September 26, 2025 - October 16, 2025
274 Preller Street, Muckleneuk
Thresholds of Knowledge Thresholds of Knowledge, curated by Prof. Nombeko Mpako, is a multidisciplinary exhibition held at the UNISA Art Gallery in fulfillment of the Master's and Doctoral Program of the Department of Art and Music.
Thresholds of Knowledge integrates implicit, codified, and tacit knowledge through the linking of numerous artistic bodies of work by Master's and Doctoral candidates: Sango Filita, Wadzanai Tirimboyi, Bongani Ntombela, Karabo Aphane, and Reinhard Sonntag. From fine art to film, installation, sculpture, and performance, the exhibition references notions of commemoration, disruptions of contemporary trends in cinematic culture, encounters between art and science, and philosophies of resistance while observing the culture of migration on the African continent. The exhibition connects various artistic interpretations while interrogating historical archetypes and paradigm shifts by noting altered topical issues and observing detailed fragments of wide-ranging subject matter.
The term "thresholds" in this exhibition represents distinct points of entry into critical junctures in learning, where transformation is presented as a shift in the modality of knowledge and understanding through the observation of core ideas in media, politics, memory, epistemic violence, passage, and the Anthropocene. The crossing of the threshold suggests a deeper, more flexible comprehension of existing ideologies while developing progressive, illustrious visual interpretations.
The exhibition Thresholds of Knowledge further employs the use of indigenous languages as a dynamic system, transferring unique intrinsic knowledge by actively transforming exhibited artworks into sites of dialogue as they echo diverse notions of various lived experiences. The artists craftily explore concepts through the applied arts and performance, proposing a radical conveyance in the modes of science, movement, corruption, violence, and the systematic setting of South Africa's political and socio-economic landscape.
Through interactive artistic installations, we are presented with informed perspectives that embrace the historical and emotional significance of presence while illuminating the duality of existence. Centering moments of conception relative to our experiences and integrating evolving attitudes toward a post-colonial and post-African understanding, the exhibition Thresholds of Knowledge adopts an inquisitive mindset that fosters action, growth, and development through deep-seated interventions, further advocating for a reimagination and reprocessing of contentious concepts in social culture.