LIZA GROBLER

(b. 1974 Cape Town, South Africa)

‘Reality is always shifting and, as an attempt to make sense of it, so am I.’ – Liza Grobler

Through her participatory environments, Liza Grobler explores the interactions between the physical presence of the viewer, the space in which the work is experienced and the constructed form. Her installations explore the relationship between inner and outer landscape as an experiential rather than a conceptual space. The viewer is encouraged to travel with her into an imaginary world where everything is in flux and anything is possible. The objects, images and installations are constructed through collaboration, interaction and exchange. Gallery exhibitions, projects and interventions are integrated components that cross-reference one another. She has attended residencies in Norway, Finland, the United States, Mexico, Switzerland, Belgium and France. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private collections, including the Francis Greenburger Collection (USA), Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), Benetton Collection (Italy) and Nando's International (UK, Australia and USA). To date, she has had a number of acclaimed solo exhibitions and initiated numerous site-specific and collaborative interventions in South Africa and abroad. Grobler was the 2022 Winner of the Centro Luigi Di Sarro’s Video Art Award.  

 

QUALIFICATIONS

1999 Master’s Degree in Visual Arts (cum laude), Stellenbosch University, South Africa

1996 Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 An Aloe Swallowed My Drone, Rauma Art Museum, Finland

        An Elephant Stepped on My Phone, Everard Read Leeu Estate, Franschhoek

2023 Inkommers, laatkommers & laatlammers, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2022 The razor-sharp reasoning of tinted skies, Everard Read, Cape Town 

2021 Voices from Deelfontein, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

        Disobedient Landscapes, Uitstalling, Ghent, Belgium

2020 Voices from a Divided Fountain, site-specific installation at 139 Albert, Woodstock, in association Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019 a rainbow in my pocket, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018 En die groen gras groei daar om, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa  

2017 Ripples of Perception, CIRCA Gallery Johannesburg, South Africa 

        Maybe Time Can Fold, CIRCA Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

        Barbed Wire Paradise is exactly where you are, Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Unframed Section),

        with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2015 If you go down to the woods today, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Playlist, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2014 Blindfolded Line, Dancing Through Time, a national touring exhibition: Oliewenhuis Museum,

        Bloemfontein; KZNSA, Durban; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013 Interrupted Daydreams, Spier, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012 White Termite, Brundyn & Gonsalves, Cape Town, South Africa

2010 Visitor (The Square): a Solo Exhibition in Two Parts, iArt Wembley Project Space and iArt Gallery,

        Cape Town, South Africa

2009 Visitor, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

2007 9 Chicks & a Dick, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

2005 Groeisel #1, Outlet, Pretoria, South Africa

2004 Play with me, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

2003 I can't see the wood for the trees, so I'm taking a line for a very long walk, João Ferreira,

        Cape Town, South Africa

2002 Almost a Valentine, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, South Africa

2000 The garbage men wear gloves, Chelsea Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 25 Years Knysna Fine Art Anniversary Exhibition, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna  

        What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

        Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Collide, Featherstone Centre for the Arts, Massachusetts, USA

2022 Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021 Spring Show , Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

        Transitory Terrain, Everard Read, London, UK

        The side-effects of summer, Art Bureau Collective, Woodstock

        Paint it Black, curated by Harrie Siertsema for Aardklop Festival (2019), travelling to museums in South Africa

        including Pretoria Art Museum, currently at William Humphrey Museum in Kimberley

        Conversations, at Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town

        Transitory Terrain, Everard Read Galllery, Franschhoek

        The Troubled Archive, The Labyrinth Project, curated by Wayne Matthews and Alison Shaw, Johannesburg

2020 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        TINY, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

        On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

        STILL, Everard Read online exhibition, South Africa & UK

        Matereality, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

        Hard, but Soft, curated by Pierre le Riche, Glen Carlou, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2019 hybrid narratives, hybrid histories, U10 Art Space, Belgrade, Serbia

        Verf dit swart / Paint it Black, Modern Art Projects South Africa, Aardklop Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa

        Forward? Forward! Forward…., Stellenbosch University centenary exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa

        CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA

        Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2018 Buffer Zone, video art night, Platform Project Space, Vaasa, Finland

