A4’s curatorial team calls on an artist in their studio to spend an amount of time together that is more than stopping by, less than exhaustive. A4’s curatorial studio (located at A4’s studio premises in District Six, Cape Town) becomes itinerant, travelling to the artist’s studio to be of use. We might think through a particular aspect of practice, work towards a known project, or explore ideas more generally.

In advance of our arrival, Patrick cautions us against fetishising the studio – as place, as idea – a fair and sobering start. We do not want to canonise ‘the studio’, endow it with airs and graces, pretend it performs sacred work. Nor do we want to capture oddities and knickknacks, staging the place as a den of curiosities. What are we doing here? We are visiting Patrick at work, where part of his practice investigates the intersection between games and tests. In hand, we have a working title for a potential future project Patrick might wish to explore at A4: Testing Tests. It is useful to note that we are familiar with part of Patrick’s practice, having collaborated together with Michael Subotzky to produce a series of ‘book towers’ for the artists’ co-authored ‘Ponte City’ project. Patrick has previously been in residence at A4 in preparation for that project, but this is our first durational engagement with the artist to take place at his studio. (‘We’ refers to Josh Ginsburg, director and curator, and Sara de Beer, writer and editor.)