Date: 19/03/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: K Asmal: Launch of Daimler Chrysler Art Collection in SA Exhibition
ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE DAIMLER CHRYSLER ART COLLECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 2004 EXHIBITION, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, 19 March 2004
Programme Director
Minister for Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Director of the Daimler Chrysler Art Collection, Dr Renate Wiehager
Chairman of the Daimler Chrysler South Africa, Mr Christoph Kopk'e
Senior officials present here
Distinguished guests
Artists
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Dumelang, Goeiedag, Molweni, Good afternoon, Guten abend.
It is an honour and a pleasure to be with you on this occasion as we launch the Daimler Chrysler Art Collection in South Africa Exhibition of 2004. We come together for this event because people have been working together - Tirisano, as we say in the Department of Education - to pool the talents and resources of government, business, and creative artists in making something great happen.
The theme of this exhibition, "Celebrate South Africa," is certainly timely because we are celebrating this year our ten years of freedom and democracy. Over the past ten years, our government has been committed - as President Nelson Mandela said ten years ago and as President Thabo Mbeki reaffirmed this year - to the ongoing process of realising our human freedom and human fulfilment.
Freedom, of course, means many things. For us, it means freeing our people from the legacy of apartheid and all of the barriers, as well as the lingering damage, caused by that old regime. So, freedom means political freedom, under our Constitution. But it also means liberating our people from hunger and disease, from deprivation and lack, from unemployment and homelessness, and from any and all of the obstacles that were put in place by apartheid to limit human fulfilment.
We do not live, as the saying goes, by bread alone. Bread is necessary. We need more of it. I will get to fundraising in a moment, but I first want to say something about the spirit of art.
I have always been struck by the ways our people find to affirm their human dignity, creativity and spirit, even in the midst of deprivation. When I lived in Ireland, I often noticed as I walked through working-class neighbourhoods that there was some dirt and disorder. With the loss of hope, we often saw a lack of care in the simplest, most ordinary things, like laundry. In many instances, I saw bed linen hanging out on the washing lines was rather grey.
When I go amongst our townships in South Africa, however, I often see the most extraordinary care going into being clean in the midst of mud, to being dignified in the midst of deprivation. I see extraordinary creativity in creating order out of chaos. I see sheets, hanging out to dry, that are sparkling white.
Without forgetting the enormous challenges of living under such conditions, I just want to say that I am always impressed by the resilience of the human spirit, dignity and creativity amongst our people. This is creativity, using the most basic materials, which borders on art.
Certainly, this is ordinary, everyday heroism. Perhaps it is also art, the art of living. As the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, tells us, the best poetry merges the timeless and the timely, the eternal and the ordinary. Our creativity in South Africa is based on merging what we have in our hands with what we have in our hearts, merging our history with our hope. Our lives and our art, when we are at our best, bring together the timely and the timeless, the ordinary and the eternal.
I do not claim to be an expert on art, but I am familiar with its potential. Art enables us to see the world not only as we think it is but also as it could be, should be, ought to be, might be-and as it really is. This multiplicity of vision in the arts is something that is also important for government and business, although we might call it "strategic planning" or "scenario planning" rather than artistic insight. Still, the artistic capacity for creative imagination and critical intervention is something we must cultivate.
This occasion, which brings together government, business and artists, is certainly unique. We have the Department of Education coming together with the Department of Arts and Culture in a common initiative. This bodes well for cooperation in government, especially in the range of departments that we call the Social Cluster. I believe we are finding new ways to work together in arts, culture, education, health, social development, sports, and other areas that are crucial for weaving together the threads that make up our social fabric.
We have the government coming together with business, with our generous sponsor and patron, Daimler Chrysler. This bodes well for the kinds of public-private partnerships that we need to develop in working together to achieve the goals of freedom and fulfilment that we all share. This initiative by Daimler Chrysler shows an impressive commitment to corporate citizenship. But it also shows that Daimler Chrysler is willing to take risks. Someone might say that by producing the Mercedes Benz, this company has already reached the pinnacle of art. But Daimler Chrysler is willing to risk its position in the artistic market by supporting new artists, including South African artists, whose work might actually eclipse the style and beauty of the Mercedes Benz.
So, as government and business have entered into partnership, we have also entered into a relationship with the world of art - the artists, the curators, the critics and the connoisseurs.