        Common Threads, international textile exhibition, 99 Juta, Johannesburg, South Africa

        FLUX, Free State Festival, Bloemfontein, South Africa

        In the Forest of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Winter Show, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

        100, AIUD, Romania

        INC Art Collection Celebrate 10 years, Haitian American Museum of Chicago, Chicago, USA

        Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017-8 Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo, MAPSA Richmond and Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Romulus Rebus: Imaging Empires, Priest Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

        African Abstraction, Everard Read, London, South Africa

        SocialFabrics SA, finissage Cape Town, South Africa

2016 Coriolis Effect: Migration and Memory, KHOJ Studios, New Delhi

        Women’s work, South African National Gallery, curated by Ernestine White Town, Cape Town, South Africa

        Winter Collection, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        The Space Between/The Noise Behind, a two person show with Norman O'Flynn, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa

        Ímago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection', New York, USA.

        Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France

        Den Fair, with Otomys Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

2015 ADDIS Video Art Festival, Ethiopia

        San Juanita Project: Re-examining borders, Haitian American Museum of Chicago, Chicago, USA

        Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Ímago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy

        Nando's Rites and Duties, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Decor-Z, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa

        Constructions, GRID International Photography Biennial, Cape Town, South Africa

        Empire, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

        Forever Now, at MOMA FOMA, New Media Festival, Tasmania

1:54 African Art Fair, work in association Qubeka Bead Studio, Spier Arts Trust, London, UK 

        Turbine Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2014 Winter Sculpture Show, Nirox Foundation, Krugersdorp, South Africa

        Open Studios at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

        International Union of Architecture World Congress, Durban, South Africa

2013 5 Years in Print, Warren Editions, Cape Town, South Africa
        Chance favours the Connected Mind, with Barbara Wildenboer, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong

        Stellenbosch Revisited, co-curated with Marna Hattingh for Die Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012 Tjorts/Cheers! drawings after a poem by Danie Marais, co-curated with Marna Hattingh, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

        Johannesburg Art Fair, Brundyn+, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011 Alptraum, Travelling drawing exhibition: Berlin, Los Angeles, Cape Town, South Africa

        Open Books, iArt Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

        Collection 13, SMAC Art Gallery Cape Town, South Africa

2010 Divisions: Aspects of South African Art (1948-2010), SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

        The Menippean Uprising, curated by Pierre Fouché and Hentie van der Merwe, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

        Frans Masereel Centre Annual Printmaking Show, Kasterlee, Belgium

        Twenty Years of South African Sculpture, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Nirox Sculpture Park, South Africa

2009 Black: the antithesis of the fraudulent sensuality of culture's façade, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

        Warren Editions, Monotypes and etchings, at Curious, Whetstone and Frankley, Cape Town, South Africa

2008 The Bijou Burns Again, UCA Gallery, Observatory, South Africa

        Women in Craft, Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2007 Common Ground, Lönnstrom Contemporary Art Museum in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Rauma, Finland

        South African Art on Paper, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, Australia

        TACT, Artspace, Pretoria, South Africa

2006 STEEK, a two-person exhibition with Barend de Wet, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

        ROEM, curated by Sandra Hanekom, interactive sculptures for ‘Die Storm’, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

        Flesh! curated by Chris Diedericks, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

        the blank paper project as part of Cape 07, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

        Just like home in collaboration with Norman O’ Flynn, Solothurn, Switzerland

        2006 travelling exhibition, coordinated by Norman O’Flynn, Bell-Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town & Art on Paper,

        Johannesburg, South Africa

2005 Of Want and Desire, João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

        Cape Biennale at blank projects, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, Cape Town, South Africa

        The 5th International Florence Biennial for Contemporary Art, Fortezza da Basilica, Florence, Italy

        Synergy, Michaelis Collection contemporary beaded designs- a history of beads in Africa, Iziko Museum,

        Cape Town, South Africa

2004 The Art of Drawing, Durbanville Cultural Centre, Durbanville, South Africa

2002 Low Rider, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, USA

2000 Majority Rules, Free Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

        YEA-R 2000, Chelsea Gallery, Wynberg, South Africa

SELECTED SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS

2023 DROOM, with the ReWOLusie Crochet Project, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2022 Desert Dictionary, contributor, a project by Boris Baltschun. Richmond, South Africa

