Samantha Masters (Stellenbosch University, South Africa): ‘From Greece and Rome to South Africa: Wim Botha and Classical Statuary’

A free, online lecture by Samantha Masters (Ancient Studies Department, Stellenbosch University, South Africa) hosted by the University of Vienna (“Eranos Vindobonensis”). Join the event via this access link at 5pm CET (4pm UTC) on Thursday 14 January.

In amongst a gallery of international artists that engage with classical antiquity, there are also several contemporary South African artists who use the ‘classical’ in various ways. Wim Botha is one such sculptor who positions himself within such an aesthetic and narrative tradition. His bronze sculpture, Prism 10, Dead Laocoön of 2014, references the iconic classical marble statue, the Dying Laocoön and Sons of about the 2nd century BC, in the Vatican Museum. This is a fascinating story of the reception of antiquity into our present day: the figure of the suffering Laocoön can still resonate for modern audiences more than 2000 years after the ‘original’ piece was born.