Associação Cultural Videobrasil

Zimbabwe live and in color

Local expressions, travel apparel related to the woes of immigration, and maps of the African reality—which may be the outcome of plots comprised of world literature classics such as The Animal Farm, by George Orwell, money bills, or telephone books—are some of the ingredients used by the Zimbabwean artist Dan Halter. 

Halter offers a dive without floats, intermediaries, or translators into the multifaceted everyday life of the black continent, by means of rereadings of popular sayings such as “Ghana must go,” which he embroiders on one of the bags used by illegal immigrants in Nigeria in the installation Bags (2008); or by the picture HIV (Henry the Fourth), produced in collaboration with HIV-positive women from Cape Town, and which refers to the nickname white Zimbabweans use to allude to the AIDS virus. 

“I am not sure if I would define myself as an activist per se. I see myself as someone who highlights certain topics and leaves them open for the observer to decide how he wants to act on them, provided that he wants to,” says Halter. 

The video Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave), shown at the 16th International Electronic Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil in 2007, earned him one of the artistic residency prizes granted during the event. In alternating images, the video displays young white people who dance at an open-air rave party and black youths protesting, all to the sound of the 1990s dance-music hymnEverybody’s Free (to feel good), by the Zimbabwean Rozalla. The ironic editing is a response to “a personal reality” and also to “the radical distance between whites and blacks” that the artist has witnessed throughout his life. 

“Like many Zimbabweans, the means to make a living and follow a vocation are now outside the country. So his material and the focus of his work have started to expand, from within Zimbabwe to the experiences of Zimbabweans outside it,” writes South African artist and researcher Ralph Borland on Halter in his Essay.

Associação Cultural Videobrasil. "ff>>dossier 042>> Dan Halter". Available at: . São Paulo, April, 2009.

How has the political and social situation in Zimbabwe influenced your life and artistic proposal?

The situation in Zimbabwe is a very interesting one, and it has provided me with lots of material to work with. My family was attacked in the country in 2005, and ever since they have lived in Europe, in self-imposed exile. I would like to return to Zimbabwe to live there, as soon as the country’s situation improves. 

What is the story of Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave)?

In 1991, I attended the same school as John Miller, the brother of pop star Rozalla, when her omnipresent single, Everybody’s Free (to feel good), was released. It was surprising to see a Zimbabwean song at the top of international music charts. That was in the heyday of the rave scene, and Rozalla became known as “The queen of rave.” This was also the time when protests in South Africa were buzzing. In Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave) I combine some of those elements, as well as some events that took place afterwards, such as my experience going to large public rave parties in Europe and then in Zimbabwe. The video expresses a personal reality and also the radical distance between whites and blacks that I was experiencing. 

The video speaks of the distance between being black and white, rich and poor in Africa. Your object The Big Five is a purse that has the words “corruption,” “crime,” “poverty,” “AIDS,” and “racism” printed on it, against background images of the African fauna. How do you regard the continent and its greatest problems nowadays?

Many of the problems that Africa faces nowadays stem from the fact that historically, Africans have had their culture and identity stolen from them, were forced to live in poverty, and to rebel against their oppressors. In the case of Zimbabwe, that has ended only a short time ago, and the revolutionaries who fought against the old establishment are now part of the government. These are the people who had all of their rights taken; many were unjustly arrested. It is understandable that corruption and crime have emerged, they are only taking back what has been denied to them for a long time. To leave behind the guerrilla tactics destined to overthrow the previous government and get in a position of governing the country in a responsible manner, taking it forward, is a huge step. Entire generations of broad sectors of the population must be educated and then start to become responsible for good governance. The Big Five tackles symptoms of a problematic, much longer history. It brings together the negative ideas that are associated with Africa in the developed world; the “big five” are the cultural oddities that they take home with them. 

How has your experience in Zurich changed or deepened your understanding of African issues?

I believe that a large portion of the people living in developed countries have a very distorted view of Africa. Many people only look on the bad side: shocking images of poverty and suffering. There is much happiness in Africa as well. The experience of having lived in Europe sparked in me a fascination with Africa and my country of origin. I used to feel like an outsider in Switzerland. 

