Exhibitions

Labels by Siemon Allen

From 11 Feb 2013 to 30 Dec 2013

This exhibition displays a large architectural installation by the South African, US-based artist Siemon Allen, who pays tribute to the rich South African musical history.

In his installation Allen gathered together 5,000 photographs of more and less famous record labels, inserted in a chronological order into a suspended plastic curtain, which seem to converse with the museum’s own collection of historical artefacts. In his recent installations or "collection projects", Allen displays multiple historical artefacts, including stamps, newspapers and sampled sound works, in which he explores issues of identity and branding. He also created an extensive web-based archive, which documents South Africa’s audio history.