Kai Lossgott

Kai Lossgott may have German origins, but his education and creative output make him solidly South African. He lives and works in Cape Town. His diverse output to-date has several identifiable forms overall. But an undeniable urge to contrast human expressions with the places where they are found runs through all of them. He etches poetry and drawings into natural, broad leaves from trees. He creates videos wherein the voice comments on the action, sometimes deeply connected, sometimes dispassionately, set against the visual space.

Kai Lossgott

video: Walking in Plastic, featured in City Breath

He extracts objects from the landscape, where the title implies at least as much history of the object as the object itself. His drawings use text. His performances use experimental film/video, live interactive sound, movement and puppetry. Lossgott's creative palette first has to be broken down into which genres he'll employ for a given work, before the work itself can be articulated.

In 2010, Lossgott curated and directed the City Breath program. It was shown in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Grahamstown within the year. He collaborated with Mduduzi Nyembe and Bandile Gumbi to create the video Walking in Plastic.

Lossgott holds a Bjourn from Rhodes University, majoring in documentary filmmaking and dance theatre, an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts from UNISA, and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, all three cum laude. Kai's work has been widely exhibited as part of numerous South African art award shows, and shown at international film festivals. He has lectured at various South African universities.

His personal website is kailossgott.com, which has ample biographical information on the artist, plus examples of his visual, performative, and written art.

- Kurt Heintz, 2012