The world of art is a complex world. Art is not only in the eye of the beholder. It is in the hands of the artists, the care of the museums, the interpretative skills of the critics, and the hearts all lovers of art.
Speaking, now, on behalf of my department, I am excited by the possibilities of involving our young people in this complex world of art.
Through this initiative, their entry into the world of art will be made easier. They will be getting workbooks, which have been prepared in three of our South African languages, to help them engage the art. They will be getting help with transportation in being able to see the art. And they will be working with their teachers, who have been involved in workshops with educators and artists, in helping them understand the art.
None of this should suggest, however, that we are trying to make art easy. We are doing some hard work. By entering the world of art, we are going to meet many things we do not understand. But if we already understood it, we would learn nothing. Understanding only begins with not understanding. Learning only begins by encountering things that we do not already understand.
We learn things we do not already know by looking at things we have never seen. We also learn new things by trying on new eyes. Art gives us new eyes and new ways of looking.
In other words, I would like to propose that this initiative in teaching and learning about art might actually be interesting. It might be an antidote for boredom in education.
We might be surprised by the results. The element of "surprise" is something that movies and television have manipulated. They are always "surprising" us in ways that are entirely predictable. That is boring.
But art can surprise us in ways that are truly surprising. That kind of surprise - which draws upon our most profound reflections and deepest feelings - is something worth celebrating.
As you know, this year we are celebrating ten years of freedom and democracy in our country.
Looking back over the past ten years, we know the challenges we have faced. We also know something about our accomplishments.
As Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry during the first five years of our democracy, I know what it means to deliver. We provided water for 2 million people. The newspapers applauded.
As Minister of Education during the last five years, I also know what it means to deliver. We involved 2 million people in adult literacy projects. The newspapers criticised.
So, we do not live in newspapers. We live in the real world. We live in the real world of making something out of the materials at hand.
Do not think, for a second, that our artists do not live in the real world. In the real world, they do work that is made by hands - inspired hands, perhaps - but hands that work with the same raw, ordinary materials that we work with. They also work with earth and water, bodies and minds, in the hope of making something good. They also work in the hope of making something great.
So, in celebrating South Africa, we also celebrate our artists - for the gifts they have given us from their hearts and minds, but also for their remarkable ability to transform the raw materials of our lives with their hands.
Speaking of hands - Let me take this opportunity to reach out my hand to Daimler Chrysler, in appreciation, and to all other corporate citizens who are sponsoring new initiatives in education, arts and culture. We need more, of course. We will always need more, because this kind of partnership between the public and private sectors is the lifeblood of our transformation.
So, in case I am not being clear, let me say that I am now fundraising. If we have any corporate citizens in the audience who - for whatever reasons - have not fulfilled their corporate responsibility, we can work together to find ways to help you sort all of that out. It will be good for government, good for business, and good for our country - South Africa - in which we all have an investment.
In conclusion: The theme of this exhibition, "Celebrate South Africa," is dear to my heart. My Ministry and the Department of Education have been actively involved in planning celebrations for our ten-year anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
On 31 March we are holding a celebration in Cape Town at the Centre for the Book - "Keeping Memory Alive, Shaping Our Future - at which we will remember our past and introduce a wide range of exciting new publications for teaching and learning about our history.
On another occasion, we will be conducting hearings on the damaging effects of apartheid education. Already, testimony has been coming in to the department from people who have been working to recover from the damage caused by education under apartheid.
As you must know, we were seriously damaged by apartheid education. Christian National Education - which was neither Christian, nor national, nor truly educational - contributed to the militarisation and polarisation of our society. Bantu Education, which was designed to cripple our people, left lingering wounds in our society.
All of our efforts must be directed towards recovering from the damage that was done in the name of education.
We have planned other events for this year, all designed to focus attention on our extraordinary challenges and achievements in emerging from the dark days of apartheid.
These are things we should never lose sight of.
As our artists help to clarify our vision, and our corporate citizens help by their social investments, those of us who bear the awesome responsibility of governance can only benefit from their insight and support.
This occasion, which brings together the best of our artistic creativity, corporate citizenship, and cooperation in government, can only be a sign of good things to come.
We salute our artists. We thank our sponsors. And we commit ourselves to being the best that we can be in being worthy of their trust in government.
