Contributor: Robin Rhode (Artist)
Exhibition: Body as Sculpture
During an intimate walkthrough of Body as Sculpture, Robin Rhode led guests through a layered reflection on South African history, deep time, and the philosophical foundations of his practice. Moving between geological memory, indigenous knowledge systems, and contemporary art, Rhode framed the exhibition not simply as an act of making, but as an extended inquiry into history, perception, and meaning.
Rather than positioning the exhibition as a static presentation of objects, Rhode invited audiences into a living investigation, one rooted in the ancient landscapes of Southern Africa, and shaped by the belief that art is fundamentally a process of problem-solving.
Key reflections from the walkthrough included:
Art as question-solving:
For Rhode, the exhibition emerges from a sustained inquiry into history and understanding. “This exhibition is not only about art making; it’s about question solving.” His journey began with a desire to develop a deeper comprehension of African and South African art history, one that could not be answered through archives alone, but through immersion in landscape, time, and embodied research.
Deep time as origin:
Rhode introduced the concept of “deep time” as both a geological and philosophical framework. Referring to the region’s fossil record and early human history, he situated South African art within a continuum stretching back millions of years. “We are now in a region of South Africa that is referred to as deep time.” This expansive temporal perspective anchors the exhibition, reframing contemporary practice as part of a much older human narrative.
Rock art as the root of South African art history:
For Rhode, the genesis of South African art lies in Khoisan rock art. His engagement with ancient sites in the Cederberg Mountains reflects an attempt to commune with the spiritual and symbolic dimensions of these early works. “To understand South African art, I have to begin with the ancient rock art of the Khoisan people.” The photographs within the vitrine document these encounters, where the body becomes both sculptural form and research instrument.
Landscape as protagonist:
The exhibition positions the landscape not as backdrop, but as active collaborator. Through performance and physical interaction with rocks, Rhode explores how geological forms echo boats, animals, and vessels, suggesting a dialogue between human imagination and non-human ecosystems. In these encounters, rock becomes memory, container, and witness.
The Indigenous Codex:
Central to Rhode’s thinking is what he terms the “Indigenous Codex,” a non-human-centric framework through which nature, weather systems, and ecological forces are understood as interconnected and communicative. This worldview, rooted in indigenous epistemologies, allows for alternative ways of interpreting rain, lightning, mist, and water systems, and forms a philosophical foundation for his sculptural and performative gestures.
Indigenous knowledge as resistance and renewal:
Rhode traced historical narratives in which indigenous groups were believed to influence environmental systems, recalling stories of rain-making and ecological negotiation. These accounts, he suggested, offer powerful counterpoints to Western modernity, proposing a future in which indigenous knowledge systems reassert themselves as vital modes of understanding, rather than marginal traditions.
Stone as memory and potential:
Throughout the exhibition, stone functions as both material and metaphor. For Rhode, rock is “a container of geological time,” holding within it deep histories, latent energy, and spiritual resonance. His sculptural interventions introduce urban elements into this ancient matrix, creating tensions between permanence and immediacy, past and present.
Body as archive:
By performing with rocks, Rhode activates the body as a conduit between eras, ecosystems, and knowledge systems. The body becomes a site of translation, carrying ancestral memory into contemporary form, and reasserting presence within landscapes shaped by both human and non-human forces.
For visitors, Body as Sculpture unfolds as a meditation on origins, belonging, and continuity. It reframes art practice as a dialogue across time, where deep history, indigenous knowledge, and contemporary expression converge to reimagine what it means to see, to know, and to create within the South African context.
At its core, the exhibition proposes a quiet but radical shift: away from inherited Western frameworks, and toward a renewed engagement with indigenous cosmologies, where art becomes not only an object of contemplation, but a living method of understanding the world.