Sculpting with fire: celebrating ephemerality at AfrikaBurn 2015 in the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa

Land art, and some installation art, is usually aimed at relatively temporarily manipulating the surface of the earth. AfrikaBurn takes place annually in the near-desert of the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa. It is a communal event unique to Africa, and manifests as a fleeting week-long series of interventions in the natural environment, partially aimed at creating and then actively destroying free-standing public sculptures, some of which are huge and intricate. AfrikaBurn gives any one of the thousands of participants an opportunity to be inspired on any scale to generate artworks that take into account a principle that no debris whatsoever is left behind on the surface of the earth after a week-long celebration of creative energies. Unlike, for instance, an artwork built on the edge of the Indian Ocean in the Eastern Cape, where rough tidal seas would ensure gradual destruction, at AfrikaBurn, the sacrificial method of choice is controlled rapid burning, under the direction of a specified firemaster. This paper seeks to unbundle some aspects of land and installation art in Southern Africa with specific reference to AfrikaBurn 2015 events and anti-fracking initiatives. This is within a context that takes into account recognition that even seemingly durable public sculptures are subject to change and may even physically disappear with the passing of time. Beeldhou met vuur: die viering van kortstondigheid by AfrikaBurn 2015 in die Tankwa Karoo, Suid-Afrika Landskapkuns, en sommige installasiekuns, se oogmerk is gewoonlik om op relatief tydelike wyse die oppervlak van die aarde te manipuleer. AfrikaBurn vind jaarliks in die semi-woestyngebied van die Tankwa Karoo plaas en manifisteer in 'n weeklange reeks intervensies in die natuurlik omgewing. Hierdie intervensies is gedeeltelik daarop gemik om vrystaande openbare beeldhouwerke - waarvan sommige enorm en ingewikkelde werke - te skep en dan aktief te vernietig. AfrikaBurn gee enige van die duisende deelnemers 'n geleentheid om op enige skaal kunswerke te genereer wat die beginsel dat geen oorblyfsels van enige aard agtergelaat word na 'n weeklange viering van kreatiewe energie in gedagte hou. Anders as, byvoorbeeld, 'n kunswerk wat op die rand van die Indiese Oseaan in die Oos-Kaap gebou word en wat deur ruwe getye vernietig sal word, is die offerandelike metode wat gekies word die van snelle verbranding onder die beheer van 'n gespesifiseerde brandmeester. Hierdie artikel proog om sommige van die aspekte van landskap- en installasiekuns in Suidelike Afrika, met spesifieke verwysing na die AfrikaBurn 2015 geleenthede en anti-fracking inisiatiewe, te ontleed. Dit vind plaas binne 'n konteks wat in rekening hou dat skynbaar duursame openbare beeldhouwerke onderworpe is aan verandering en selfs oor tyd fisies mag verdwyn.