Do activism and art complement each other in your creations?

To a certain extent. I am not sure if I would define myself as an activist per se. I see myself as someone who highlights certain topics and leaves them open for the observer to decide how he wants to act on them, provided that he wants to. Thus, I do not regard myself as a political artist in the traditional sense, i.e., of someone who uses their work to force change. 

What projects are you developing now?

In the 10th Havana Biennial, I am going to present an installation comprised of plastic mesh bags. These bags have become omnipresent among refugees and immigrants worldwide. They are often named after some particular immigrant demography; in Nigeria, their nickname is “Ghana must go”; in the Caribbean, “Guyanese Samsonite”; in the United Kingdom, “Bangladeshi bags”; and they have recently become known in South Africa as “Zimbabwe bags.” I am trading new bags for used ones, with African storeowners, in several markets. In the installation, the bags are placed on the floor, so as to form an element of the electronic game Space Invader, an 8-bit retro motif that is only going to be visible from an aerial perspective. The work alludes to illegal aliens and the xenophobia that results from an invasion of foreigners, especially one of Zimbabweans in South Africa.

At age twenty, Dan Halter left his native Zimbabwe to study at the Schule für Gestaltung, in Zurich. The European experience strengthened the artist’s fascination with his continent of origin even further. After feeling like an outsider in Swiss territory, he concluded his artistic formation in South Africa, the country in which he decided to settle and work. In the self-imposed exile of the Zimbabwean and his family—he, in South Africa, his parents, in Europe—, the relation that Halter sustains with his country of birth is one ofcontinual observation, reflection, and criticism, a routine that feeds his projects. 

“The revolutionaries who fought against the old establishment are now part of the government. These are the people who had all of their rights taken; many were unjustly arrested. It is understandable that corruption and crime have emerged, they are only taking back what has been denied to them for a long time,” he says. 

But the exercise should not be understood as an incitation to political positioning: “Iam not sure if I would define myself as an activist per se,” says the artist, who does not see himself as “someone who uses their work to force change.” 

In 2006, Cape Town hosted Halter’s first solo exhibition. In the event, held at the João Ferreira contemporary art gallery, the artist showcased the multiplicity of resourcesthat characterizes his work: the use of myriad materials, such as coins, pills, stones,or a pool table, and of various languages and media, including video, installation, assemblage, performance, and object creation. 

The exhibition included Untitled (Zimbabwean Queen of Rave), a video selected for the 16th Videobrasil (2007) that earned Halter the Videobrasil Capacete Residency Prize. The piece was born out of adolescent memories combined with later experiences. “In 1991, I attended the same school as Rozalla’s brother when her omnipresent single, Everybody’s Free (to feel good), was released. It was surprising to see a Zimbabwean song at the top of international music charts,” he recollects. 

Some of the most recurring creations in Halter’s oeuvre—maps of his country made from yarn, book strips, and telephone books, in plots that involve expressions, aphorisms, and popular sayings—date back to 2005, with I don’t know what to believe anymore. 

The cartographical series continues in the following year. The map of Zimbabwe is coupled with name lists of inhabitants of the former British colony and new phrases: in More Fire, “Many millet grains do not make porridge”; in My Last Resort, “When days are dark, friends are few.” The saying “Never say never” features in the work by thesame name, including Zimbabwe currency bills sewn up; and “Yes Boss” appears in a homonymous work, comprised of bills from the former Rhodesia. 

In 2007 and 2008, the names of thousands of Londoners and the telephone book of the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare, the artist’s native city, provided the raw material for new cartographies, such as Space of Aids. 

The disease—which is estimated to affect 15 percent of the Zimbabwean population—is present in other recent creations. In HIV (Henry the Fourth), carriers of the virus who receive treatment at a clinic in Cape Town glue beads to a portrait of the British king whose name serves as a local nickname for the virus. Also in 2007, in safe as fuck, Halter showcases red laces and needles against a black background. 

In 2009, Halter represents Zimbabwe at the 10th Havana Biennial, presenting installations involving plastic bags used by illegal immigrants worldwide, in a reference to “illegal aliens and the xenophobia that results from an invasion of foreigners,” as he puts it.