* 1980 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Works and lives in Johannesburg
South-African artist
Anthea Moys is an artist who turns the failure of art into her program – making it her principle of art. Her performances do not take place in galleries or art spaces, but mostly in public places such as construction sites, roads, parks, and sports grounds. The performances are not addressed to an elite art audience, but to ordinary people on the street. Accordingly, she recruits participants from passers-by, workers, and members of local clubs who usually don't have anything to do with art. The performances take the form of public games, often combined with a sports competition, and they tend to the absurd, as the result of the games is pretty obvious from the beginning: a spectacular failure.
Exhibited works
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Can you see me?, 2006. 2nd | A | Video work from a failed performance. Sierre, Switzerland, 2006. "The work can be seen as a game, which I played with another participant: the cameraman. The performances took place outside in public environments. During the process of making the work in this space, I picutred myself to be much, much larger in the frame. When I got back to the editing studio I saw that I was most definitely not large at all! At first I saw it as a failure due to miscommunication between us, but then I began to work with the actual ‘fabric’ of this miscommunication which resulted in this video piece, which became a celebration of this failure". (Anthea Moys) | |
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Waiting for a Horse, 2011. 2nd | A | Commissioned performance of "Horse" for an exhibition at Circa and Everard Read Galleries in 2011. "As I work site-specifically I wanted to work with the site where the galleries were situated. The performance Waiting for a Horse was executed over a 2 hour period on the pavement opposite the galleries, where passengers wait for hours for taxis to take them from the Northern Suburbs back to their homes. The performance was viewable from the roof deck of Circa gallery. I began waiting there at 6pm and was joined at 15-minute intervals by 6 other jockeys, where we all waited for a horse that never came". (Anthea Moys) | |
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Anthea Moys vs. The City of Grahamstown, 2013. 2nd | A | Working series: Various performances on deliberate failure in 2013. "After living in Grahamstown for 3 months learning all the skills I needed, I competed against local sports teams and associations in 6 contests: vs SABRE (South African Battle Re Enactments) vs DanceSport and Ta Mtshizz Dance Club, vs Pro Carmine and Victoria Girls Choir, vs Rhodes Chess Club, vs MARU Football Club and finally vs East Cape Shotokan Karate. I had never engaged with any of these activities before. Each contest was staged specific to its discipline. Each contest had judges or referees and the points were tallied at the end of each contest. The final score was 6/68 to Grahamstown". (Anthea Moys) | |
| Links Antheamoys.com | Further informations 1 | 2
Credits All reproductions are courtesy of the artist / © Anthea Moys | ||
