Thinking with Indifference
A scene among skeletons
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20155734 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Handri Walters (0000-0002-1752-3196, Stellenbosch University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 134-146 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Dynamics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02533952.2025.2593084 |
| OpenAlex | W4417212958 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
From November 20, 2024 to January 25, 2025, Oude Leeskamer in Stellenbosch hosted Indifference, a multiscreen video installation by Namibian-born artist Nicola Brandt. In this work, Brandt engages the legacy of German colonialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in modern-day Namibia, with a particular focus on the German-Namibian War and genocide spanning from 1904 to 1908. The site of engagement is the coastal town of Swakopmund where the individual and mass graves of victims are located. These largely unmarked graves become the backdrop for the exploration of contested memory and history. The impact of Indifference is located both in casting a spotlight on the violent colonial history of Namibia, while considering forms of forgetfulness or ignorance that stand to erase or diminish this history, and in its ability to prompt a form of self-reflection. While set in the Namibian context, Indifference, exhibited in the heart of Stellenbosch, illustrates its renewed relevance as it renders the South African viewer, and particularly the Stellenbosch viewer, open to their own spectres. This article engages Brandt’s artwork by considering space and place, while offering a reflection on Stellenbosch’s colonial past and its lingering spectres
Embodied and Extended Cognition · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Theatre and Performance Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |