Artefacts at the Pretoria Art Museum

Both artists are known for their passion and specialised use of glass in their oeuvre. This exhibition does not specifically explore materiality and craft but rather investigates a spectrum of social narratives. Both artists examine inner voices, expressing personal dilemmas and philosophies, that invite visitors to experience the space through a fourth dimension – one shaped by memory, emotion and embodied presence.

Böttcher frames his “Artefacts” around mass media and perceptions, contemplating consumption and curated propaganda. Appropriating material, both physical and conceptual, he weaves phenomenological interactions into visually theatrical tapestries. This Is Not A TV – a hand carved optical lens perched on an air cylinder’s thrashing tube – gives a surrealistic view of the world. One perspective bends and distorts the framed words of Richard Serra and Carlota Fey Schoolman’s Television Delivers People (1973) suspended on the opposite wall.

Plato’s allegory also makes an appearance in The Cave… under the watchful reflection of a starburst altar piece titled Dosis Sola Facit Venenum, translated as “The Doses Make The Poison” (Paracelsus).

Greenberg’s “Artefacts” unfold into expansive installations that investigate silence, memory and the quiet endurance of emotional labour. Through blown glass, sound, stitching and found objects, she reflects on the overlooked narratives of women – those rendered invisible, forgotten or erased.

Themes of inherited identity, privilege and fear are explored through fragile yet resilient forms.

Stitching functions both as a gesture of repair and concealment, while the bed recurs as a space of both refuge and exposure. Positioning herself as a mediator and witness, Greenberg invites viewers into the spaces between what is spoken and what is suppressed – into the intimate echoes of stories society often refuses to hear.

Artefacts opens on Saturday, 26 July 2025, at 11:00 at the Pretoria Art Museum and can be viewed until Sunday, 31 August 2025.

Artists

Lothar Böttcher (born 1973) is a professional artist and master craftsman specialising in cold working glass (grinding, cutting and polishing). His work can be found in private and public collections worldwide, most notably the Corning Museum of Glass (United States of America) and the Glasmuseum Frauenau (Germany).

He is a current board member of the international Glass Art Society, as well as founding member and chairman of the newly established Moya African Glass Network NPC.

He co-curated the group exhibition Glass Now – African Perspectives with Caitlin Greenberg at the Association of Arts, Pretoria.

Lothar is part of the Lathe Riders, an international collective of cold workers who will convene in Leerdam, Netherlands this year for the Grit+Wheels symposium, and he will teach at the Bild-Werk Summer Academy in Frauenau, Germany.

His work was selected for the latest curated publication of the Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review 45, and he will showcase his work at the international Glass Art & Design Salon in Paris taking place later this year.

Caitlin Greenberg (born 1987) is a Pretoria-based glass artist and lecturer specialising in installation, hot glass and mixed media. She holds a master’s degree (cum laude) in Fine Arts from the Tshwane University of Technology with the dissertation titled, Exploring Psychoanalytical and Contemporary Manifestations of the ‘Shadow’ and Serial Killers within Popular Media Culture. Greenberg lectures in glass at the Tshwane University of Technology, where she is subject coordinator and acting Section Head for the Fine and Studio Arts Programme.

She is one of the founding members of the Moya African Glass Network NPC. She played a key role in initiating the first Southern African Glass Safari in 2024, which brought international artists to South Africa to foster exchange and promote Southern African glass on a global platform.

Greenberg’s video performance work was featured in the international online Glass Art Society Film Festival (2024) and she has participated in multiple group exhibitions across South Africa.

She also attended the inaugural Pilchuck Glass School Youth Conference in the United States of America, accompanying and mentoring Tshwane University of Technology glass student participants.