Joburg Hot Spot: HAZARD Gallery

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo IMAGES HAZARD

HAZARD gallery is the latest addition to Johannesburg’s Maboneng Precinct.

Artist, curator and co-founder of the Edinburgh International Fashion Festival, Jonathan Freemantle, along with Daniel Liebmann, who has been part of the Maboneng Precinct urban regeneration project since its inception, founded the new space, which launched in May 2015. Together they run it with artist and curator Neil Nieuwoudt, who has worked with NIROXprojects, the gallery’s previous incarnation, since 2012.

Although the new space maintains its connection to NIROX, HAZARD is not just an art gallery. It is “an art, fashion and lifestyle space that encompasses a commercial art gallery and vibrant urban cultural hub in the heart of Johannesburg.” So you can expect to see projects that go beyond familiar exhibitions. In June, they hosted Bubblegum Club Nights, an evening that featured a pop-up shop, a fashion presentation, zines, live performances and a DJ set. Saturday 1 August will see them host a Street Food Festival.

Art exhibitions featuring some of the most interesting established and emerging local artists will still form the main offering at HAZARD. At their recent PROTEST exhibition, which explored artists whose work protests violence, silence and censorship, attendees were treated to the work of well known artists like Kudzanai Chiurai, Willem Boshoff and Gerald Machona. The current exhibition, Let X be, which opened on 16 July, features the work of Johannesburg artist, Frederick Clarke.

HAZARD is located at 264 Fox Street, Corner of Main and Berea, Arts on Main, Maboneng Precinct, Johannesburg. For more information, visit hzrd.co.za or email hazard.gallery@gmail.com.