I thank you all.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
19 March 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: K Asmal: Launch of Daimler Chrysler Art Collection in SA Exhibition
ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE DAIMLER CHRYSLER ART COLLECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 2004 EXHIBITION, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, 19 March 2004
Programme Director
Minister for Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Director of the Daimler Chrysler Art Collection, Dr Renate Wiehager
Chairman of the Daimler Chrysler South Africa, Mr Christoph Kopk'e
Senior officials present here
Distinguished guests
Artists
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Dumelang, Goeiedag, Molweni, Good afternoon, Guten abend.
It is an honour and a pleasure to be with you on this occasion as we launch the Daimler Chrysler Art Collection in South Africa Exhibition of 2004. We come together for this event because people have been working together - Tirisano, as we say in the Department of Education - to pool the talents and resources of government, business, and creative artists in making something great happen.
The theme of this exhibition, "Celebrate South Africa," is certainly timely because we are celebrating this year our ten years of freedom and democracy. Over the past ten years, our government has been committed - as President Nelson Mandela said ten years ago and as President Thabo Mbeki reaffirmed this year - to the ongoing process of realising our human freedom and human fulfilment.
Freedom, of course, means many things. For us, it means freeing our people from the legacy of apartheid and all of the barriers, as well as the lingering damage, caused by that old regime. So, freedom means political freedom, under our Constitution. But it also means liberating our people from hunger and disease, from deprivation and lack, from unemployment and homelessness, and from any and all of the obstacles that were put in place by apartheid to limit human fulfilment.
We do not live, as the saying goes, by bread alone. Bread is necessary. We need more of it. I will get to fundraising in a moment, but I first want to say something about the spirit of art.
I have always been struck by the ways our people find to affirm their human dignity, creativity and spirit, even in the midst of deprivation. When I lived in Ireland, I often noticed as I walked through working-class neighbourhoods that there was some dirt and disorder. With the loss of hope, we often saw a lack of care in the simplest, most ordinary things, like laundry. In many instances, I saw bed linen hanging out on the washing lines was rather grey.
When I go amongst our townships in South Africa, however, I often see the most extraordinary care going into being clean in the midst of mud, to being dignified in the midst of deprivation. I see extraordinary creativity in creating order out of chaos. I see sheets, hanging out to dry, that are sparkling white.
Without forgetting the enormous challenges of living under such conditions, I just want to say that I am always impressed by the resilience of the human spirit, dignity and creativity amongst our people. This is creativity, using the most basic materials, which borders on art.
Certainly, this is ordinary, everyday heroism. Perhaps it is also art, the art of living. As the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, tells us, the best poetry merges the timeless and the timely, the eternal and the ordinary. Our creativity in South Africa is based on merging what we have in our hands with what we have in our hearts, merging our history with our hope. Our lives and our art, when we are at our best, bring together the timely and the timeless, the ordinary and the eternal.
I do not claim to be an expert on art, but I am familiar with its potential. Art enables us to see the world not only as we think it is but also as it could be, should be, ought to be, might be-and as it really is. This multiplicity of vision in the arts is something that is also important for government and business, although we might call it "strategic planning" or "scenario planning" rather than artistic insight. Still, the artistic capacity for creative imagination and critical intervention is something we must cultivate.
This occasion, which brings together government, business and artists, is certainly unique. We have the Department of Education coming together with the Department of Arts and Culture in a common initiative. This bodes well for cooperation in government, especially in the range of departments that we call the Social Cluster. I believe we are finding new ways to work together in arts, culture, education, health, social development, sports, and other areas that are crucial for weaving together the threads that make up our social fabric.
We have the government coming together with business, with our generous sponsor and patron, Daimler Chrysler. This bodes well for the kinds of public-private partnerships that we need to develop in working together to achieve the goals of freedom and fulfilment that we all share. This initiative by Daimler Chrysler shows an impressive commitment to corporate citizenship. But it also shows that Daimler Chrysler is willing to take risks. Someone might say that by producing the Mercedes Benz, this company has already reached the pinnacle of art. But Daimler Chrysler is willing to risk its position in the artistic market by supporting new artists, including South African artists, whose work might actually eclipse the style and beauty of the Mercedes Benz.
So, as government and business have entered into partnership, we have also entered into a relationship with the world of art - the artists, the curators, the critics and the connoisseurs.