2020 Voices from a Divided Fountain, vacant industrial building in Woodstock, in association Everard Read Gallery

        Barbed Wire Paradise, die Woordfees, Stellenbosch

        Dance Dialogue, a series of responsive drawing and marimba performances with musician Magdalena de Vries,

        Woodstock, online and as part of Woordfees on KykNET TV

2018 Portal at a divided fountain, immersive installation in dialogue with percussionist Heinrich Kruse, RU, New York

        Rose Window, commissioned by the Spier Collection for the Material Gains exhibition, US Museum, Stellenbosch

        A place in the Sun; African Leaders Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2017 Seven Looms of Silence, commissioned by Trenery Group, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016 Barbed Wire Paradise, an immersive drawing, StudioGrob, Woodstock, South Africa

2015 Mexican Pink, Maravatio, Mexico

        Diary of a Nanosatellite video included in Forever Now - launch of the Golden Record into Deep Space

2014 Cape Town World Design Capital 'Accidental Art' Public artwork for Nando's on Kloof Street, South Africa

2013 Big Brother is Stunned, Woodstock Industrial Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

2012 From Mooi Uitsig to Mooiuitsig: an Artventure, commissioned by Lien Botha for Hangklip Art Week, South Africa

2010 Cocoon, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, Johannesburg, South Africa

        Imagination: for humans, The Laboratory for Recycled Revolutions, curated by Isa Suarez, Greatmore,

        Cape Town, South Africa, Johannesburg Art Fair, SMAC, Johannesburg, South Africa

2009 The 1-day Residency project in conjunction with ‘Visitor’ with 14 visiting artists, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

        Gift, a picnic and lace making performance with Pierre Fouché, Cape Town, South Africa

2007 Afrikan Tähti/ Star of Africa - public intervention after a Finnish board game, in collaboration Jeanne Hoffman, Rauma, Finland

        C-Units, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Big Bay, South Africa

        Icarus project, in collaboration with Norman O’ Flynn, Cape Town, South Africa

2006 Soft Rock Project, Sunset Beach, Cape Town, South Africa

        Teardrop Project, Solothurn, Switzerland, South Africa

         Heritage Cache, a site-specific group project coordinated by Cobus van Bosch and Arlene Amaler-Raviv, Cape Town, South Africa

2005 Groeisel no. 2, a crocheting performance and installation at the Aardklop Arts Festival, curated by Abrie Fourie, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2004 D.I.E.N.S. in collaboration Pierre Fouché, Norman O’Flynn & Johan Thom, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2003 Excess: Proudly South African, in collaboration with Jesus Macarena-Avila, Cape Town, South Africa

2002 Momentary Monument, in collaboration with art students, Rauma, Finland 

        Music Concrete, YDEsire, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, the Cape of Good Hope Castle, Cape Town, South Africa

        Fantastic Rubbish, a mixed media installation, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa

2001 R.I.P, in collaboration with Jeanne Hoffman, Durbanville, South Africa

        Forest Cross, Dalsãsen forest, Norway

1999 Oos Wes, Tuis Bes, curated by Mark Coetzee and Leze Hugo, Oudtshoorn Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

2024 Shortlisted for Fiësta Award, best Visual Art contribution 

2023 Best Visual Arts Contribution, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2022 Winner, Video Art Award, Centro Luigi Di Sarro, Rome, Italy

2018 Residency Unlimited, New York, New York

2017 Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo; project coordinator and collaborator

