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On May 13th www.realstoriesgallery.com launched a thought-provoking international artists’ HIV prevention campaign in support of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. Real Stories Gallery has been inspired by the many voices of artists concerned for their friends and neighbours dealing daily with the scourge of HIV within their communities.
Real Stories Gallery is a not-for-profit online visual arts HIV prevention campaign in which visual storytelling is the medium and the artist is the messenger. Artists, as empathetic storytellers and members of their communities, are powerful messengers able to facilitate widespread and meaningful HIV prevention across the breadth and diversity of communities around the world.
The Gallery, in partnership with Art for Humanity (S.A.) and Urban Thought Arts Ensemble (U.S.A.), invites international artists to create artworks based on stories of people within their own neighborhoods and social or professional networks, whose lives are affected by HIV. These visual stories, along with a written narrative, will be exhibited on www.realstoriesgallery.com.
Submissions will be open to viewers and buyers who have interest in the visual arts. Any buyers purchasing artworks to support the artists will make an additional contribution to the cause of prevention. This will be used to strengthen the mobile community Tutu Tester program, run by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation within South Africa.
All visitors to the site will be provided with access to HIV prevention information, which will be implicit within the visual arts and storytelling submissions; and through specially created HIV prevention videos created and gifted to the cause by international artists, poets and songwriters; and those working on the front line of HIV prevention.
“Camouflage,” Real Stories Gallery Body Painting HIV Prevention Video poem. Words, narration & Body Art by Derrick Little (artist & poet, U.S.A.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKpKT-vBjSU
“Beautiful Mosiac” Real Stories Gallery Body Painting HIV Prevention Video poem. Poem written & narrated by Kareemah El-Amin (poet, U.S.A.) Body Art, Derrick Little (artist, U.S.A.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z2k8iy2fsM
“Play It Safe,” Real Stories Gallery HIV Prevention song, T.J. Cases, Cuthouse Records (songwriter, Nigeria/U.K.) http://www.cuthouserecords.com/play_it_safe/index.html
Old Mac Daddy is the latest hotel project by South African hoteliers, The Grand Daddy Group.
Starting with The Daddy Long Legs Art Hotel in 2005, the idea of matching creative design, humour and affordable accommodation captured the imagination of an international travel market.
In 2008, The Daddy Long Legs Group opened their second hotel, The Grand Daddy. Again, the mischievous sense of humour and relaxed, friendly approach to hospitality gave the experience a distinctive flavour. Taking it to the next level, the creators of the hotel group added a Penthouse Airstream Trailer Park to its rooftop.
Seven authentic Airstream trailers were personally sourced from the USA and brought back to Cape Town to be decorated by local artists, stylists, and designers.
The Airstream Trailer Park idea was originally inspired by a natural rural setting so when The Daddy Long Legs Group discovered a little piece of heaven on a private farm in the apple-growing Elgin Valley, they went to work immediately!
Currently under construction, The Old Mac Daddy Park is the nostalgic camping holiday of childhood with added luxurious touches, designer trailer suites, slopes of whispering pines, lakes, endless nature-inspired activity, wholesome farm-grown food and all of this just a 40 minute drive from the Cape Town CBD.
The Daddy Long Legs Group is all about design. Old Mac Daddy is being lovingly curated and project managed by Jody & Deirdre Aufrichtig, Nick King and décor styling genius Tracy Lynch.
The creative community was invited to submit their most imaginative and interesting ideas for the group of trailers that would make up The Old Mac Daddy Farm.
Over fifty fantastic entries were received and the selection process was tough. The chosen designers, creatives and artists have become part of a communal creativity project.
The Airstream trailers arrived in Cape Town at the end of March. Old Mac Daddy secured a special build-site in Camp Street, Gardens where the artists have been creating their incredible interiors. Thereafter, the trailers will be sent to their new home in Elgin where completion of the park will take place in April and May. The site is due to open in July.
Old Mac Daddy invites you to satisfy your curiosity and take a look at the creative process.
Join the team on Saturday, 1 May between 9am and 3pm at Camp Street, Gardens (the intersection of Welgemeend Road – grounds of Hoerskool Jan van Riebeeck)
Live music, warm drinks, a bar, boerewors rolls and treats will set the scene as you investigate the trailors, the artists and their progress.
www.oldmacdaddy.co.za
Imagine a City Hall which is the hub of a vibrant cultural community. Imagine a place of memories, restored to its former glory. Imagine a venue where every citizen can have a say in what they want this space to be.
The Imagine City Hall Initiative is aimed at inspiring the people of Cape Town and beyond to register their support for the development of the Cape Town City Hall as a dedicated cultural venue.
