The experiential and narrative aspects of the arts can fundamentally shift how we act on the climate change crisis by transforming meaning, not just delivering facts | When the water crisis threatens the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa, one of Earth’s earliest homes of modern humans, facts alone wont shift our behaviour. Across the world, we already know the science, yet we fail to act. South African artist Johan Thom shows how the arts can change what water, soil, and survival actually mean to us. Drawing on personal history, Darwin’s ideas, and years of artistic experimentation, he reveals how beauty, choice, and imagination shape the core decisions that determine our collective future. While the sciences may diagnose the problem, the arts help us feel and experience our changing world in different ways, reminding us that meaning, not data, drives human action | South African artist Johan Thom works across performance, video, and installation to probe the human condition in a changing world. As curator of the forthcoming Soil & Water exhibition at NIROX, he brings artists together to engage with ecology, resilience, and our shared climate future. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Posts Tagged ‘Art’
Beauty and survival in a changing climate | Johan Thom | TEDxJohannesburg
Posted in News, tagged Art, art and beauty, art and evolution, beauty, Climate Change, Contemporary Art, Darwin, Johan Thom, Nirox Foundation, tedx, tedxjohannesburg, water crisis on December 11, 2025|
Posted in News, tagged Art, climate-change, environment, News, tedx on October 15, 2025|
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TEDx Johannesburg presentsCOUNTDOWN25 October 2025 TEDxJohannesburg Countdown reimagines what a TEDx experience can be. Focused on accelerating climate action, this two-day journey begins in the vibrant energy of Sandton and culminates in the tranquil beauty of NIROX Sculpture Park in the Cradle of Humankind. Day 2, at NIROX, unfolds in nature’s calm, where TEDx talks, performances, and creative activations will ignite ideas for a better, greener, and more resilient future. Grounded in South African realities, shaped by Global South perspectives, and tuned to planetary frequencies, this gathering will spotlight local solutions with global power. It forms part of a worldwide drumbeat toward two major climate moments: the G20 climate meetings in Johannesburg and COP30 in Belém, Brazil. As one of only 18 TEDx events globally selected as an official TED Countdown Anchor, we carry forward the energy of the Countdown Summit recently held in Nairobi and bring it into a uniquely South African, globally connected context. We are proud to hold this moment with care and courage. Speakers Crispian OliverShaping climate leadership Lebogang MulaisiChampioning workers in a changing climate Clyde MallinsonModelling a renewable future Viaksha MohabirSouth Africa in global energy futures Leanne Emery-HunterFinancing resilience Gamuchirai MutezoTurning waste into energy Taylen ReddyYouth for environmental justice Tebogo MakhubelaAncient clues to climate futures Charles Mpofu Cranes as wetland sentinels Steve CarverSeeds of resilience Jen Van Den BusscheDignity in water and sanitation Sifiso GumbiFrom waste picker to pioneer Leonie JoubertStories of climate change Nokulinda MkhizeAncestral wisdom, future balance Johan ThomThe art of meaning, Soil & Water Performances Christophe Fellay & Thulisile Binda Rhythms of a fragile planet Oupa Sibeko Inland Ocean Music by Muneyi Itai Hakim Gates open at 10h00on Saturday, 25 October |
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To a greener, fairer, thriving future. |
| NIROX is a private not-for-profit foundation to benefit the arts All income is used to maintain the grounds, the artist residency programme, and artist support. NIROX Foundation is dedicated to bringing exceptional cultural experiences to the world through commitment to quality programming and artistic innovation aiming to enrich lives and foster a deeper appreciation for the arts in all its forms.No food, drinks, pets, gazebos, cooler boxes or sporting equipment may be brought into the park. No camping chairs or beach umbrellas may be brought into the amphitheatre; Hay bales will be provided for seating; picnic blankets and sun-hats are recommended Entry and use of the facilities is entirely at the visitor’s own riskNIROX has no responsibility for injury or loss of any kind, howsoever arising For more information, including updates on the concert program and featured artists, visitwww.niroxarts.com.NIROX lies in the Kromdraai Valley, which is expanding for visitors’ enjoyment and local community development with diverse initiatives, including: The Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture at NIROX The Kromdraai Impact Hub, creative residency for collaboration and social impactand Farmhouse58, Accommodation PartnerFor further informationvilla-legodi.com kromdraai hub.com farmhouse58.co wellness58.com |
‘Grasp’ new and recent works by Johan Thom at the Nirox Foundation, 8 September- mid November 2024 (tbc)
Posted in News, tagged African art, Art, Casa Wabi Foundation, ceramics, Contemporary Art, Johan Thom, Nirox Foundation, Performance art, Sculpture, South African art on August 21, 2024|

