Many delegates to the recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town have told me how impressed they were with the presentation by Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect, on the design and financing of affordable housing. I unfortunately missed the presentation, but here are two views worth reading: one by Bruce Nussbaum (who I had the pleasure of hosting at a breakfast during the Design Indaba) and one by Wren. From what they and others are saying, there’s lots we can learn from Aravena about socially useful design as we put together Cape Town’s bid for World Design Capital 2014.

I’ve been given the honour by the Africa Centre of opening the Spier Contemporary 2010, the largest biennale art exhibition in South Africa, this coming Saturday (13 March) at the Cape Town City Hall. Hmmm, what to say to a daunting array of artists, art critics, journalists, politicians and business leaders?

Today, in order to prepare myself, I was given a preview of the exhibition by Farzanah Badsha, project manager and member of the curatorial team. It gave me a chance to see most of the 132 works by 101 South African artists, chosen from 2 700 submissions countrywide. It also gave me a chance to see the ways in which the City Hall is being transformed into a new cultural space, albeit for only two months.

It won’t be fair for me to give the game away - you have to see the exhibition for yourself. However, what I can say is that the Cape Town public is incredibly lucky to have an opportunity to see some of the best art in South Africa today, art which amongst others things reflects on the sombre mood of the national political psyche.

Farzanah Badsha of the Africa Centre outlines the finer points of contemporary South African art to my colleagues Bulelwa Ngewana, Petro Mostert and Terri Carter of the Cape Town Partnership

The Press Gallery in the old Council Chambers restored to some of its former glory after a lick of paint

Performance art in beautiful rooms like this one will be a centrepiece of the exhibition

Its not just the interior spaces of the City Hall that are being transformed through the Spier Contemporary; the views of the surrounding city, in this case, the Old Drill Hall against the backdrop of Devil's Peak, are significantly enhanced

Under construction. The one piece of work I can reveal, because it is outside the City Hall in Darling Street, consists of a large tower made from fences taken from Robben Island

The exhibition will be open to the public from Sunday 14 March. For more information, go to http://spiercontemporary2010.co.za/2010/

Like the name says, one of the longest streets in Cape Town

There’s been quite a bit of discussion recently on the issue of street renaming. My colleague, Ryland Fisher, writing in the Cape Argus on 22 February, asked what has happened to the working group leading a renaming process set up by the City of Cape Town a few years ago: “This group, under the leadership of Rhoda Kadalie, produced what I thought was a fair report, given the city’s divisive history. However, nothing happened after they delivered their report.”

Ryland correctly points out that the renaming of streets in honour of people who gave their lives in the struggle against apartheid has to date been confined to former black townships: “It irritates me no end, and makes me ashamed to be a citizen of Cape Town and the Western Cape when I drive through Khayelitsha and I see that it’s only there that streets are named in honour of these leaders. I’m glad that they are honoured – but not in this ghetto fashion. It is almost as if Mandela and the others fought for the liberation of black people only, and so they must be honoured in black townships only… It galls me to drive around in the city centre where almost every street name harks back to apartheid, while township streets celebrate the leaders who fought for the liberation of all.”

I (mildly) disagree with Ryland’s view that “almost every street name (in the Cape Town city centre) harks back to apartheid” – many are good descriptive names like Long, Loop and Bree, or, for example, like Strand, Waterkant, Jetty and Sea Streets, tell a story about the historical shoreline of the city – but overall, Ryland is correct to ask the question: what has happened to the process?

Shortmarket St - telling a story of the origins of the Cape Town retail economy

Last week, the issue was raised again, this time at a public meeting in Cape Town called by the South African Geographical Names Council. The debates were reported heated, with traditional Khoi leaders in particular calling for a comprehensive name-changing process. “Many atrocities were committed during the changing of names (during the colonial period) in this country” said Frank Smith, national organiser of the SA Progressive Civic Organisation. Dan Fletcher, of the Indigenous Royal Council, pointed out that: “Not a single street in this province is named after a Khoisan”.

Perhaps in response to the criticism, Sakkie Jenner, Western Cape Provincial MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sport, announced last week that the Provincial Government would be establishing a provincial committee to deal with the process of name changing in the province.

So, where does this leave us? There is no doubt that many names of streets (and buildings and public places and amenities) in Cape Town continue to offend or hurt. I sometimes can’t believe that we still have a street (Oswald Pirow on the Foreshore) named after a prominent Nazi sympathiser. Or a major highway (Settlers Way) named in such an obviously provocative way.

