This is a major international exhibition involving on and off site artwork and installations by 14 artists from around the globe.  HOME illustrates the artists' ideas of belonging, place and identity, our homes being outward expressions of such concepts.

Annelies Strba's Shades of Time portrays an ongoing photographic history of her family by matching images of people, places and things as a means of evaluating the shifting nature of identity and context. With people encountering growth and progression illustrated through fashions, within an environment equally liable to change yet permanent, the context changes with the comings and goings of people. The set of three images projected side by side evoke particular associations inherent in locality and nationality as distinguished by the Swiss architecture and landscapes.

Zwelethu Mthethwa's work is a series of photographic images of Cape Town's fringe dwellers in their homes. These homes are a far reach from most gallery dwellers. Tin walls lined with newspaper are the place of belonging to these immensely open people, who in various poses of comfort, wouldn't realize how stark their humble surroundings seem to white middle class socialites. The striking simplicity of these inhabitants' environments reverberate in the honesty and openness of their physical expression. This imagery has a strong impact.

An installation by African set designer and artist Joseph Kpobly featuring an impressive facade that leads to a viewing platform incorporating a cinema lounge, is a work that challenges dimensions of participation. With lounge suites clad in traditional fabrics, chairs, foot rests, and televisions playing internationally acclaimed recent African films, viewers are invited to sit, lounge, watch, converse with each other, and generally interact with the space. This work inverts the concept of merely presenting a home environment. Viewers are welcomed to participate in an emulation of the home environment itself, living the experience rather than being a voyeur.

Another South African contribution is by David Goldblatt, involving a series of photographs featuring the austere architecture of the Dutch Reformed Churches. Placed in various locations and built at various periods of time in South Africa, they trace the history of Apartheid through architecture. Instantly we associate these churches with the staunch dogmatism of a society that excludes blacks. Ironically the places of worship are a pervasive reminder of hypocrisy that such faith supports.

The off site installation Makrolab is a 10 year ongoing project devised by Marko Peljhan and Projekt Atol. It has travelled to many nations since its inception in 1994. Currently located at Rottnest Island (the first destination outside Europe) for three months the Makrolab, with a crew of 14 from all over the world, will serve as an ecologically self-contained research station observing weather, telecommunications and the history of the local environment. It is a fusion of art, science and communications technology and seems more like a spaceship than anything else. The relevance with Home is multidimensional, given that 14 people living in a small space for 3 months is the height of challenge in itself.

Overall this exhibition is worth seeing but regretfully lacking as an integral whole. Some works tend to be less innovative and/or pertinent that those mentioned, which seem to push boundaries.  However, it is encouraging that our local government institution is welling to promote such an ambitious show.