Following its acclaimed presentations at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) and the Vrystaat Arts Festival, TOOR|BOS now makes its way to Johannesburg for its third iteration. Local audiences will finally have the opportunity to experience this groundbreaking multimedia project, presented at Gallery 2, 140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, opening on Saturday, 6 September 2025 at 11:30.
This presentation is made possible through the collaboration between the UJ Art Gallery, UJ’s Metaverse Research Unit (Institute of Intelligent Systems) and Gallery 2, extending the reach of TOOR|BOS and offering audiences an exciting opportunity to engage with the work in a new setting.
Curated by Dr Dineke Orton, TOOR|BOS is a compelling fusion of physical and virtual reality (VR) experiences. The project brings together leading creative voices: visual artists Willem Boshoff and Jaco van Schalkwyk, poets Quaz Roodt and Bibi Slippers, VR specialist Dr Herman Myburgh, and composer Dr Jaco Meyer. Together, they merge visual art, poetry, music, and virtual reality into an immersive artistic journey that pushes the boundaries of creative expression.
Opening: Saturday, 6 September 2025, at 11:30
Closing: Saturday, 4 October 2025
Venue: Gallery 2, 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
No RSVP is required—guests are welcome to arrive and enjoy the exhibition at their convenience. We look forward to welcoming you to Gallery 2 for this exciting showcase.
Gallery 2 Hours
Tuesday to Friday | 10:00 – 17:00
Saturday | 10:00 – 14:00
Sunday & Monday | Closed
Audiences are invited to immerse themselves in this third and final presentation of TOOR|BOS, before the project concludes its journey in Johannesburg.
About Gallery 2
Established as one of South Africa’s leading Fine Art galleries, Gallery 2 is built on a strong affection for the arts, promoting contemporary young up-and-coming South African artists.
Over the last 30 years, Gallery 2 (previously known as Gallery at the Square on Nelson Mandela Square) has established itself as one of South Africa’s leading fine art galleries. Built on a strong affection for the arts, it seeks to promote contemporary South African artists across a variety of disciplines, focusing particularly on the promotion and support of young up-coming artists.
In May 2010, the gallery relocated to what has become known as the “Art Strip” on Jan Smuts Avenue in Parkwood, Johannesburg. Rebranded as Gallery 2, it continues to draw on the ever-present talent and energy of South Africa’s visual artists, finding its niche within the South African art market, as well as providing an environment that is enjoyed and supported by artists, private and corporate patrons alike.
The gallery also provides an art consultancy service. We have provided this service successfully to many private collectors and have also been appointed as art consultants and suppliers for various corporate projects and collections.
About UJ Art Gallery
Nestled at the heart of the University of Johannesburg’s Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, the UJ Art Gallery has been a dynamic platform for showcasing emerging and established artists for over three decades. With a mission centred on promoting artistic expression, fostering critical engagement with contemporary art, and nurturing Johannesburg’s arts ecosystem, the gallery’s permanent collection of over 2,000 diverse artworks reflects South African vibrancy. Through curated exhibitions, educational programs, and public events, the UJ Art Gallery cultivates a space for dialogue, reflection, and inspiration.
Jaco van Schalkwyk (1981)
Van Schalkwyk is known for his meticulous attention to detail and can be described as a realistic painter. Despite this, he is very interested in challenging the traditional, two-dimensional and passive image. This premise is clearly recognisable in some of his collaborative exhibitions such as A Land I Name Yesterday (2019) with Wayne Matthews and Jenna Burchell (who used an EEG device to monitor brain waves and convert them into sound) as well as his exhibition with Heidi Fourie and sculptor Allen Laing, entitled Machine in the Garden (2019). According to Van Schalkwyk, artist collaboration is the secret to infusing the ‘passive’ image with movement and extra dimensions.
Bibi Slippers (1982)
Award-winning poet, journalist and screenwriter, Bibi Slippers’ work spans various creative disciplines. With degrees in both Visual Arts and Languages, she is no stranger to collaborative, multidisciplinary projects. Bibi is the author of two poetry collections: Photocopy Machine (2016) and Search Engine (2023). She has also written articles, short stories, and film and TV scripts.
Willem Boshoff (1951)
Willem Boshoff, one of South Africa’s best-known conceptual artists, has his oeuvre reflecting his interest in language, words, plants, nature, materials, science and politics. He can be described as a word-artist who plays with letters and meanings. The semiotic and performative properties of language are its chosen medium. Boshoff combines his fascination with words and language with a keen awareness of, and interest in, the natural world. His acute interest in nature is also aligned with his view of himself as artist-mystics, more specifically as a druid. According to Pliny the Elder, the word ‘druid’ is derived from an ancient Greek word, δρῦς (drỹs) meaning ‘oak tree’. The druid is also a traditional seer, with a particular focus on the well-being of individuals. Boshoff’s most important works include KYKAFRIKAANS (1980), the Blind Alphabet Project (1995), Writing in the Sand (2001) and Garden of Words (a continuous project since 1982).
Quaz Roodt (1984)
Quaz Roodt is a writer, poet, performer, and social activist. He is the poetry facilitator for the UJ Arts Academy and teaches a poetry and creative writing class. He is also involved in various social outreach programmes across South Africa. Quaz is the co-curator of the Poetry Africa festival on behalf of UJ Arts and Culture and the editor of Poetry Potion, one of South Africa’s long-running print and online poetry publishing platforms. He regularly performs at national and international festivals and has a strong presence on Johannesburg’s poetry and hip-hop scene. Under his alias Sam English, Quaz has released four mixtapes, one EP, and several instrumental projects. He has appeared in numerous albums, short films and documentaries, reflecting his connection to various art forms. In 2009, he published his first collection of poems, The Orange Book Vol:2, and is currently working on his second collection.
Jaco Meyer (1988)
The composer, Jaco Meyer is a lecturer in Composition and Musicology at the North-West University. During his postgraduate studies, he became enamoured with the conceptual artist, Willem Boshoff. Boshoff’s artworks provided a conceptual framework for Meyer’s compositions and a large portion of his oeuvre was devoted to music based on “translated” artworks by Boshoff. This collaboration led to further research opportunities in music and visual art as well as joint exhibitions between Meyer and Boshoff. Meyer is interested in ways in which art and sound can be made inseparable from each other, particularly through conceptual connections between the visual and auditory
Herman Myburgh (1987)
Herman Myburgh is a researcher, lecturer and VR specialist at the University of Johannesburg who investigates the applications and implications of extended reality (XR) technologies. His research interests include creating personalised experiences, where users are immersed in virtual reality (VR) scenes and can experience different scenarios. He is passionate about using XR, especially for teaching and training purposes, as well as creating new experiments where the participants can control their environment. He is an XR explorer, a solution finder, and an academic adventurer, constantly challenging himself through his work.
Dineke Orton (1986)
Dineke Orton is a curator, art historian and researcher at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery (UJ Art Gallery). Orton has a passion for visitor participation, transforming exhibition spaces, and collaborative projects where multiple people generate ideas together and bring them to fruition – an approach that repeatedly leads to the disruption of boundaries. Some