Relational Trans_Positions: Research as an Act of Becoming in the 2026 FADA Creative Research Platform.

The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) Gallery is proud to present the annual FADA Creative Research Platform, this year titled Relational Trans_Positions. Curated by FADA Gallery curator Dr Farieda Nazier, Relational Trans_Positions gathers together eleven distinguished academics, associates, and artists in residence from multiple fields and practices in an exploration of how knowledge, meaning, and experience are created through encounters, translations, and exchanges. The exhibition opens on 10 September and will be on view until 9 October at the FADA Gallery, Bunting Road Campus.  

Positioned at the intersection of critical inquiry and creative production, the FADA Creative Research Platform embraces diverse forms of knowledge-making that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. This exhibition emphasises relationality as a generative space where ideas, materials, memories, and experiences shift across contexts. It features the work of Christa van Zyl, Gavin Krastin, John Shirley, Leon Krige, Leora Farber, Martin Bolton, Neil Lowe, Oupa Sibeko, Tobias Barnard, Xylan de Jager and Zinhle Zulu.

“Exhibitions like Relational Trans_Positions illuminate how research can be expressed through material, visual, and experiential forms, fostering dialogue, reflection, and engagement. Instead of offering fixed conclusions, the works celebrate transformation, demonstrating how meaning evolves through interaction and connection,” says Dr Farieda Nazier, FADA Gallery curator.  

Through a variety of approaches and media, the featured works trace the fluid movements between self and other, past and present, material and immaterial. They engage with themes of abstraction, embodiment, ecological entanglement, technological mediation, and material transformation, drawing attention to the in-between spaces where boundaries blur, exchanges flourish, and new understandings emerge through relationality. In this framework, transposition is not merely a transfer from one state to another; it signifies an act of becoming. This perspective resonates with the broader ethos of the University of Johannesburg, which places experiential learning and societal impact at the heart of its daily activities.

Relational Trans_Positions invites audiences to reflect on the dynamic relationships that shape our understanding of the world. It provides a space for encounter and dialogue, suggesting that knowledge is not static but continually co-created through connection, movement, and exchange.

The exhibition features a public programme that aims to engage the broader community. This includes the FADA4Kids Youth Activation on 12 September from 11:00 to 15:00, which invites young artists to explore and expand their creativity through hands-on and engaging activities.

On 23 September from 17:00 – 18:30, the gallery invites the public to join a curatorial panel discussion that deepens understanding of the exhibition themes and on 3 October from 11:00 – 13:00, the public can join an Artist-led Walkabout.

Date: 10 September 2026

Time: 17:30 for 18:00

Location: FADA Gallery, Bunting Road Auckland Park

Please remember to bring your ID or license to access the UJ Campus.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP – OPENING
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/TTtN3qVJg6

Public Programme

FADA4Kids Youth Activation
12 September | 11:00 – 15:00

Curatorial panel discussion
23 September | 17:00 – 18:30

Artist Walkabout
3 October | 11:00 – 13:00

Please note that the FADA Gallery will not be open on Monday, 14 September, and Monday, 5 October.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP – PUBLIC PROGRAMME – https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/LBnKGwzkFH

About FADA Gallery

FADA Gallery is an in-house, experimental, vibrant, and transformative creative lab space devoted to stimulating innovative thinking through a host of art- and design-based experiences. Constructing knowledge through cutting–edge art and design practices in a diverse range of curated exhibitions, events, talks, and new media compliments the FADA teaching and learning experience, including the research and development programme. Bringing advancements in local art, design and architecture developments to the students, staff, alumni, and the local art community.

Lakin Morgan-Baatjies
lakinmb@uj.ac.za
011 559 1130
University of Johannesburg Arts & Culture
https://arts.uj.ac.za/whats-on/fada-gallery-presents-relational-trans-positions-a-creative-research-exhibition/