Michael MacGarry is an artist and filmmaker based in Johannesburg. His practice focuses on socio-political and economic narratives, particularly within the context of Africa, drawn through a post-humanist autobiographical mode. Exhibitions and screenings include Guggenheim Bilbao, TATE Modern, Zeitz MOCAA, Rencontres de Bamako, VideoBrasil, Film Festival Oberhausen, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Flaherty Seminar and Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival.



EDUCATION

2012 Fellow of Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA), University of Cape Town
2004 MFA (Distinction), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
2000 BFA (Cum Laude, Dean’s List), Technikon Natal, Durban
1999 IES Cheltenham and Gloucester College, U.K.

 

AWARDS | GRANTS | FELLOWSHIPS

Ampersand Foundation Fellowship, New York (2024)
Prince Claus Mobility Fund (2017)
New Museum, New York - IdeasCity Athens Fellowship (2016)
TURN Fund, German Federal Cultural Foundation (2016)
Jury Prize – Sign Awards, 14th International Zeichen der Nacht, Bangkok (2016)
Jury Prize – 19th Sesc_VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo (2015)
El Ray Award - Barcelona Film Festival (2015)
Jury Prize - K3 International Film Festival, Villach, Austria (2015)
Jury Prize – 13th International Festival Signes de Nuit, Paris (2015)
Huysmans Young African Filmmaker Award - Finalist (2015)
Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts Fellowship (2012)
Goethe Insitut, Johannesburg (2012)
Standard Bank Young Artist Award (2010)
South Design Awards - Finalist (2008)
MTN New Contemporaries Award - Finalist (2008)
Merit Scholarship, University of the Witwatersrand (2005)
National Arts Council Individual Artist Grant (2004)
Emma Smith Award - Finalist (2000)
Cum Laude and Dean’s Commendation (2000)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
Genre pictures
Everard Read, Cape Town

2021
SUPERSTRUCTURE
CIRCA, Johannesburg

2018
A coarse sorting of the readily available
CIRCA, Cape Town

We are now, what you once were.
CIRCA, Johannesburg

2017
SHOW NO PAIN - The collected film and video work of Michael MacGarry
Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg

2016
Between Rot and Genesis
Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg

2015
There's an Animal Inside
FNB JoburgArtFair

2012
The Other Half
STEVENSON, Cape Town

Future Proof
FNB JoburgArtFair

2011
Entertainment
STEVENSON, Johannesburg

END GAME
Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2010 (Visual Arts)
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg

2010
This is your world in which we grow, and we will grow to hate you.
STEVENSON, Johannesburg

2008
When enough people start saying the same thing.
Art Extra, Johannesburg

2004
Or Until the World Improves
The Premises Gallery, Johannesburg

2000
Drawing Show
Bartel Arts Trust, Durban

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022
Time is Going
Curated by Azu Nwagbogu
Biennale Dak'Art, Dakar, Senegal
19 May – 12 June 2022

God of War
OHSH Projects, London
11 June – 22 July 2022

2021
On African Urbanism(s)
Mellon Initiative in Architecture
Princeton University, New Jersey

White men can’t jump
P72 Projects x FNB Art Joburg

2020
Materiality
Curated by Emma Lewis
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town

Pentatonic Rubbernecking
GUS Gallery, Stellenbosch

Africa State of Mind
Curated by Ekow Eshun
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2019
In the belly of the whale
Transition, London

Africa State of Mind
Curated by Ekow Eshun
Impressions Gallery, Bradford, U.K.

Still here tomorrow to high five you yesterday
Co-curated by Precious Mhone and Gcotyelwa Mashiqa
Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town

2018
Rencontres Internationales de la photo de Fes, Morocco
Curated by Mohamed Thara

Africa State of Mind
Curated by Ekow Eshun
New Art Exchange (NAE), Nottingham, U.K.

