Alternative Narratives and Aesthetics in South African Digital Art

Establishing a Digital Art Practice in South Africa Framed Through the Internet

Abstract

A small group of academics and artists have critically engaged with a digital arts practice in South Africa. It is a growing practice, developing and orienting voices and discourse for many artists, curators and spaces of practice. This article explores this digital arts practice through an engagement with the medium and post-Internet/contra-Internet, historically contextualising the field that has emerged in contemporary artistic practice over the past ten years in South Africa. To add more context specific platforms and spaces (traditional/formal, nontraditional/informal, and a combination thereof) and key exhibitions such as Refiguring Space, Post-Digital 2019/2020 special edition, and artists CUSS Group and NTU will be discussed to provide insight into the emerging digital arts practice in South Africa.