Imagine City Hall was born as an idea between the Africa Centre, Cape MIC, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) and Cape Town Partnership’s Creative Cape Town programme: organisations with a vision, audience base, resources and the critical support of various stakeholders to make the City Hall function as a dynamic project. The key aim of the project is to garner support for the City Hall as dedicated premier cultural venue for all Capetonians, which should ideally forward the broader arts and heritage of the city and the continent.
Since 1996, the Cape Town Partnership has been working on lobbying government, carrying out research, developing a business plan and funding proposals, and establishing structures (with the support of former Mayor Helen Zille) to manage and redevelop the space as a dynamic cultural space suited for the 21st century. Now, after the Cape Town Library’s move into the refurbished Drill Hall in 2009, the space it had occupied for close to 40 years is ready for an injection of new life.
The first glimpse of its possibilities will come when the Africa Centre uses the grand old spaces for the Spier Contemporary art exhibition from 13 March – 14 May 2010. The exhibition is designed to use the space in a dynamic way to attract and engage both seasoned art critics and those who have never attended an art exhibition. For the duration of the exhibition, the venue will also house a cafe and a shop, will host regular events by outside initiatives as well as workshops for children.
The re-imagining of the space will take into account the important heritage of the building. The classic lines of the 1905 Italian Rennaissance building, juxtaposed with the exhibit of contemporary artworks, provide a natural focus for the Central City’s cultural renaissance.
The partners have turned to social media to engage citizens in the project. A Facebook group has been set up at http://bit.ly/9WDKAR. There are already close to 500 fans, and their comments reflect their wide support for the project.
Musician Tina Schouw wrote: “I think this is a great initiative. I fully endorse the City Hall’s role as a cultural hub… it could be the place to inspire and grow upcoming artists through the sharing of creative tools for their development.”
The group also inspires people who performed in the Hall as youngsters, such as Richard Martin who says he remembers “our school band at Florida Primary playing at the City Hall in the 70’s…I later returned to play a brass concert with BBSA (Moravian Brass)…funny this was also the place where the Arch (Tutu) and Jonathan Butler appeared together in the 90’s with the same hairstyle…”.
Watch the video at http://bit.ly/cnI8VI
The winners of the first Handspring Awards for Puppetry were announced at Out the Box Festival of Puppetry and Visual Theatre’s closing ceremony on Sunday 28th March, held at the Little Theatre, UCT’s Hiddingh Campus.
The awards were presented by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, founders of the Handspring Puppet Company. Speaking from the Baxter Theatre stage at the festival opening, Jones said that in recent years, puppetry had grown in local theatre and so had a “greater understanding of the nature of the puppet theatre”. “We are in possession of a clearer set of analytical tools when we come to ‘critiquing’ new works in the theatre,” he continued. Kohler added that this is not shared by everyone. “All too often”, he says, “when one reads a review of a new puppet piece, it begins with the words: ‘If you thought puppets were only for children…’ which unfortunately sets the discourse at a pretty basic level. Public debate about what puppets offer to the theatre is thin. The often asked question ‘Why puppets?’ needs vigorous and thoughtful answers. We seldom get them. What for instance is the difference between a human actor on the stage and a puppet of a human? We believe there is a very significant difference, which is connected to the fact that only the puppet has to fight and struggle to live, whereas an actor can take this struggle for granted.”
Jones and Kohler founded the Handspring Puppet Company in 1981 and have travelled the world with their magical stories. They are the brilliant creators behind the puppets used in several productions in this country such as Tall Horse and Woyzeck on the Highveld. They developed the ground-breaking techniques that brought a life-like horse to the stage in War Horse, an epic and thrilling UK production about the bond between a boy and his horse based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo. War Horse was performed to sell out seasons at London’s National Theatre and is now running successfully at the New London Theatre on the West End before opening On Broadway in 2011.
Apart from stimulating broader debate on puppetry, the company also aims to raise the quality of this theatre-making genre with their annual contest. Five awards with R7,000 prize money per winner will be available annually. With the exception of the award for Best Production, only people from Africa will be eligible for the awards. This year would be the first of five annual competitions. The first three years would honour exclusively the best works – with prize money – at Out The Box. Thereafter, the awards would be open to any persons producing puppet theatre in the Western Cape.
The 2010 Handspring Awards for Puppetry prizes went to:
The Best Puppet Production:
Angel , created by the Duda Paiva Company of the Netherlands.This prize was created in memory of Lillie Herzberg, the founder on UNIMA in South Africa
The Best Visual Theatre Production:
27 Windows, 4 Doors and 2 Taps, created by Mwenya Kabwe & Mandla Mbothwe
The Best Puppet Design:
Thierry Cassuto and Zapiro for production on ZA News.
The Best Puppet Manipulation:
Winner: Ilana Cilliers for the production Adventures of a Little Nobody. This prize was created in honour of Gawie de Wet, a pioneer puppeteer whose impassioned performances are remembered by many who grew up on the Cape Flats.