Flow of Forms
Curated by Kerstin Pinther, Alexandra Weigand
Völkerkundemuseum, Hamburg

40th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2018
Clermont-Ferrand, France

The Land
Curated by Anthea Buys
Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway

Addis Video Art Festival
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2017
11th Rencontres de Bamako - African Biennale of Photography
Curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi
Bamako, Mali

Out from Under
Curated by Maori Karmael Holmes and Charlotte Ickes
The Flaherty, New York City

Another Antipodes
PS Art Space, Fremantle, Australia

Le Rencontres Internationales
Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Chinafrika
Co-curated by Jochen Becker
gfzk Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, Germany

Flow of Forms
Co-curated by Kerstin Pinther, Alexandra Weigand
Völkerkundemuseum, Hamburg, Germany

Utopia/Dystopia
Co-curated by João Laia, Susana Ventura, Pedro Gadanho
MAAT (Museum Art Architecture Technology) Lisbon, Portugal

18th CinemAfrica Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden

2016
South of the Sahara: Accelerated Urbanism in Africa
Curated by Suzanne Landau
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

Le Rencontres Internationales
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Gaîté Lyrique, Paris

When Tomorrow Comes
Curated by Michael Titlestad, Jacki McInnes, Jyoti Mistry
Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg
Michaelis Art Gallery, Cape Town

2015
19th SESC_VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo
Curated by Solange Farkas

The Film Will Always Be You
TATE Modern, London

Making Africa. A Continent of Contemporary Design
Curated by Okwui Enwezor and Amelie Klein
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

Africa: Architecture, Culture, Identity
Curated by Mathias Ussing Seeberg
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark

The Johannesburg Pavilion
During the 56th la Biennale di Venezia,Venice, Italy

Africa Salon
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

2014
Half-Devil Half-Child
Blank Projects, Cape Town

Pop Goes the Revolution
The New Church, Cape Town

2013
'MINE' – MC2a – MIGRATIONS CULTURELLES aquitaine afriques,
Bordeaux, France

Making Way: Contemporary Art from South Africa and China
Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg

2012
Impakt Festival 2012
CBKU, Utrecht, The Netherlands

2011
Contested Terrains
TATE Modern, London

ARS 11
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art
Helsinki, Finland

2010
Ampersand
Daimler Art Collection, Berlin

Life Less Ordinary: Performance and display in South African art
Ffotogallery, Cardiff

2009
Life Less Ordinary: Performance and display in South African art
Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham, U.K.

Why Not?
Kuckei + Kuckei, Berlin

FILM FESTIVALS & PROGRAMMES

40th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2018
Festival du Court au El Kef (FCKEF), Tunisia
Addis Video Art Festival, Addis Ababa 2018
18th CinemAfrica Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017
Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris & Berlin, 2017
62nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
27th Carthage Film Festival, Tunis, Tunisia
Film Africa 2016, Royal African Society, London
14th Afrika Film Festival, Cologne
Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris & Berlin, 2016
17th Lucania Film Festival, Pisticci, Italy 2016
shnit International Shortfilmfestival 2016
Architect Africa Film Festival, Johannesburg, 2016
14° Festival International Signes de Nuit, Paris, 2016
14th International Festival Zeichen der Nacht, Bangkok, 2016
14th International Festival Zeichen der Nacht, Berlin, 2016
14th International Festival Signes de Nuit, Tucumán, Argentina, 2016
24th Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival, Portugal 2016
Shnit International Shortfilm Festival 2015
The film will always be you, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Germany, 2015
The film will always be you, TATE Modern, London, 2015
International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2015
Baghdad International Film Festival (BIFF 2015), Iraq
Arquiteturas Film Festival, Lisboa 2015
Cairo Video Festival 2015, Egypt
13th International Festival Signes de Nuit, Paris 2015
K3 Internationales Filmfestival 2015 - Villach, Austria
Edinburgh Short Film Festival, 2015
20th Afrika Film Festival de Belgique (AFF), 2015
Spilt Film Festival, Croatia, 2015
Bergen International Film Festival, 2015
Cine Migrante, Buenos Aires, 2015
24th African, Asian and Latin America Film Festival (FCAAAL), Milan
B3 The Moving Image Biennial, Frankfurt am Main, 2015
Durban International Film Festival, 2015
Jozi Film Festival, Johannesburg, 2015
13th International Festival Signes de Nuit; Lisboa, Saarbrücken, Bangkok, 2015
Africa Salon, Yale University, New Haven, 2015
19th SESC_VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo, 2015
B3 The Moving Image Biennial, Frankfurt am Main, 2015

