Tickets details
- R250 Strauss & Co Talk 2025-08-12
Strauss & Co Talk with Senior Art Specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg – Walter Battiss and his Fook(ing) Island – Some thoughts on the phenomenon
Tuesday, 18:00 to 20:00
12th August 2025
Walter Battiss and his Fook(ing) Island: Some thoughts on the phenomenon
Walter Battiss was obsessed with islands. Murray Schoonraad, expert on Battiss’s art, said he suffered from ‘isolamania’, describing Battiss’s love for the Greek islands and what later extended to all the other islands he visited in his lifetime.
More important, the invention of Fook Island, a conundrum of an imaginary/real island Battiss developed into a protracted piece of performance art extending over more than the last ten years of his life.
What is Fook? Where did it come from? What does it mean? What is its significance in the South African art world?
These are some of the questions Wilhelm van Rensburg, Senior Art Specialist and Head Curator at Strauss & Co will answer definitively/provisionally in this talk.
Refreshments are included for Strauss & Co Talks and Walkabouts. Please join us 30 minutes before scheduled time to enjoy it.