archives.

Before the beginning

Welcome to the Time's Arrow blog. As this exhibition progresses towards its opening next Sunday, this blog will track its progress. It will also provide readers with information about the exhibition - press releases, details of curatorial changes, walkabouts, events, images, background information and some texts and quotes I just can't help but share. I will start adding this content over the next few days. Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to come to the opening at the Johannesburg Art Gallery next Sunday, February 21 2010, at 5pm.

 Yesterday and today we hung some historical and contemporary works, and whatever it is that comes between them, from the JAG collection.

Opening Sunday Feb 21, 2010 at 5pm