The Best Puppet Debut:
Beren Belknap for the production Lenny and the Wasteland. This award was created in honour of Fourie Nyamande who was an extremely talented puppeteer and actor who died far too young
We asked a few designers/creative companies to comment on their experience at Design Indaba Expo 2010. Read what they had to say below:
Streetwires at Design Indaba Expo 2010
We had a very successful Design Indaba, as our new products were well-received by our regular customers, and we had some interest from new prospects too.
Our ideas / inspiration was to move away from the obvious soccer themes that are now on every conceivable product and rather provide something that tourists would like, and locals would relate to. Beaded animals and the big 5 are almost as prolific as soccer balls, so we decoded to go for a Township theme, but with a ‘feel-good’ vibe – something to make people smile. It seems we were spot-on!
Urbanative Jewellery at Design Indaba Expo 2010
Urbanative jewellery had a wonderful expo 2010! We met lots of like minded creatives and look forward to next years expo to keep the momentum going.
Monkeybiz at Design Indaba Expo 2010
This year’s Design Indaba held great significance for the Monkeybiz team, as it sought to honour it’s co-founder, Barbara Jackson. As always it was inspirational.
Fundi Light and Living at Design Indaba Expo 2010
We had a wonderful response to our products and new fabric collections from the media, trade and public (and the mass of students…). The Design Indaba is a wonderful platform to showcase new products into the market, but we definitely saw less trade and much less international buyer presence at the show this year. One can see that all the ‘big names’ have either dropped out or have really reduced the size of their stands, and the overall feel of the show has become more craft orientated. We hope 2011 will bring back the design edge that the show was so synonymous for.
Going to the movies has evolved a lot since the ‘bioscope’ era. It no longer has the ‘night out’ feel. Popcorn queues are long, tickets are often sold out and Tuesday nights are crawling with high-schoolers. However The Pink Flamingo, situated on Long Street, Cape Town is bringing back some of the silver screen magic.
The Pink Flamingo screens movies every Sunday and Thursday at 7.30pm on the roof of the Grand Daddy Hotel. Movies screened are a mix of cult classics and family favourites.
Pink Flamingo II is situated on the 1st floor of the New Space Theater at 44 Long Street and will focus mainly on Art / Cult movies with two screenings a month.
Regular tickets are R50 each and include a welcome drink, a choice of popcorn or ice cream as well as an old-fashioned candy cone.
VIP Tickets are R200 and can seat 2 to 3 people on a comfy leather couch. The price includes a retro cooler box of iced drinks and a choice of popcorn, ice cream or candy floss – as well as an old-fashioned candy cone. There are only 2 VIP couches per show so early booking is essential!
You can arrive early to secure a front row seat and a refreshing drink at the sky bar before settling down to enjoy classics such as Bullit, A fish called Wanda and Boogie Nights.
All tickets must be booked and paid for in advance through webtickets. Tickets will not be available for purchase on the night.
Visit www.pinkflamingo.co.za for more information and to view the current movie line-up
Jardine Bakery was voted as one of Cape Town’s best spots for coffee by our listed creatives.
‘The home of multi-award winning Scottish chef George Jardine’ is now open for lunch and they have revealed an exciting new menu for the afternoon patron.
Open Monday to Saturday for dinner &
Wednesday to Friday for lunch
Corner of Bree and Bloem Streets
Tel: (021) 424 5640
www.jardineonbree.co.za
Design Indaba are looking for 11 South Africans to make up a Superstar team and represent South Africa creatively. The idea is to express your unique creativity, in any way you like and you could be chosen. The team will be announced at the Expo 26-28 February and Creative Team members will be immortalised as public sculptures.
The deadline for submission is the 30th of January so if your’e interested in being a Design Indaba Superstar be sure to submit your profile in time. There are two ways to do this:
1. Via the Design Indaba Superstars website: www.designindaba.com/superstars/
2. Try out at the Woodstock Industrial Centre (66 Albert Road, Woodstock) on the 14th January at Word of Art Studios from 18:00 onwards. RSVP by 13 January to: rickylee@writeonafrica.com
In the meantime, read all about it at the Design Indaba Superstars website and view some of the Creative Stars of the Week!
CATS is currently showing at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. We were fortunate enough to watch this spectacular show a few years ago, also in Cape Town. Being big fans of marshmallow mice and fish, we stopped to pick up a few on the way to the theatre.
The show was fantastic, with excellent choreography and costume design. During interval, the Cats ventured into the auditorium and mingled (still in character) with the audience. One particular cat was ‘playing’ close by. We took a quick look at the marshmallow mice, the costumed cat and tossed one in its direction!
Amazingly, the cat pounced on the mouse and proceeded to shake it around in its mouth before biting it in two. It was classic! One won’t be guaranteed a repeat sideline performance this time round but it certainly is worth a try.