NIROX is pleased to present new and recent works by South African artist Johan Thom, exploring the material relationship between the tactile, time, and (negative) space.
The exhibition is structured in two parts, split across two venues. Held in NIROX’s residency workshop, part one includes a recent installation — Time after Time (2023) — in which an automated brick and bronze skull constantly rotate, narrowly missing each other. Across the road, at the Kromdraai Impact Hub, Thom presents three new works: Will you still be mine? (The weight of body in ice), a large photograph documenting his performance at Casa Wabi, Mexico, earlier this year; Dwell (the weight of my body as a brick), produced in collaboration with Modern Art Projects South Africa (MAPSA); and LH+RH+LHRH (Grasp), a major installation of over a thousand individual clay forms.
Dwell is a large replica of a red building brick, such is commonly used for the construction of homes, shelters, and buildings in South Africa. Made to the weight of the artist, it is a deceptively complex minimalist gesture in which the body is shown to be a contested, uneasy home — at once a space of ‘dwelling’ (of knowing and being) whilst also forming part of the skewed spatio-political and economic organisation of the contemporary South African landscape.
In turn, LH+RH+LHRH (Grasp) (2024) is a site-specific installation that gives three- dimensional form to the negative space generated by ‘grasping’ a lump of clay. The result is an overwhelming number of near alien, bone-like fragments, arranged in three minimalist, 10 x 3m rectangular grids.
In keeping with the context of the Cradle of Humankind, this arrangement is reminiscent of the anthropological/archeological sites nearby. Here, the act of grasping becomes a metaphor for that which remains unknown or undiscovered, suggesting that the tactile and material remain largely dormant, fecund repositories for rethinking our partial knowledge of the world.
RSVP: sven(at)niroxarts.com
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication, with essays by Dr Sikho Siyotula (Research Associate, UP), Dr. Wayne Binitie (Associate Lecturer, Camberwell College of Art, London) and Sven Christian (Curator, NIROX), published by the Villa- Legodi Center for Sculpture in partnership with UJ Press. Also included in the exhibition is “Grasp (Fragment),” an educational kit developed for the tactile exploration and teaching of sculpture, in collaboration with Prof. Jenni Louwrens (Associate Professor in Visual Studies, School of the Arts, UP), The student Gallery at the Javett UP, the Claire & Edoardo Villa Will Trust and the Villa-Legodi Center for Sculpture. The artworks on exhibition have been generously supported by a number of organisations: NIROX Foundation; Villa-Legodi Center for Sculpture; Modern Art Projects South Africa; Casa Wabi, Mexico; The National Research Foundation of South Africa; The School of the Arts, University of Pretoria; Kalashnikovv Gallery
Figure details: Johan Thom, Will you still be mine (Del Mar#1), photographic production still form a performance in Casa Wabi, Mexico, 2024 (Sizes: 210 x 110cm).

New World Order A special project curated by Johan Thom for the RMB Turbine Art Fair 2020
Posted in News, tagged #RMBTAF, #RMBTurbineArtFair, #TAF20, Art, Artists, contemporary African art, Contemporary South African Art, exhibitions, South African art on August 25, 2020|

