Insitu Kalkoennes

Installation art

Kalkoennes, near Montagu mountain range, Western Cape, South Africa.

February 2013

On February 15th, 2013, the team left the studio and trekked to Kalkoennes on the outskirts of the Montagu Mountain Reserve, where, after considerable effort, we unfurled a long column of orange fabric from a sheer and similarly coloured cliff face.

Kalkoennes, a little known hamlet in the heart of the Kogmanskloof, stands at the gateway to The Little Karoo, alongside Thomas Bain’s breathtaking Montagu Pass. The vertiginous impact of the surrounding cliffs is captured well in the book South African Mountain Passes: “By looking up,” the author writes, “one realises the depth of the gorge one is in and the rugged attraction of the rock formations.”

Suspending 60 metres of fabric from the surrounding cliffs was not without mishap or misdirection, despite best laid plans. Being in nature, in situ, with the wind confounding our efforts to perpendicularly hoist 40 kilograms of cotton, was humbling. Ultimately, the orange column reached a height of 50 metres, and here it hung for 35 mesmerising minutes, twisting and rippling against a background of tortuous sandstone strata, before the rope gave way under the strain of weight and wind.

Back in the studio, we marshalled our notes, both visual and literary, into a journal account of the experience, titled in situ Volume.1, Kalkoennes. We also staged a well-attended exhibition featuring a documentary of our efforts, set to an original score (created by our own Franco Fernandes).

Text by Sean Christie

Team

Creative Director: Marcii Magson

Art Directors: Bruce Mackay, Franco Fernandes, Dale Lawrence, Claire Johnson

Interior Designer: Christine Joubert

Production: Mareli Esterhuizen

Architect: Micheal Lumby

Film Director: Robert Nicholls

Copy Writer: Ethne Mudge