Instagram story viewer> @stormjvr> Posts

stormjvr

@stormjvr

5.2K

followers

5051

following

art, dogs, plants

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

As I conclude my tenure as Interim Curatorial Director at the @javett_up , I reflect with gratitude on the opportunity to reconnect with the city of Tshwane and the broader Gauteng region.

Over the past (almost) two years, I have had the privilege of working alongside exceptional artists and immersing myself in the institution's rich collections. I am deeply indebted to my brilliant, dedicated colleagues for their collaborative spirit. Through teaching, research, and laying the groundwork for transdisciplinary (TD) praxis, I encountered inspiring thinkers across the @universityofpretoria

Curating exhibitions remains core to my work - I deeply value the language, possibilities, and transformative power of exhibition-making. Above all, our work is centered on people, and I have been continually moved by the warmth, curiosity, and engagement of our audiences.

I am immensely grateful for these experiences as I return to independent practice. More news soon!

#OneandtheMany #OrchardoftheImagination #WeDidntChoosetobeBornHere #ditšwatšhemong #StringTheory #PassageASong taken in The Javett Art Centre at UP by @stormjvr

259

36

12 days ago

Dear friends,

I am proud to share with you my first Museum solo-exhibition String Theory, opened last week at the @javett_up curated by @stormjvr

Thank you to everyone who came to the opening, and who has supported this process for the past 10 years.

At the heart of this exhibition is a working particle physics experiment as art installation. Whenever a cosmic ray strikes the atmosphere above the installation, the strings of my instruments begin to vibrate through electromagnetic fields.

Although there is some heavy science behind this exhibition, really it’s about expanding our awareness to the lost and forgotten songs of the universe.

Not just invisible cosmic energies, but lost ancestral languages, knowledges, histories and stories that constellate our lives on earth and give meaning to what it means to be human.

I’ve always understood art in the spirit of the Greek “Techne”, the root word of “Technology” meaning art or craft. So by definition Technology means knowledge of art, knowledge of craft.

Indeed when traced backwards through time our most advanced technologies of today stem from ancient art and craft traditions. Yet today the dominant voices in the development of technologies which have the greatest impact on human culture and society too often do not include artists.

I developed the works in this exhibition to function as spiritual technologies. I hope that those who get to experience this show are reminded of the essence of who we all are and our of our connection to each other, the planet and other sentient beings.

This project was intensely inspired by the history and spirit of Wayfinding, which has many parallels to how I practice and is currently being revived and pioneered by the Polynesian Voyaging society @hokuleacrew

This work is the culmination of my project “If Spacetime were a Canvas” started @artsatcern @cern with @prohelvetia @prohelvetia_johannesburg @defunctcontext

Self Portrait as a Nightsky (2026) - 24-hour Cosmic Ray exposure, jacquard binary weave, custom algorithmic encoding, hair and other collected objects, copper sitar string, overtone flute

150 x 300cm
Special Edition 1/3 in Darkstar Tapestry series

Clos taken in The Javett Art Centre at UP by @stormjvr

140

3

19 days ago

The Right To Play
@ke_eilwe
@thakgatso_official
@liamkriedemann_
@nsovvovo8
@stormjvr
@pertunia.baloyi
📷 @kosmothestarkid by @stormjvr

141

4

25 days ago

MEET Abrie Fourie (b. 1969, Pretoria, South Africa), an artist, curator, educator, and publisher living and working between Berlin, Germany, and Richmond, South Africa.

Working across photography, sound, walking, and artist publications, his practice explores the relationship between landscape, memory, listening, and the social and political histories embedded in place.

For more than three decades, @abraham_hercules_fourie has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museum for African Art, New York; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Johannesburg Art Gallery; University of Bayreuth; and Galerie Wedding, Berlin. His work has been included in major international exhibitions such as documenta 14, the Bamako Biennale of Photography, the Hamburg Triennial of Photography, and, most recently, The Tirailleur, Trials and Tribulations (2026), curated by Paz Guevara and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin.

