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Central Home for Artists

Joburg artists now have a space where they can work, live and display their work.
The first of 25 new studios, Goethe on Main, was launched in the new Arts on Main centre, a hub for arts enthusiasts in the Joburg inner city.
Last-century red-brown facebrick rubble has been transformed into a contemporary, cutting-edge complex of 5000 square metres on the eastern fringe of the city, between Troyeville and the Fashion District, sandwiched between Main and Fox Streets.
The buildings were originally used as a bonded liquor store and later as construction warehouses for DF Corlett Construction, according to developer Jonathan Liebmann. “We have retained all the original architectural features of the building,” he said.
A 273 square metre studio, Goethe on Main, will enable artists to “have ongoing exhibitions, video installations, workshops, and music,” says the Goethe Institut’s Dagmar Wittek. “It is a new experimental space across the genres – all projects are interactive and involve the area and the people living in it.”
Witteck said the idea behind this small space was to be able to “engage with South Africans and their realities at and in location where ‘real life’ for the majority actually happens – we don’t want to pursue an elitist, insular cultural approach located in the northern suburbs - we want to be accessible to people living in the city,” he says.
Witteck points out that the studios will be occupied by artists and photographers, such as world-renown artist William Kentridge, Pierre Crocquet and Mikhael Subotzky.
Two galleries, the Goodman Gallery and the Seippel Gallery will be up and running soon, and visitors can view the David Krut Publishing print shop in action.
Another project, Right on the Rim, will enable visitors to see the works of emerging South African artists and even see them at work.
“I’m excited about this space because of the creative energy of the artists working and living in one space,” says artist Colleen Alborough. “It will make visiting exhibitions easier, as a lot of artists will be within one area.”
For more information visit www.artsonmain.co.za
Derived from Jabulile Ngwenya’s story for The Star