A note to a stranger is an exhibition that situates itself in the city of Cape Town. The exhibition seeks to introduce artworks into everyday life by placing them within the city. The subtle disturbance of everyday life through video work playing in a bar, a performance that starts and ends without a press release, an installation that moves through Cape Town’s leisure spaces and text-based artworks installed at bus stops is a way of introducing moments that have the ability to cause tiny ripples in the experience of everyday life. The exhibition is curated by Kabelo Malatsie for the Honours in Curatorship course at UCT, Michaelis School of Fine Art’s Centre for Curating the Archive.
Sometimes is a collaborative project between Marc Barben and Matthew King, who explore various means in using the web to facilitate exhibitions. For the project at hand, Sometimes invited artists to respond to the title of the exhibition in the form of text-based works. These were then translated from English into Xhosa and Afrikaans. The text was printed on A3 sized paper and pasted on bus stops across Cape Town CBD, Camps Bay and Sea Point. Participating artists are: Sebastian Borckenhagen, Geoffrey Brink, Chris van Eeden, Genna Gardini and Heather Jones. The use of translations allowed for a wider public reach. Cape Town’s erratic weather patterns obliged by forcing people to take shelter at various bus stops, thereby expanding the audience beyond only those who use public transport.
Below is Sebastian Borckenhagen’s installed text which has been translated into Xhosa and Afrikaans from English.
I sit at the back of the bus. There are passengers. The bus picks up the passengers from the side of the road. When they get close enough to where they want to be, they get off the bus. Children get off to go to school. Adults get off to go to work. One man on the bus chooses not to get off. He chooses to steer the bus. He sits at the front of the bus. He does not get off. He has gone around now, a few times, past the same places, but he chooses to not get off.
Ndihla emva ebhasini. Kukho abakhweli. Ibhasi icholo chola abakhweli ecaleni kwendlela. Xa sele besondele apho baya khona bayehla ebhasini. Abantwana behla besiya esikolweni. Ukanti abantu abandala bona behla besiya emsebenzini. Indoda enye ikhetha ukugehli ebhasini. Ikhetha ukuyiqhuba ibhasi. Ichopha ngaphambili ebhasini. Ayigxidiki. Sele ejikeleze akaninzi kwindawo efanayo, kodwa ukhethat uku ngehliki.
Ek sit agter in die bus. Daar is passasiers. Die bus laai die passasiers langs die pad op. Wanneer hulle naby genoeg kom aan die plek waar hulle wil wees, klim hulle van die bus af. Kinders klim af om skool toe te gaan. Grootmense klim af om werk toe te gaan. Een man op die bus verkies om nie af te klim nie. Hy verkies om die bus te stuur. Hy sit voor in die bus. Hy klim nie af nie. Hy het nou die roete voltooi, verskeie kere, verby dieselfde plekke, maar hy verkies om nie af te klim nie.
Sebastian Borckenhagen
is an artist active in Cape Town. He has been writing short fiction and drawing experimental comics since 2006. His 2011 book
The Man is Disappearing
was arguably a South African best-seller. For more information his website is