PhD candidate receives Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze

In honour of his contribution to performance art, curation and arts education in South Africa, University of Cape Town (UCT) PhD candidate Gavin Krastin has been awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze – a distinguished national honour presented by the president to esteemed citizens.

The Order of Ikhamanga is a prestigious honour awarded to South Africans who have excelled in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism and sport. It recognises exceptional achievements and dedication, which benefit the country. Krastin accepted his award from President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria on Tuesday, 19 May.

Krastin is currently completing his PhD in live art, interdisciplinary and public art in UCT’s Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. His work operates at the intersection of live art performance, curation, artistic research and arts education. He is also the founder of Live Art Arcade – a nomadic exhibition platform for early-career artists working in interdisciplinary live art with interests in durational and site-responsive work.

“Being honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze carries immense significance and is something I could never have imagined receiving when I first started making art,” Krastin said. “I am deeply humbled by this recognition and for the ways in which my academic, artistic and pedagogical work has been supported through institutional affiliations, collaborations and engagements over the years.”

Profoundly humbling, meaningful

Speaking to UCT News shortly before the official award announcement, Krastin said he is overwhelmed with gratitude that his work in the field has been recognised.

“Much of my work has existed within spaces that are experimental, marginal and often difficult to sustain. So, to have live art, performance and curation recognised in this way feels incredibly meaningful.”

But the award doesn’t belong solely to him. Instead, Krastin said, it reflects the work of many artists, collaborators, students, technicians and audiences who have shared spaces with him over the years, and who believe in the importance of art within the South African context. Further, he said, the award reaffirms that artistic practice can contribute meaningfully to cultural, intellectual and political conversations in society.

“I carry the honour with deep gratitude, but also with a strong sense of responsibility.”

“I carry the honour with deep gratitude, but also with a strong sense of responsibility toward the future of live art, arts education and younger generations of artists working under often difficult conditions,” he said.

The role of a curator

Touching on his PhD, Krastin explained that his research focuses on rethinking the role curators play in live art and performance. For most people, he noted, curators simply select artwork for exhibitions or organise events, but that’s not always the case. His research argues that curators play a much more active and creative role in live art. It also explores how curating functions as a form of artistic practice, where the curator helps to shape relationships, experiences, environments and encounters between artists, audiences and spaces.

“I am … continually inspired by the artists, students and communities I work alongside.”

“My thesis also engages with the idea of ‘worlding’ and asks how curatorial practices do not simply present art, but actively produce ways of being together, perceiving and relating to the world. And in this sense, curating becomes a process of creating conditions through which alternative social, spatial and imaginative possibilities can emerge,” Krastin said.

Throughout his career, his work has been inspired by the body and its relationship with the social, political, material and spatial worlds it moves through. He is particularly interested in how bodies carry memory, tension, vulnerability and resistance, and how performance can make these conditions viable. Much of his practice, he added, is driven by curiosity around how performance can create spaces for reflection, dialogue and critical engagement within contemporary society.

“I am particularly drawn to the ways in which live art can disrupt habitual ways of seeing and inviting audiences into encounters that are immediate, intimate and unpredictable. I am also continually inspired by the artists, students and communities I work alongside, which is why this award belongs to all of them too,” he said.