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Hercules Viljoen

b. 1957
Namibia

Has exhibited extensively both in Namibia, the region and abroad, including 22nd Sao Paulo Biennial (1994) and Africus: Johannesburg Biennial (1995).

Participated in 13 international workshops from 1991 - 2002, in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom & France (La Reunion).

Has won numerous awards and has work represented in collections worldwide.

Recent commissions include interactive installations and large scale sculptures for public and private institutions in Namibia and La Reunion.

Currently Head of Department Visual Arts at the University of Namibia, Windhoek.

ARTIST' STATEMENT
"As an artist I wish to interact within the social and cultural environment in a meaningful way, to try and make sense of that contact, and to repond to that. I wish to find meaningful content and associated materials in the immediate environment where the intervention takes place. The artwork should ideally echo the context within which it happens...Ideally, the material, form and content are integrated. The work is process orinted and the outcome depends on the process. I wish to be useful an artist. Artists should not be social passengers but rather the pro-active conscience of society. I wish to stimulate everyday people's creative awareness and aesthetic abilities. SInce it renders a service to the community, my work attempts not to be elitist, but tries to find an intelligible link within its context."

PO Box 856
Windhoek, Namibia
Okonguarri Triomfblaar, Interactive installation. Psychotherapeutic Centre in northern Namibia. Indigenous wood, sound equipment and solar power source. 400 x 400 x 800cm. 2002
Form based on local Mopane leaf, known for its rejuvenating properties. Natural sounds from the environment triggered by infrared detectors.

From /Ae//Gams to Salazie; A Project for Sharing. Mixed media installation at Regional Foundation for Contemporary Art, St. Paul, La Reunion. Indegenous wood, steel, plastic, horns & text. 200 x 200 x 500. 1996. Form based on kudu horn, traditionally used as instrument of communication. Attached, 15 telephone receivers, 15 kudu horns, each containing a message in one of 15 languages spoken in Namibia & La Reunion, inquiring about rain.
Hand of Protection and Hand of Dignity. Installation at Franco Namibian Cultural Centre, Windhoek. Indigenous wood. 450x x 300 x 200 & 100 x 200 x 350cm. 1999.Commissioned to celebrate 50th Anniversary of Bill of Human Rights. Collaborative work with French artist Jack Beng-Thi.