Artists and Projects

James Webb (b. 1975) is a South African artist based in the United Kingdom, known for his site-specific interventions. His practice often consists of sound, found objects, and text, weaving in references of literature, film, and minimalist traditions.

By relocating objects, techniques, and modes of expression from their original contexts into new environments, Webb creates works that make us see everyday things in new ways and discover meanings we might otherwise have overlooked.

@theotherjameswebb

During the New Biennial for Art & Architecture in Botkyrka, 2014, James Webb presented his work Le Marché Oriental in the former waste disposal shaft in Fittja, a concrete structure previously used for waste management, now transformed into the public art installation Konstkuben.

Le Marché Oriental is a video installation of approximately three minutes. The work documents an artistic intervention inside the abandoned Oriental Plaza in District Six, Cape Town, a shopping centre from the apartheid era that was built to control trade for Muslims and other racialised merchants.

In the video, Sheikh Mogamat Moerat from the Zeenatul Islam Majid mosque is invited to perform the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, within the building’s empty interior during Ramadan 2008, just a few weeks before the structure was demolished to make way for luxury apartments.

The work creates an archive of a space that carries stories of segregation, resistance, and local identity, while also opening up reflections on global issues such as colonialism, migration, and cultural hybridity.

Often presented as a projection with immersive sound, the installation places the viewer in a space on the verge of disappearance and, through the call to prayer, confronts them with the political dimensions of history and a lost place.

Which bodies, cultures, and practices are allowed to take up space in the city,
and which are pushed aside?

Residence Botkyrka is supported by Botkyrkabyggen.