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tomás, A.; In the Skin of the City: Spatial Transformation in Luanda; Duke University Press; Durham, N.C.; 2022
Jamal, A.; Strange cargo: Essays on art; SKIRA; 2022
Eshun, E.; In the Black Fantastic; Thames & Hudson; London; 2022
Eshun, E.; Africa State of Mind; Thames & Hudson; London; 2019
MacGarry, M.; KILAMBA KIAXI; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2018
Aspire Art Auctioneers; Johannesburg Spring 2020 Catalogue; Johannesburg; 2020
Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Spring 2018 Catalogue; Johannesburg; 2018
Aspire Art Auctioneers; Johannesburg 2018 Catalogue; Johannesburg; 2018
MacGarry, M.: We are now, what you once were.; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2018
McInnes, J., Mistry, J., Titlestad, M. (eds.); When Tomorrow Comes (catalogue); Wits Art Museum; Johannesburg; 2016
Strauss & Co., Summer 2017 auction catalogue, Strauss & Co. Auctions, Johannesburg
Aspire Art Auctions 2017 catalogue, Aspire Auctions, Johannesburg
Aspire Art Auctions Spring 2016 catalogue, Aspire Auctions, Johannesburg
FNB JoburgArtFair catalogue; Artlogic; Johanessburg; 2015
Holm, M. J. & Kallehauge, M. M. (editors); Africa - Architecture, Culture, Identity; Louisiana Museum of Art; Humlebaek, Denmark; 2015
Enwezor, O. & Klein, A.; Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design; Vitra Design Museum; Weil am Rhein, Germany; 2015
Farkas, S.(ed.); 19th VideoBrasil catalogue; Sesc_Pompeia, Associação Cultural Videobrasil; São Paulo; 2015
Fourie, A.; The film will always be you; Revolver Publishing; Berlin; 2015
Carels, E.; International Film Festival catalogue; IFFR; Rotterdam; 2015
Simbao R.; The Art of Change. Perspectives on Transformation in South Africa; Third Text Vol. 27, No. 3, 299 - 302, 2013, Routledge
MacGarry, M.; Chocolate City; STEVENSON; Cape Town; 2012
MacGarry, M.; The Other Half; STEVENSON; Cape Town; 2012
Goniwe, T.; Space: Currencies in Contemporary African Art; Africa World Press; Pretoria; 2012
Design Indaba; Interactive Africa; Cape Town; August 2011; pp.46-52
MacGarry, M.; The Republic of Luanda; All Theory. No Practice. and STEVENSON; Cape Town; 2011
Anogwih, J., Greenberg K. (Ed.); Contested Terrains; TATE Modern; London; 2011
Metsola, S., Slitari, P., Vanhala, J.P. (Ed.); ARS11; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma; Helsinki; 2011
MacGarry, M.; END GAME - Standard Bank Young Artist Award catalogue; All Theory. No Practice.; Cape Town; 2010
Anders, P. and Krouse, M. (Ed.); Positions – Contemporary Artists in South Africa; Jacana; Johannesburg; 2010
Bosland, J. & Perryer, S. (Ed.); This is Our Time; STEVENSON; Cape Town; 20010
Douglas, A. (Ed.); A Life Less Ordinary – Performance and Display in South African Art; Djanogly Art Gallery; Nottingham, U.K.; 2009
Williamson, Sue; South African Art Now; HarperCollins; New York; 2009
Self/ Not Self; Brodie/Stevenson; Johannesburg; 2009
Joburg Art Fair Catalogue; Art Logic; Johannesburg; 2009
MacGarry, M.; Skill Set One – Graphic Design; David Krut Publishing; Johannesburg; 2008
Joburg Art Fair Catalogue; Art Logic; Johannesburg; 2008
When Enough People Start Saying the Same Thing; Art Extra & All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2008
MTN New Contemporaries; MTN Art Foundation; Johannesburg; 2008
The New Spell at David Krut Projects, New York; David Krut Publishing; Johannesburg; 2008
One Small Seed; One Small Seed; Cape Town; August 2008; pp. 106-110
Enjin; Undo Media; Johannesburg; 2008: pp. 12-15
Art South Africa; Bell-Roberts Publishing; Cape Town; Winter 2008; p. 96
Art South Africa; Bell-Roberts Publishing; Cape Town; Autumn 2008; pp. 78-79
Design Indaba; Interactive Africa; Cape Town; October 2008; pp. 68-71
Design Indaba; Interactive Africa; Cape Town; January 2008; pp. 44-48
MacGarry, M.; Buildings & Other Pastures; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2006
MacGarry, M.; The Economy of Modernity; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2005
MacGarry, M.; Or Until the World Improves; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2005
Design Indaba; Interactive Africa; Cape Town; October 2004; pp. 24-27
MacGarry, M.; Modern Amusement; All Theory. No Practice.; Johannesburg; 2004

WASP
Nylon, urethane, ivory
320 x 200 x 210 mm
2011
Private collection