This workshop formed part of an exhibition of the same name, which included the work of artists Walter Oltmann, Usha Seejarim, Chris Soal, and Inga Somdyala. Both the exhibition and workshop transformed the Project Space into a site of making and experimentation, inviting audiences and participants alike to sit down and create their own artworks from the singular materials employed by each of the artists on show, namely aluminium wire, bottle-tops, toothpicks, clothes pegs, and handmade paper boats.

To this end, the four-day workshop with students from the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, and the University of the Witwatersrand invites participants to handle and experiment with the raw materials used, gaining a deeper understanding of their methodology, the labour involved, and the limitations and possibilities afforded by each material. It focused, in particular, on slow, repetitive processes, demonstrating the haptic nature of their work and the idea, often expressed by Oltmann, of “following the material”; a kind of call and response that is receptive to the material and the limitations and possibilities of working with different materials.

The workshop was made possible by Walter Oltmann, who was awarded the Edoardo Villa Extraordinary Award for Sculpture in 2023, empowering the continuing practice of the recipient by providing space and resources to research, produce, and exhibit new works.