Kendell Geers

Kendell Geers (b. 1968) is a South African-born, Belgian artist Kendell Geers changed his date of birth to May 1968 in order to give birth to himself as a work of art. Describing himself as an ‘AniMystikAKtivist‘, Geers takes a syncretic approach to art that weaves together diverse Afro-European traditions, including animism, alchemy, mysticism, ritual and a sociopolitical activism laced with dark humour, irony and cultural contradiction.

Kendell Geers (b. 1968) is a radical contemporary performance artist born in South Africa but now based in Belgium. He born into a working-class Afrikaans family during the height of Apartheid. Growing up in the explosive, politically charged landscape of a crime against humanity, Geers’ youth was haunted with the realisation that his moral, spiritual, and cultural education had all been based on racist lies. In response, he ran away from home at age fifteen and set about giving birth to himself, transforming the subjective self into a work of art, starting with changing his date of birth to May 1968. A European by descent, an African by birth, Kendell Geers’s work embodies the contradictions of his identity, being both an African Animist, a European Mystic and Socio-Political Activist. He uses his identity as a key to unlock and critique our understanding and readings of history, art, and language with humour, irony and contradiction. Describing himself as an 'AniMystikAKtivist', Geers takes a syncretic approach to art that weaves together diverse Afro-European traditions, including animism, alchemy, mysticism, ritual and a sociopolitical activism laced with dark humour, irony and cultural contradiction. Geers’s work has been shown in numerous international group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2007) and Documenta (2002). Major solo shows include 'Heart of Darkness' at Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town (1993), 'Third World Disorder' at Goodman Gallery Cape Town (2010) and 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg (2012). His exhibition 'Irrespektiv' travelled to Newcastle, Ghent, Salamanca and Lyon between 2007 and 2009. Geers was included on Art Unlimited at Art 42 Basel in 2011. Work by Geers was included on Manifesta 9 in Genk, Limburg, Belgium and a major survey show of his work was exhibited at Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany in 2013. In 2019, Geers held a solo exhibition, 'The Second Coming (Do What Thou Wilt),' at Rua Red in Dublin.