Dan Halter Open Studio

Visual Art

Cape Town, South Africa – originally from Harare, Zimbabwe

Residency at Rote Fabrik 09.07.2018 - 20.08.2018

The Social Contract vs The State of Nature (Switzerland and Zimbabwe)

The idea of a social contract dates back to early philosophy. Usually, the social contract concerns the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically mean that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority), in exchange for protection of their remaining rights.

While a social contract does exist in Zimbabwe, it feels broken in comparison with how well it seems to work in Switzerland. Charles W. Mills argues in his book The Racial Contract that racism is at the core of the “social contract," rather than racism being an unintended result attributed to the failings of imperfect men. Mills argues that the ideals of the social contract are at worst pure fiction or at best was intended only to apply to a specific group of people, namely members of the tribes of Europe and their genetic descendants. “…’when white people say ‘Justice,’ they mean ‘Just Us’.”

The state of nature is a concept of what life was like before civil society and the social contract came into being. This was a time before government. The only law was the "The law of the jungle" which meant "survival of the fittest". The Latin phrase bellum omnium contra omnes, meaning "the war of all against all" also describes this state.

Balancing rocks and rock balancing connect Zimbabwe and Switzerland. Zimbabwe is well known for its natural balancing rock formations. Balancing Rock formations are found throughout Zimbabwe. They were created when ancient granite intrusions were exposed to weathering, as softer rocks around them eroded. Also known as Balancing Rock kopjes, they are seen in the form of huge angular blocks of granite "piled on top of and beside one another, forming pillars and stacks, like a child's building blocks."

In Switzerland there is a tradition of rock balancing around Lake Zürich and in other picturesque settings. In the Alps there is also the old art of building Steinmännchen or cairns. These are an archaic form of signpost and are often used as trail markers. Around Lake Zürich rock balancers tend to see themselves as artists who create ephemeral artworks that appear to defy gravity.

During my residency here in Switzerland I have done a course in building Steinmännchen in Trubschachen and have worked with various artists who balance rocks at the Lake in Zürich. The final outcome of this project has taken the form of video, in which I show balancing rock formations tumbling down in slow-motion. I rented a high-speed camera of the Migros Kulturbüro which can shoot 180 frames per second which allowed the action to be slowed down significantly.

In this way I depict the relationship between The Social Contract vs The State of Nature (Switzerland and Zimbabwe) 2018. This work was made on the 1 August 2018, Swiss National Day. This was also the day violence erupted again in Zimbabwe after the parliamentary results to the first election after the removal of Robert Mugabe were announced. The army killed 6 protesters, ending a brief period of optimism where people had almost begun to trust in the army and government again.

In Zimbabwe the balancing rock formations there are still standing.

Dan Halter was born in Zimbabwe in 1977. In 2001 he graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BAFA. His solo exhibitions include Take Me to Your Leader 2006 (João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town), Mafuta Farm 2017 (Dillon + Lee, New York), Zimbabwean Traffic 2017 (Skövde Konstmuseet, Skövde, Sweden) and Patience Can Cook a Stone 2018 (Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Cape Town). Group shows include Energy Flash – The Rave Movement, M HKA (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen), the 16th and 17th VideoBrasil (São Paulo) in 2007 and 2011, the 10th Havana Biennale in 2009, the Dakar Biennale in 2010 and Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. He has been an artist in residence in Zürich, Cologne, Turin, Rio de Janeiro and Dufftown in Scotland.