300 lbs of hammer. - La Veu d'Àfrica

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	300 lbs of hammer. Abril del 2009.

Artist Stephen Hobbs' latest collaboration explores his notion that Johannesburg, once a glistening metropolis built on gold, is now a decaying corpse that wants to grow again. In the apartheid era, Kliptown’s iconic Sans Souci theatre saw the likes of Miriam Makeba, Kippie Moketzee and Abdullah Ibrahim walk through its doors, entertaining a community for whom the simple pleasure of watching a show in a public arena had become largely prohibited. And while over the years the building may have become familiar with the sounds of ‘Mannenberg’ and ‘Pata Pata’, the Sans Souci’s swan song is sitting on entirely different territory. Having fallen into disrepair in the 1990s and been scavenged down to a skeleton by local squatters, the Sans Souci became renowned as an aesthetic eccentricity, an apocalyptic ruin rich in symbolism. With no walls, no windows, and no doors, the barren building’s musical heritage was eventually reduced to a few appearances in local music videos. Despite the fact that artistic and architectural interest in the building prevailed, the degeneration of the Sans Souci continued. Becoming a liability for the community the ruins were being used as something of a nesting ground for local gangs with initiation rites such as rapes going on beneath its exposed slabs. So when heavy rains further demolished the building in 2009, families from the area advanced with what they called “three hundred pounds of hammer” and, in their words, “in two weeks we knocked that thing down”. But even though nothing more than an empty plot stand in the Sans Souci’s place, South African artist Stephen Hobbs still sees the ruin as an evocative space, due to its profound contextual politics. Which is why he believes it is the perfect location to exhibit his recent work, 'State', as part of a collaborative project, '300 lbs of Hammer', between Hobbs, Joao Orecchia, David Olivier and 2610 South Architects. Originally created for the 2008 Sasol Wax Awards, 'State' is a single channel projection which uses the different states of wax to demonstrate the malleability of urban centres, or, in Hobbs words, “It shows how the city has collapsed but wants to grow again”. The melting, toppling and regenerating wax pieces constantly playing against their shadows, make for an eerie, graceful vision, which when offset by Joao Orrechia’s electronic sound feast construct a powerful statement about, as Hobbs puts it, “The precariousness of urbanism in third world contexts”. The film shows urban degeneration taking on a life of its own, inspiring an organic regeneration which is almost impossible to contain. The Sans Souci, with its satiated architectural and cultural history will be the site of ‘State’s’ next screening, as “The film as an abstract narrative is the visual equivalent of what is happening on the site,” explains Hobbs. His vision for the project is to create a temporary public art intervention, a sensory cacophony evoking smoke and mirrors, electronica and all things apocalyptic. “I would like to configure sculpture [previous installation pieces of Hobbs'] and film on site in an exploratory way and at the same time look at a way of collaborating with the local community.” So, while the project does not start with a building, with the original infrastructure being almost invisible at this point, the installation will be irrevocably shaped by the Sans Souci, whose influence will determine the outcome of the project. A fitting swan song for the abandoned space, but, as Hobbs acknowledges, “a double pathos, as the building will not be reconstructed.” '300 lbs of Hammer' was recently presented at Berlin Bar in Melville and Hobbs is working on a timeline of completing the project in August to October 2009.


INTERNATIONAL MARKET OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Barcelona.
	Roberta Coci, Johannesburg. April 16, 2009.

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