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Surplus is a radical bookshop featuring the Andre Marais Radical Book and Important Anti-Apartheid Ephemera Collection and progressive events space, partnered with a women’s restaurant collective. Surplus will run from the 25th of May through to the last day of August 2021 at 302 Albert Road, Woodstock, a 2 minute walk from The Biscuit Mill. 

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Surplus Bookshop

The Collection

The Andre Marais Radical Book and Important Anti-Apartheid Ephemera Collection consists of almost 4 000 items, including Soviet and Chinese state propaganda, left wing journals, pamphlets and ephemera related to the Apartheid resistance movement, works of contemporary philosophy, sociology, critical theory, and film, cultural and literary theory, with a focus on material that is politically progressive.
The collection includes a number of historically important documents, leaflets, run-offs and pamphlets, which were produced by local grassroots and underground activist groups, political parties, student organisations and international anti-apartheid organisations. Some of the material in the collection was previously banned or censored by the Apartheid government, and was collected during the 1980s and 90s at personal risk to the collector.
In previous incarnations, these materials have served as a resource for activists and radicals and, most recently, formed the bulk of The Athlone Cultural Hub Activist Library and Resource Centre.
After many years of serving communities of activists and radicals, the collection is now being opened up to the wider public for sale. 
 

The Collector

Andre Marais began collecting in the 1980s and has been involved in a number of educational, political and cultural programs on the South African and the international left. Andre is a founding member of the The Athlone Cultural Hub Activist Library and Resource Centre and the Alternative Information & Development Centre. He trained as a schoolteacher and has worked as the arts editor for Amandla! magazine and for various NGOs. Andre was a student of South African writer, playwright and anti-apartheid activist Richard Rive at Hewat College of Education when Rive was brutally murdered in 1989. Working as a curator at the District Six museum, Andre was commissioned to create The Writers’ Floor exhibition which can still be viewed today. Andre was a member of the UDF and influenced by the ideas of the Unity Movement.

 

Surplus Cooks

The People

Yoraya Nydoo and Lisa Knipe worked with fine dining restaurant Janse & Co before being retrenched during the lockdown in 2020. Partnering with core members of Janse & Co, we started Oxalis Eatery, a pop-up restaurant in Cape Town’s Wale Street. Following the success of Oxalis, we are turning our hand to new projects which align with the vision of our collective.
The Food
Our approach to food centres traceability, seasonality and simplicity. Some of this approach can be attributed to Arno Janse van Rensburg, our mentor at Janse & Co. Yet given this experience in fine dining, we are critical of inaccessible menus that intimidate diners and food that disappoints when concept is prioritized over high-quality produce and thoughtful preparation. 
Through our work we aim to challenge and change the perception of chefs, women and people of colour in the hospitality industry. We recognise that the industry has historically been dominated by men of European descent, advancing European culture and cuisine, which has contributed to a culture of exclusivity. We recognise this especially in South Africa, where our long history of inequality exacerbates problems of access to restaurant food culture. 
Preparing food and sharing meals have always been a part of our - and indeed all - culture, and we feel that the dining experience should be as accessible and inclusive as we are able to make it.

This project allows us to offer democratic, honest and accessible food in line with our values.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Events

We will be hosting a speaker’s series, inviting activists, writers, poets, farmers and academics to speak about their work. Some of our discussions will center local narratives in the Observatory/Woodstock/Salt River communities, engaging with the history and current politics of the communities in our immediate surroundings. Against the backdrop of Andre’s collection, the events space will allow for intergenerational dialogue, inviting reflections from struggle-stalwarts, contemporary youth movements and community members and activists. We hope to encourage an exploration of the various factions and directions of left-political struggle in South Africa, from the anti-apartheid movement to the present day. 

We will also host paid dinner events, during which various people involved in the production of food, and critical food theory will engage with diners to offer new perspectives on the food we eat. 

Surplus will run for 88 days, from 21 May to 31 August 2021. 
We will be open from 8am - 5pm, Mondays to Fridays and 8am - 4pm on Saturdays for breakfast, coffee and lunch and to view and purchase from the collection.

 

Contact:
Ray van Wyk: 071 021 6252 (Books)
Yoraya Nydoo: 083 572 77945 (Food)
books.surpluspopup@gmail.com
food.surpluspopup@gmail.com