On the other hand, the process of renaming, if not handled correctly, can lead to further divisions and conflict rather than nation-building. The way the street naming process was mishandled in central eThekwini/ Durban (see pictures) is a case in point. A few years ago, Mayor Pieter Marais’s attempts to try and to rig the voting process to force through the renaming of Adderley and Wales Streets (to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk respectively) in the city centre, was highly devisive and helped lead to his demise as Mayor.

The renaming of streets in central eThekwini/ Durban has been a messy process

Any process of renaming needs to be open, transparent and inclusive. Personally, I dislike naming (or renaming) streets after politicians, no matter how great and good. I am particularly saddened when I see names such as Beyers Naude, Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo and Lillian Ngoye given to roads (or hospitals or schools or places) that are then allowed to decay through poor maintenance and management. What an insult to honourable leaders!

I prefer names that tell a story, that are historically interesting, or geographically descriptive, names that above all, will endure long after our current generation has come and gone.

As a student of history, I am aware that a renaming process can be superficial and shallow if it is not part of broader efforts to genuinely build social cohesion and address the physical and materials needs of citizens. Like patriotism, the practice of renaming can become a refuge of scoundrels, enabling leaders to deflect from delivering on substantive issues. However, I don’t buy the arguement that the process of renaming certain streets and places is irrelevent or that there are ‘more important issues’.

Cities and towns are about people. As human beings, we express ourselves through culture and we value our personal, neighbourhood and community identities. If our roads and buildings and parks and beaches and statues and images and advertisements and designs do not reflect people’s cultures inclusively, then we will never succeed in becoming a city truly owned and respected and cared for by all citizens. And that’s not the sort of city I want to live in.

Its time for a process of more inclusive memorialisation in Cape Town (and in our country), but done in a such way so as to educate ourselves about different cultures, languages, communities and contributions, to bring ourselves closer together.

Contradictions in central eThekwini/ Durban: the historically evocative Brickhill Road, and the benign West Street, have been renamed, but Kitchener St, named after a British colonial warlord type, remains.

Know your history: What would Anton Lembede, political activist and founding president of the ANC Youth League, have to say about being placed alongside Theophilus Shepstone, who, as secretary for native affairs in Kwa Zulul-Natal for 30 years, was arguably the architect of separate development?

You can get a good idea of how the Green Point Urban Park is taking shape from the top of the Ritz Hotel in Sea Point

Ella Smook of the Cape Argus wrote an article this week on the new Green Point Urban Park, which describes the facilities being planned for the area after the 2010 World Cup. Located next to the new Green Point IRT station, the park will become more accessible to communities throughout the city as the IRT system is rolled out, although just looking at how well-used the adjacent Sea Point Promenade is by a wide range of Capetonians, I have no doubt that the Urban Park will become a popular regional facility from the word go.

The outline of the central common can be clearly seen. The Metropolitan Golf Course is in the background

The Urban Park will form part of a wider system of recreational areas and pedestrian and cycle routes, such as the Sea Point Promenade

The Urban Park is adjacent to the CT Stadium precinct, and will be managed by Stade de France and Sail, the stadium managers

Like the man said, imagine...

I’ve never been a fan of the Cape Town City Hall from an architectural and aesthetic point of view. I always find it a bit gloomy – two buildings in one rather awkwardly joined together with a rabbit-warren of corridors and rooms. However, there is no denying its symbolic and historical significance, and its imposing edifice is instantly recognisable against the backdrop of Table Mountain.

With a bit of imagination, I believe that the City Hall can become one of Cape Town’s leading cultural centres. Already preparation for the forthcoming Spier Contemporary 2010, which is stripping out the detritus of the past few decades, is revealing the future potential of the building. This is why Creative Cape Town, together with the Africa Centre and Cape MIC, has recently launched an Imagine City Hall campaign – an opportunity for citizens to register support for the City Hall as a dedicated cultural venue, and to imagine ways in which the building can come alive again.

For more information, check out the Creative Cape Town webpage  and sign up at the City Hall Facebook Group.

The logo for the Imagine City Hall campaign

The Africa Centre’s Infecting the City Public Arts Festival kicked off in public spaces in the Cape Town Central City this morning. The theme for this year’s festival is Human Rite. I saw two very powerful yet different performances – Quiet Emergency on Thibault Square and Meet Market on Church Square.