New World Order
A special project curated by Johan Thom
Featuring the artists:
Sharlene Khan, Johan Van der Schijff, Fabian Saptouw, Avi Sooful, Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor, Jacob Van Schalkwyk, Gordon Froud, Minnette Vári, Frikkie Eksteen, Rat Western, Reshma Chhiba, Cow Mash (Kgaogelo Mashilo), Brent Meistre & Jan Van Der Merwe.
VIP Preview – 27 August 2020 18h00 | Public Opening 28 August 2020 09h00
Curatorial Statement
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic the world itself seems to be on the brink of global change. Grand ideas and conspiracies abound as we grapple daily with the anxiety of the global impact of a raging pandemic. This is compounded by the force of the myriad social injustices and political failures that seem to have the ability to touch and deeply impact all of our lives – whether by social media, global news or even personal experience. Though much of the media focus has been on the economic, social and political changes that await us all once the dust settles, the question of what role art may play in a changed, post-Covid world still requires careful consideration by artists, critics and art patrons alike.
The works of art exhibited collectively as part of ‘New world order’ embody a critical way of thinking about art and its role in a possible future. However this is no grand utopian exercise but, rather, a close focus on the artistic practice of selected South African artists who critically engage the world of art whilst being deeply involved in academia too. In this regard I turn to the voices who will guide the new generation of artists who will live and practice in a post-Covid world. In this way the exhibition serves as a critical platform that seeks to highlight and interrogate a variety of aesthetic approaches, forms of creative practice and rigorous, critical thinking about the role of art and art education in the milieu of an ever-changing South African society.
Throughout South Africa’s history many of our arts educators have been nationally and internationally esteemed artists, including such luminaries as Walter Battiss (1906-1982), Bill Ainslie (1934-1989), Cecil Skotnes (1926-2009) Colin Richards (1954-2012), Susan Sellschop (1941-2017), David Koloane (1938-2019), Ingrid Stevens (1952-2019) and many others. Today many of South Africa’s most respected artists still call academia ‘home’ in one form or another.
Each artwork included on New World Order should be viewed as a unique opportunity to engage with the work of an artist as the very embodiment of their research concerns, the particularity of their artistic voice and the manner in which these values congeal as an artistic methodology in the artwork itself. Perhaps more than that, given the seriousness with which these artists approach their work (artistically, pedagogically), we may find therein if not exactly a clear plan for the future, a particular aesthetic, political and cultural vision thereof. This artistic vision is shaped as much by the ongoing struggle against the harsh realities of our present moment as by the possibility of serious artistic practice to unearth the numerous unexplored and even surprising possibilities that may help define tomorrow. In this sense the exhibition New World Order is underpinned by a decidedly hopeful premise.
#RMBTAF #RMBTAF2020 #RMBTurbineArtFair #RMBTAF20 #TAF20 #TAF #TAFOnline
Some new works 2019 –
Posted in News, tagged African art, Africanart, Art, Artists, installation, Johan Thom, performance, Performance art, Photography, Poetry, public art, Sculpture, South Africa, Visual Art on April 11, 2020|

Speech act #2. Performance last August at the Association of Arts for Drawing Conclusions II curated by Diane Victor. For the work I read excerpts from texts out of my personal diaries for the period of 2009-13 whilst standing on an old portrait created with flour on the floor. The piece is a meditation on the materiality of memory and its artifacts. (Photograph by Carla Crafford).

Houseboat #1. 2019. Wood, glass, Material One, glass and mixed media Sizes: 230cm x 300 cm x 205cm

‘Missing: Selfportrait as an ass asleep in my son’s bed’ 2019. Photographic inkjet print on Hannemeule 2/3 (Edition of 3 and one artist proof) 50 cm x 65 cm Photo Credit: Garreth Fradgley
UP Visual Arts lecturers and artists feature large at Aardklop, the Potchefstroom National Arts Festival 1- 7 October 2018
Posted in News, tagged Aardklop, Art, Artists, Diane Victor, Marina Abramović, Olu Oguibe, Roger Ballen, South African art, Visual Art on October 27, 2018|
This year lecturers and artists from the Department of Visual Art at the University of Pretoria made a huge splash at Aardklop. Dr Johan Thom, Senior lecturer in Fine Art was for the second year running the head visual arts curator for Aardklop. Other lecturers and past alumni from Fine Arts whose works were showcased as part of the visual arts program include Diane Victor, Avi Sooful, Shenaz Mahomed and alumni such as Angus Taylor and Cazlynne Peffer.