The world of art is a complex world. Art is not only in the eye of the beholder. It is in the hands of the artists, the care of the museums, the interpretative skills of the critics, and the hearts all lovers of art.
Speaking, now, on behalf of my department, I am excited by the possibilities of involving our young people in this complex world of art.
Through this initiative, their entry into the world of art will be made easier. They will be getting workbooks, which have been prepared in three of our South African languages, to help them engage the art. They will be getting help with transportation in being able to see the art. And they will be working with their teachers, who have been involved in workshops with educators and artists, in helping them understand the art.
None of this should suggest, however, that we are trying to make art easy. We are doing some hard work. By entering the world of art, we are going to meet many things we do not understand. But if we already understood it, we would learn nothing. Understanding only begins with not understanding. Learning only begins by encountering things that we do not already understand.
We learn things we do not already know by looking at things we have never seen. We also learn new things by trying on new eyes. Art gives us new eyes and new ways of looking.
In other words, I would like to propose that this initiative in teaching and learning about art might actually be interesting. It might be an antidote for boredom in education.
We might be surprised by the results. The element of "surprise" is something that movies and television have manipulated. They are always "surprising" us in ways that are entirely predictable. That is boring.
But art can surprise us in ways that are truly surprising. That kind of surprise - which draws upon our most profound reflections and deepest feelings - is something worth celebrating.
As you know, this year we are celebrating ten years of freedom and democracy in our country.
Looking back over the past ten years, we know the challenges we have faced. We also know something about our accomplishments.
As Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry during the first five years of our democracy, I know what it means to deliver. We provided water for 2 million people. The newspapers applauded.
As Minister of Education during the last five years, I also know what it means to deliver. We involved 2 million people in adult literacy projects. The newspapers criticised.
So, we do not live in newspapers. We live in the real world. We live in the real world of making something out of the materials at hand.
Do not think, for a second, that our artists do not live in the real world. In the real world, they do work that is made by hands - inspired hands, perhaps - but hands that work with the same raw, ordinary materials that we work with. They also work with earth and water, bodies and minds, in the hope of making something good. They also work in the hope of making something great.
So, in celebrating South Africa, we also celebrate our artists - for the gifts they have given us from their hearts and minds, but also for their remarkable ability to transform the raw materials of our lives with their hands.
Speaking of hands - Let me take this opportunity to reach out my hand to Daimler Chrysler, in appreciation, and to all other corporate citizens who are sponsoring new initiatives in education, arts and culture. We need more, of course. We will always need more, because this kind of partnership between the public and private sectors is the lifeblood of our transformation.
So, in case I am not being clear, let me say that I am now fundraising. If we have any corporate citizens in the audience who - for whatever reasons - have not fulfilled their corporate responsibility, we can work together to find ways to help you sort all of that out. It will be good for government, good for business, and good for our country - South Africa - in which we all have an investment.
In conclusion: The theme of this exhibition, "Celebrate South Africa," is dear to my heart. My Ministry and the Department of Education have been actively involved in planning celebrations for our ten-year anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
On 31 March we are holding a celebration in Cape Town at the Centre for the Book - "Keeping Memory Alive, Shaping Our Future - at which we will remember our past and introduce a wide range of exciting new publications for teaching and learning about our history.
On another occasion, we will be conducting hearings on the damaging effects of apartheid education. Already, testimony has been coming in to the department from people who have been working to recover from the damage caused by education under apartheid.
As you must know, we were seriously damaged by apartheid education. Christian National Education - which was neither Christian, nor national, nor truly educational - contributed to the militarisation and polarisation of our society. Bantu Education, which was designed to cripple our people, left lingering wounds in our society.
All of our efforts must be directed towards recovering from the damage that was done in the name of education.
We have planned other events for this year, all designed to focus attention on our extraordinary challenges and achievements in emerging from the dark days of apartheid.
These are things we should never lose sight of.
As our artists help to clarify our vision, and our corporate citizens help by their social investments, those of us who bear the awesome responsibility of governance can only benefit from their insight and support.
This occasion, which brings together the best of our artistic creativity, corporate citizenship, and cooperation in government, can only be a sign of good things to come.
We salute our artists. We thank our sponsors. And we commit ourselves to being the best that we can be in being worthy of their trust in government.
I thank you all.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
19 March 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
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