Erik

Schnack

Erik Schnack is a Namibian artist and visual art educator whose multidisciplinary practice has shaped the first three decades of post-independence Namibian art. While best known for his sculptures and automated installation art, he is also a painter, printmaker, graphic artist, and theatre stage designer. His work explores themes of eco-sustainability, colonial memory, post-colonialism, and Afro-Utopianism – concepts deeply connected to his experiences growing up in apartheid-era South West Africa and living and working in post-independence Namibia.

Born in Windhoek, Schnack graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town in 1993 with a BA Honours (FA) specializing in sculpture. In 1999, he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education for Visual Art at UNISA. Since 1996, he has taught African Visual Art Studies at various schools and institutions across Namibia, most notably at the College of the Arts in Windhoek.

Schnack is widely recognized for his mixed-media collaborations and kinetic installations, which integrate mechanical movement, automation, technology, and AI. His signature works feature life-size organisms, organic forms, and reliefs, meticulously handcrafted from discarded cans and sewn together with precision. Through his art, he examines the paradoxical relationship between technological advancement, humankind, and nature, addressing themes such as the environmental crisis and the role of the cyborg in Africa.

With a career spanning over four decades, Schnack has participated in ten solo exhibitions and more than 60 group exhibitions across Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Australia, Italy, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Serbia. His contributions to the arts have earned him over ten local and international awards and nominations, including recognition at the New York World Short Film Awards, the ABSA Atelier Competition, the //Ae/Gams Namibia Awards, the Standard Bank Namibia Biennale and the Bank Windhoek Triennial.