His latest initiatives merge imagery, audio, walking, alongside archival inquiry to probe the intersections of environment, memory, and sense of place. This can be experienced in the exhibition 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚—𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜, where he collaborates with Akinbode Akinbiyi (UK/Nigeria) in exploring connections between photography, sound, and political imagination. The photographic exhibition showcases work captured during their residency in Burkina Faso in 2021, which coincided with a period of increasing political uncertainty that culminated in a military coup in January 2022.

𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚—𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜 opens on 17 September at Javett-UP. Visit us between Tuesday to Saturday and the last Sunday of every month (10:00am - 16:00pm) to view the exhibition. Bookings open on Webtickets.

#StringTheory #ComeToJavettUP #ArtistProfile by @stormjvr

109

4

a month ago

From 17 September, Javett-UP is proud to present 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚—𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜, a travelling, collaborative photographic exhibition by Berlin-based artists Akinbode Akinbiyi (UK/Nigeria) and Abrie Fourie (South Africa), whose work explores the connections between photography, sound, and political imagination.

Developed during a residency in Burkina Faso, West Africa, in 2021, the body of work emerged from the photographers’ movements in the streets of the capital Ouagadougou and the surrounding landscapes of Oubritenga Province during a period of growing political uncertainty in the country.

With a shared investigation into place, memory, and listening, both artists work independently yet in conversation with one another to capture the visual and acoustic landscapes they find themselves in. Their photographs turn to the quieter details of daily life, revealing the everyday rhythms that shape the environments they pass through, evoking traces of cultural memory, the enduring legacy of Thomas Sankara, and collective histories that continue to resonate today.

Visit us between Tuesday to Saturday and the last Sunday of every month (10:00am - 16:00pm) to view the exhibition. Bookings open on Webtickets

Artworks on poster:

𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦
𝘋𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘶, 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘰
2022
𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵

𝘈𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘈𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘪𝘺𝘪
𝘔é𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘢, 𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘖𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘰𝘶, 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘰
2021
𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵

#PassageaSong #CometoJavettUP by @stormjvr

72

0

a month ago

Javett-UP is excited to announce 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙮, a solo exhibition by artist and cosmo-technologist, Kamil Adam Hassim, opening this September.

Kamil’s practice operates at the intersection of art, frontier science, and indigenous knowledge systems. His work investigates how different cultural and technological frameworks produce different realities and the social, technological, and spiritual possibilities they offer.

At the heart of the exhibition is 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙮, a working particle detector driven by a mythological family of string instruments known as the Sutras. Designed to reconnect audiences with lost ancestral languages and reawaken the forgotten voices and songs of the universe, the instrument responds to cosmic rays- ancient beams of energy from outer space that constantly bombard the earth.

Through science, mythology, sound, and technology, 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙮 becomes an extension of our senses, a thread of connecting us to ancient cosmic voices that continue to resonate all around us.

𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙮 is curated by our Interim Curatorial Director Storm Janse van Rensburg and Javett-UP’s curatorial team.

Visit between Tuesday to Saturday and the last Sunday of every month (10:00am - 16:00pm) to view the exhibition. Bookings open on Webtickets.

#StringTheory #ComeToJavettUP by @stormjvr

163

4

a month ago

I’m beyond excited to share that Hakili has been nominated for the High Line Plinth in New York! ✨🍃

You can help decide what the seventh and eighth High Line Plinth commissions will be in 2029 and 2030 by submitting your choice here: https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/theresa-traore-dahlberg/ (link also in bio).

The Plinth was inaugurated with Simone Leigh’s Brick House in 2019 and has since featured works by Sam Durant, Pamela Rosenkranz, Iván Argote, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen.

