b.: 27 Sept 1977, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
121 Ansteys Building, 59 Joubert Street, Johannesburg
ruthsacks@gmail.com, www.ruthsacks.net
Education:
2013-6: Doctoral Fellow, Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (SA)
2007: Master of Fine Art, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town (UCT), SA
1999: Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art, Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, SA
Selected Solo exhibitions:
2015: Open Endings, TTTT, Gent, Belgium
2013: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Seas, Museé Jules Verne, Amiens, France
2012: 2,000 Meters Above the Sea, Center for Historical Reenactments, Johannesburg, SA
2010: Double-Sided Accumulated, Extraspazio, Rome, Italy
2010: False Friends (book launch), Kunstverein, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2007: Open Studio (Cortex Athletico), Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux, France
2005: When the Inside Stays Inside, João Ferreira Fine Art, Cape Town, SA
Selected group exhibitions:
2015: A New Spirit in Booking, Museum Cultuur Strombeek, Gent, BE (curated by Luc Deryck)
2015: You love Me, You love Me Not, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Portugal (curated by Suzana Sousa
& Bruno Leitão)
2015: Future Visions in Time, Bayreuth Academy, DE (curated by Nadine Siegert & Storm Janse Van Rensberg)
2015: Monologues, Aardklop National Festival, Potchefstroom, SA (curated by Meredith Randall)
2014: Book art: Artist’s books, Gallery AOP, Johannesburg, SA
2014: Suspicious Minds, Iziko Annexe, Cape Town, South Africa (curated by Fabian Saptouw)
2014: Nesting Narratives, GoetheonMain, Johannesburg, SA
2013: !Kauru, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, SA (curated by Melissa Goba)
2013: Back and Forth, South London Gallery, London, UK (curated by Marie Canet)
2013: Regions A-G, Johannesburg City Library, Johannesburg, SA
2012: Evolution de l’Art, Kunstverein Milano, Milan, Italy (curated by Katia Anguelova)
2011: The Global Contemporary: Art Worlds After 1989, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (curated by Peter Weibel & Andrea Buddensieg) (cat)
2011: Don’t/Panic, Durban Art Gallery, SA (curated by Gabi Ncobo) (cat)
2011: Malleability Revisited, Expodium, Utrecht, the Netherlands (cat)
2009: Performa 09, produced by the Museum for African Art, New York, USA (cat)
2009: Dada South?, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA (curated by Kathryn Smith & Roger Van Wyk) (cat)
2009: Test Patterns, San Francisco Camerawork, San Francisco, US (curated by Leigh Illion)
2008: .ZA giovane arte dal Sudafrica, Palazzo de Papesse, Siena, Italy (cat)
2007: Luanda Pop_Check List, 52nd Venice Biennale, IT (curated by Fernando Alvim & Simon Njami)
2007: Fresh II, Grahamstown, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, SA (curated by Jay Pather)
2006: 1st Architecture, Art and Landscape Biennial of the Canaries, Los Lavaderos, Tenerife, SP (cat)
Published Artist Books:
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Seas, 2013, Garamond Press, Johannesburg
An Extended Alphabet, 2011, Expodium, Utrecht, the Netherlands
False Friends, 2010, Kunstverein Publishing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Artist Residencies:
2014: Osthang Project, Darmstadt, Germany
2014: Pro Helvetia SADC Residency, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
2013: International Residence at Récollets, Paris, France
2008-9: Higher Institute for Fine Art (HISK), Gent, Belgium
2007: Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Public Collections:
Johannesburg Art Gallery (Johannesburg, SA); Sindiko Dokolo Collection (Luanda, Angola)
SMS Contemporanea (Sienna, Italy); Southern African Foundation For Contemporary Art
(S.A.F.F.C.A.) (Johannesburg, SA); Stedelijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten (SMAK) (Gent, BE)
Selected Bibliography (solo projects):
Mecugni, A. 2010. ‘Ruth Sacks’: Art in America International Review 2010. p. 84
Iaceolla, A. 2010. ‘Ruth Sacks’: Exibart. Year XIX no 64. pp. 65
Williamson, S. 2009. ‘Ruth Sacks’: South African Art Now. Collins Design. pp 262-3
Vincent, C. 2008. ʻFake it till you make itʼ: Springerin. Band XIV Heft 2. pp. 42 – 45
Arnaudetm, D. 2007. ʻOpen Studioʼ: Art Press. No. 339. p. 87
OʼToole, S. 2007. ʻSo What Does Ruth Do Again?ʼ: Art South Africa. Vol. 5. Issue 4. p. 18.
Williamson, S. 2006. ‘Ruth Sacks, Artbio’: Artthrob.co.za [online]
Together with Simon Gush, Sacks is a facilitator of the artist-run project space, the Parking Gallery,
that was hosted by the Visual Arts Network of SA (VANSA) from 2012-3. She regularly gives courses
at Market Photo Workshop and the Wits School of Arts, in Johannesburg.