Figure 1: Installation view: ’14 Stations of the Cross’ by Diane Victor. Photo Credit: J. Thom
Curator Dr Johan Thom conceived the visual arts program under the collective title of ‘Spoke Diewe en Digters’. The program was conceptualised in relation to the complex history of Afrikaans as a poetic language, one indelibly shaped by a persistent undercurrent of creative, often anti-establishment practices and thoughts. The life and work of figures such as Eugene Marais, the ‘sestigers’ (including Breyten Breytenbach, Etienne Le Roux, Adam Small and Ingrid Jonker) and even more recently those of Koos Kombuis and Johannes Kerkorrel served as inspiration for a large-scale exhibition premised upon the exploration of creative process and the contested place of visual art in our contemporary society.
In total seven exhibitions were mounted by Thom across the venues located on the campus of the North-West University during the festival. These include the solo exhibition ‘Skadu en Lig’ by festival artist Diane Victor, the group exhibition ‘A Flood in my hands’ (curated by Aysha Waja), ‘Saamklop’ (a program featuring the work of artist collectives including The Dead Bunny Society, Found Collective and The Centre For The Less Good idea), ‘Degenerative evolution of the living’ by Donald Wassiwa from Uganda (kindly made possible by ABSA), en ‘Die groen grass groei daar om’ a solo exhibition by Liza Grobler. Thom also curated a large-scale group exhibition featuring the work of local and international artists including global superstars such as Marina Abramović, Olu Oguibe, Roger Ballen, Jodi Bieber and many others. Finally a special music programme with Pretoria-based musicians including Bacchus Nel, Die See and Blinkruiter concluded the program with a show filled with poetry and musical ghost stories. The last also included a series of oil portraits of Afrikaans musicians painted by the artist Ronel Kellerman.
The work of this year’s festival artist Diane Victor set the tone for much of the visual arts on display. Victor is perhaps best known for her unflinching depiction of violence and discrimination against women in South African society. Apart from exhibiting a series of new drawings and prints Victor created a site specific installation of fourteen light projections against the walls of a concrete walkway of the auditorium of the Hennie Bingle Student Centre. This ethereal work titled ’14 Stations of the Cross’ was conceived as a pilgrimage of sorts, with each of the fourteen portraits depicting a victim of femicide. In this way viewers could stop at each portrait and meditate before reaching the end of their journey at the top of the staircase.The work was made all the more ghostly as each of the portraits was literally made from smoke on glass through which a bright light then projected the image against the wall. Victor was deservedly awarded best visual arts exhibition at Aardklop 2018 for her efforts.
The festival also provided a rare opportunity to see the work of the veritable grandmother of performance art, Serbian artist Marina Abramović in person at the NWU Art Gallery. For ‘Confession’ (2010), a video loop of sixty minutes, Abramović sits in front of a donkey telling it her deepest, darkest secrets. Amazingly the donkey almost never moves right until the end.
Figure 2: Confession Performance for Video by Marina Abramović, 60 minutes, 2010. © Marina Abramović. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives
Other highlights at the festival this year included ‘Pink and White Flowers’, an installation artwork by Olu Oguibe, made possible by the support of The University of Pretoria and The Nirox Foundation. Oguibe was a recent visitor to the Visual Arts Department of the University of Pretoria where he spoke about his life and work as an internationally renowned artist, scholar and activist. For ‘Pink and White Flowers’ Oguibe made a large-scale installation in the botanical gardens consisting of four thousand petunias stacked together. The work served as a portrait of Nokuphila Kumalo, a young girl who was also a South African victim of femicide. Sadly her mother had no picture of her but could remember that she liked pink and white flowers. Each of the petunias could be taken home by a visitor to the installation thus extending the work beyond the exhibition.
Figure 3: Installation view of ‘Pink and White Flowers’ (2018) at the botanical gardens of the North- West University, South Africa, by Olu Oguibe. Photo credit: J. Thom
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‘(Don’t) look back’ at Gallery Momo Cape Town in collaboration with the Nirox Foundation
Posted in News, tagged Art, Gallery Momo, Gordon Froud, Joachim Schonfeldt, Joni Brenner, Kim Lieberman, Ledelle Moe, Marco Cianfenelli, Marcus Neustetter, Nirox Foundation, Richard John Forbes, Sculpture, Sophia van Wyk, Stephan Erasmus, Willem Boshoff on March 17, 2017|

Opening: Thursday, 23 March from 18:00 to 20:00
Featuring Lament, a performance by Lizette Chirrime in collaboration with Ledelle Moe, at 19:00
ARTIST FEATURED
Willem Boshoff | Joni Brenner | Marco Cianfenelli | Guy du Toit | Stephan Erasmus | Richard John Forbes | Gordon Froud | Kim Lieberman | Ledelle Moe | Marcus Neustetter | Lwandiso Njara | Brett Rubin | Joachim Schonfeldt | Johan Thom | Sophia van Wyk
Gallery MOMO Cape Town is proud to present (DON’T) LOOK BACK – a group sculpture exhibition, a collaboration between the NIROX Foundation and Gallery MOMO. The exhibition continues NIROX’s commitment to fostering the arts, particularly the development of three-dimensional work, and the artists across the country who have dedicated themselves to their discipline. (DON’T) LOOK BACK explores the practice of constructing form through the medium of sculpture. Featuring work by seventeen sculptors affiliated to NIROX, the exhibition offers a sampling of recent South African sculpture.
Foundations and Futures: The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios is thrilled to announce its 25th Anniversary Exhibition
Posted in News, tagged African art, Arash Hanaei, Art, Asanda Kupa, Blake Daniels, Carlo Galli, David Koloane, Diana Hyslop, Gordon Froud, Jarrett Erasmus, Johan Thom, Johannesburg, Marie Fricout, Mary Wafer, Pat Mautloa, Paul Emmanuel, Sharlene Khan, Shenaz Mahomed, The Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Tracey Rose, Triangle Trust, Usha Seejarim on October 8, 2016|