2016 Laureate of AIR African Centre Residency, Khoj International Artists' Association, New Delhi, India

2015 Nominated for Helgaard Steyn National Award for contemporary painting

        Short-listed for Headlands Centre Residency, San Francisco

        Residency at Guapamacátaro Center for Art & Ecology, Maravatio, Mexico

        Site-specific commission for Nando's US, Chicago

        Social Fabric SA Residency in Port Elizabeth, SAMIL

2014 Selected Artist for World Design Capital Cape Town, project #522 for public art

        Cité des Arts Residency, Paris

2013 Shortlisted for Woordfees Visual Arts Award, Stellenbosch

2010 ABSA Atelier top 100 (also 2001, -5, -6, -8. -9)

2009 Frans Masereel Printmaking Residency, Kastelee, Belgium

2006 Pro-Helvetia Residency, Altes Spital, Solothurn, Switzerland

        Short-listed for Commonwealth Arts and Craft Award

2005 Selected for AVA Public Sculpture Competition

        Selected for 3rd Brett Kebble Art Competition

2004 ARTOMI International Artists' Residency, Hudson, New York, USA

2003-4 Artist-in-residence, Greatmore Art Studios, Cape Town

2002 Rauma Artists' in Residence, Finland

2001 Recipient of UNESCO Ashberg Bursary: Nordic Artists' Centre Dale, Norway

 

SELECTED PANELS, FORUMS, TEACHING, CURATION

2020   Selection panel for Joburg Fringe, Johannesburg

2019   ‘Forward’ round table discussion, art and the future of education, Stellenbosch University Museum

2018 Themes: Making, guest speaker, performance lecture for Iziko Museums, South Africa

2017  Women’s work, public discussion panel, Iziko National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2015 *imagetext* forum, Department of Visual Arts UP, Van Wouw Museum, Pretoria, South Africa

           Regional judge for Barclays National Art Competition, Cape Town, South Africa

2005-15 Opening speaker for numerous exhibitions, including GRADEX (2008, Stellenbosch University),

         CRISP Fresh Talent Competition (2007, ArtB) and World Design Capital project #522 (2014), South Africa

2013-15 External examiner for postgraduate students: MPhil, MAFA and MFA –  Stellenbosch University & University of Cape Town, South Africa

2012 The Names We Give – conference, Gordon Institute for the Performing and Creative Arts, Cape Town, South Africa

2009-10 Third year Drawing Lecturer, Visual Arts Department, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

2008–13 Lecturer/coordinator for Representation 1, Architecture, Planning and the Built Environment, University of Cape Town, South Africa

2008 SASOL New Signatures Regional Adjudicator, Cape Town, South Africa

2007-8 Lecturer History of Fashion I-III Years, Haute Couture School of Fashion, Cape Town, South Africa

2006-09 Moderator, Visual Arts, College of Cape Town, South Africa

2006 External examiner, Diploma Dissertations, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Woodstock, South Africa

2005 Co-founder with Jonathan Garnham of Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Arica

2002-04 Art b. selection and managerial committee, Art b Gallery, Bellville, South Africa

2001, 09 Guest Lecturer: 1st year Visual Communication, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

 

COLLECTIONS

Work included in the following corporate collections: Hollard (Insurance), Nando's UK, Nando's US , Nando's SA, Spier (South Africa), Frans Masereel Centre (Belgium), Francis Greenberger Collection US, City of Cape Town,  Luciano Benetton Collection (Italy) and in private collections in South Africa, France, Switzerland, America, Mexico, Spain, Germany, England and Norway.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2023 never a full stop... , monograph published in association Everard Read Gallery for the Main Festival artist at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival

2022 M. Minnaar. Sy toor met weef, brei, vleg en toue, Die Burger, 24 May 2022.

2021 New Glass Review 41, p.59; Corning Museum of Glass, New York

2020 T. Leibrandt. Ghost in the Hotel: on James Webb, Guy Tillem and Liza Grobler 

2019 M. Krynauw. Moments, Movement and Memory, ARTTHROB, October 2019

2017 MAPSA. Smokey Signals from the Groot Karoo catalogue

2016 L. Grobler. ART AFRICA The Coriolis Effect: Migration, Memory and the 2016 Khoj International Artists’ Association, September 2016 

2016 J. Graham, SLOW MAGAZINE, edition 32 (p. 31-35) 2016

1. Jamal. ART AFRICA online 

2015 L. Grobler. ‘Mexican Pink’, contributing article for Art Africa magazine, September 2015

1. Jolly. ‘If you Go Down to The Wood Today’, Cape Times, 20 April 2015

2014 ‘Blindfolded Line, Dancing Through Time’, a limited-edition book on the work of Liza Grobler with contributions by Amanda Botha,

        Andrew Lamprecht and Jeanetta Blignaut, download: