b.1968, Johannesburg

“For a long time,” the writer Sophie Perryer observes, “the name Kendell Geers was inevitably preceded in the South African press by the words enfant terrible.” Nowadays, however, Geers would rather his name be followed by his chosen epithet, AniMystikAKtivist. Regardless, his work remains provocative, confrontational and brash. His medium of choice is found objects, particularly those that offer a latent threat of violence, such as broken glass, barbed wire, hazard tape and sirens. The Terrorist’s Apprentice (2002) is a notable example of the conceptual clarity and material minimalism of Geers’ practice (the work consists of only a single safety match). Unconcerned with social niceties, the artist challenges structures of power and value – from religion to politics – with dark, sardonic humour and irreverence. “Art,” he says, “is the only legal form of moral transgression.” Then: “If you want to destroy something, make it a fashion." A word of advice, a warning.