The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios is thrilled to announce its 25th Anniversary Exhibition entitled
FOUNDATIONS AND FUTURES
When: Opening on Friday, 28th October, 2016
Time: 6pm
Where: Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, 10 Mahlatini Street, Fordsburg
The Exhibition Foundations and Futures runs from
Monday 31 October until Saturday 10 December 2016,
Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
For 25 years the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios has been more than just a building and studio space. It has provided the foundation of many an artist’s career. Built out of the dream for artists from different backgrounds to be able to work together, the Bag Factory is a community that continuously supports and builds on its ethos of “the community studio space where artists practice is held in the highest regard and experimentation is encouraged.”
Over 25 years these foundations have been strengthened by the artists and staff who have poured their passion and efforts into the community and ethos of the space. In recent years the Bag Factory has worked hard to encourage a younger community of artists to engage in our programming ensuring that the life-blood of the space – interaction and development – continues to pump.
The community has played host to artists such as Helen Sebidi, Deborah Bell, Sam Nhlengethwa, Penny Siopsis, Benon Lutaaya, Blessing Ngobeni, Neo Matloga, Dinkies Sithole, Kay Hassan and many, many more. We have created an international following through our visiting artists programme and a consistent space for art loving members of the public to experience outstanding work.
While many things have changed over the past 25 years, 3 have more or less stayed the same.
1. After 25 years, artists David Koloane and Pat Mautloa still have studio space at the Bag Factory.
2. We remain in the hessian bag factory in Newtown that gave its name to the organisation.
3. We have never changed our creative community ethos.
The organization without any of these would not exist and each is linked.
On Friday 28th October 2016, the Bag Factory begins the celebration of an incredible 25 years with an exhibition entitled Foundations and Futures. Since the inception of the organization, over 300 artists have been through the space either as studio artists, visiting artists, participants in workshops and exhibitions and as winners of award programmes. All of them have been influenced and have influenced the space in many rich and diverse ways.
Foundations and Futures is an acknowledgment of these influences and the celebration of a space that not only supports the artistic community but is driven by it. The programme continues with artist performances, conversations and master classes through the months of October, November and December 2016.
Artists participating in the exhibition Foundations and Futures opening on Friday 28 October 2016 include Blake Daniels; Paul Emmanuel; Jarrett Erasmus; Marie Fricout; Gordon Froud; Carlo Galli; Arash Hanaei; Diana Hyslop; Sharlene Khan; Asanda Kupa; David Koloane; Shenaz Mahomed; Pat Mautloa; Tshepo Mosopa; Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi; Tracey Rose; Usha Seejarim; Lerato Shadi; Johan Thom; Stijn van Dorpe and Mary Wafer
Join us on this momentous occasion to celebrate 25 years of outstanding artists, art and art enthusiasts.
Prints from The Animal Series @ The Collectors Room, Fried Contemporary, 24 Oct – 21 Nov 2015
Posted in News, tagged Art, Bevan de Wet, contemporary African art, David Koloane, Diane Victor, Elephant Skull, Elephant Skull Plate, Etching, Henry Moore, Johan Thom, Willem Boshoff on October 22, 2015|

Johan Thom & Willem Boshoff Elephant Peepsite, 2014. Etching using elephant skull with lines made up of alphabet beads on extruded acrylic super 220 x 127.5cm
Prints from The Animal Series
@ The Collectors Room, Fried Contemporary
Johan Thom with Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor, David Koloane and Bevan De Wet.
Opens Saturday 24 October @ 12 – 2pm
Concludes Saturday 21 November 2015 @ 14:00
Fried Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to present a body of work by Johan Thom created at the Nirox Foundation in 2014 and exhibited at its Project space in the Maboneng precinct, Johannesburg. The series of prints, titled: ‘Prints from the Animal Series’ is a series of etchings produced by Thom in collaboration with a number of well-known artists.
More info here: Fried Contemporary