You can find more information about all proposals via the link in my bio. 💫💫

@highlinenyc #thehighlinenewyork
3D model by @johan_toorell and @bruto_studio . Special thanks to @stormjvr 🍃 by @stormjvr

825

152

3 months ago

𝙒𝙚 𝘿𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚 (2020 - ongoing) is a body of work by Thero Makepe (b. 1996, Botswana) exploring Botswana and South Africa’s socio-political fabric through a personal lens. Through staged portraiture, documentary images, personal and public archival materials and re-enactments, @theromakepe researches, uncovers and weaves personal family stories with national histories.

In 1958, his grandfather, Hippolytus Mothopeng, fled South Africa to escape racist Apartheid law. He went to Botswana, a far more peaceful country under British protection that eventually achieved independence in 1966. He worked as a town clerk in Francistown and Gaborone and as a hobbyist jazz musician.

In contrast, his grandfather’s uncle, Zephaniah Mothopeng, a teacher by profession, became an activist and joined the Pan-African Congress of Azania (PAC), eventually becoming the president of this political party. As a prominent leader of the struggle against Apartheid, Mothopeng served two separate jail sentences on Robben Island, the latter in 1979 for threatening to overthrow the government, for which he was sentenced to 15 years.

𝙒𝙚 𝘿𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚 is curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg ( @stormjvr ) and Thero Mapeke. The exhibition remains on view at Javett-UP until February 2027.

Read more on our website (link in bio) by @stormjvr

177

4

4 months ago

#wedidntchoosetobebornhere by @theromakepe opened in May @javett_up - the result of many conversations with Thero, since we met in 2021. So delighted it could happen and that we could bring the project closer to the families and relations that it holds. Thank you to Thero, his amazing family, and @oeuvre.projects for the support.

Our journey continues!

📷 @tatendachidora taken in The Javett Art Centre at UP by @stormjvr

284

13

4 months ago

Javett-UP is proud to present ‘We Didn’t Choose to be Born Here’ (2020 - ongoing) by Thero Makepe (@theromakepe) (b. 1996, Botswana).

The exhibition explores Botswana and South Africa’s socio-political fabric through a personal lens. Through staged portraiture, documentary images, personal and public archival materials and re-enactments, Makepe researches, uncovers and weaves personal family stories with national histories. A first iteration of ‘We Didn’t Choose to be Born Here’ was shown at Lemkus Gallery, Cape Town in February 2025. This iteration is the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition. His first monograph, published by the PHMuseum in Italy, will be released in 2026.

Curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg (@stormjvr), the exhibition opens 15 May 2026 and runs until 13 February 2027.

🗓️ Mark your calendars! Javett-UP is open Tuesday to Saturday (10:00–17:00, last entry at 16:00) and the last Sunday of every month.

#ComeToJavettUP #NewExhibition #TheroMakepe taken in The Javett Art Centre at UP by @stormjvr

316

46

5 months ago

Karoo road trip 🤍 by @stormjvr

72

4

6 months ago

A night to remember!

On Tuesday, we welcomed guests to the opening of two compelling new exhibitions: 𝙊𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝘼𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙧𝙩 and 𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜, a powerful solo installation by Tshwane-based artist Cow Mash.

What an evening of art, dialogue, and shared imagination. Thank you to all friends and colleagues who joined us in celebrating these remarkable exhibitions.
Our special thanks go to the organisations and individuals who made these exhibitions possible, and who joined us on the evening. This includes Australian High Commissioner H.E. Ms Tegan Brink ; Maggie Loubser from @universityofpretoria ’s Heritage Conservation Programme; Sally MacRoberts and colleagues from The Brenthurst Library; and of course, our guest of honour, @cow.mash

𝙊𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 is made possible with the support of Australian High Commission South Africa @auhcsouthafrica

To experience the exhibitions, visit between Tuesday and Saturday, and on the last Sunday of every month, from 10:00–16:00.
#TheTowerReimagined #ComeToJavettUP by @stormjvr

289

4

7 months ago