Quiet Emergency

“Cape Town: a patchwork map of dislocation, where communities are separated by history and inequality, isolated by high walls and indifference…”

Quiet Emergency is created by Anthea Moys, Gilbert Douglas and Margie Mackay

"Honouring that which unites us as human beings, that which gives us connection, hope and continuity"

"Every community has its boundaries, each interaction its limitations... we live in a state of quiet emergency"

Creating a halfway meeting space - street children, sex workers, security guards, street cleaners and professional performers

Meet Market

Meet Market tranforms Church Square into a startling new green space in the city

"The procedure is not pretty, it concerns dis-ease"

"A new rite is exercised... an infected wound is lanced, disinfected and then sealed to allow healing"

The act of passing water for a cleansing ritual from the site of the old slave tree to the Slave Memorial on Church Square brings traffic to a halt in Spin Street. The Slave Lodge is in the background.

"The putrification of centuries of denial and shame requires removal"

"Conflicting memories and fragmented histories"

Arriving on one of the new "Dutch Team" pedicabs to watch the performance

Jan Hofmeyer, founder of the Afrikaner Bond, contemplates a 'Home for All' on the side of the Provincial Government building in Wale Street

Meet Market is created by Andrew Buckland, Athina Vahla, Ibrahim Quraishi and Lerato Shadi. Infecting the City is on until 20 February.

I normally eschew using the description ‘world class’ – it often means trying to measure up to someone else’s standards rather than setting our own. But in the case of the opening of The Fugard Theatre in the Cape Town Central City last night, I’m prepared to make an exception. It was brilliant, bloody brilliant, world class!

We were privileged to see a magnificent performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute/ Impempe Yomlingo by the Isango Portobello Company in their new home – the beautifully renovated Fugard Theatre in Caledon Street, next door to the District Six Homecoming Centre in the old Sacks Futeran Building.

It was a joyous occasion, attended by Athol Fugard himself, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, at least five Cabinet Ministers, actor Alan Rickman (aka Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies), scores of playwrights, artists and writers, and a healthy cross-spectrum of Capetonians.

Hats off to producer Eric Abraham, artistic director Mark Dornford-May, executive director Mannie Manim, music directors Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantyis and all the members of the Isango Portobello Company. Welcome to the East City. We look forward to becoming Friends of the Fugard!

For more information on what is happening in the East City, see East City Design Initiative.

I visited the Museum of Sydney in December 2009. It is a relatively new museum (1995) in downtown Sydney on the site of the first Government House. It is architecturally inserted into the base of a large office tower building. I was curious to see how the story of the City of Sydney is portrayed, particularly given the historical similarities between Sydney and my own city, Cape Town.

Entrance to the Museum of Sydney

Edge of the Trees installation

The first installation one is confronted with is at the entrance to the museum – the iconic Edge of the Trees, by Fiona Foley and Janet Laurence. The name of the sculpture comes from an essay by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones: “…the ‘discoverers’ struggling through the surf were met on the beaches by other people looking at them from the edge of the trees. Thus the same landscape perceived by the newcomers as alien, hostile, or having no coherent form, was to the indigenous people their home, a familiar place, the inspiration of dreams.”

As the plaque outside says: “Edge of the Trees is about contact. It acknowledges the indigenous place and people of Sydney, home of the Eora, and the many layers of occupation since 1788… A place to enter, explore, contest anew; perhaps reconciliation?”

Throughout the museum, there are genuine attempts to come to terms with the impact of ‘first encounters’ – contacts between first Australians, with their 40 000 years of history in the Sydney region, and British colonisers, most of them convicts. For example, in Invasion 1 – an Aboriginal perspective by Gordon Syron, the perspective of Aboriginal Australians towards the newcomers is clearly portrayed.

Gordon Syron, Invasion 1 - an Aboriginal perspective, 1999

Elsewhere in the museum, there was an exhibition of the work of Sydney artist, cartoonist and song-writer Martin Sharp. Sharp, a well-known 1960s counter-culture artist who designed the cover of the Cream albums Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire in 1968, also shows his concerns about Aboriginal justice through his painting Australia, which is a reinterpretation of the cartoon A Curiosity in her own Country by Phil May that appeared in 1888, itself an ironic comment on the Centenary celebrations of the time.

Martin Sharp, Australia, 2003-09

Phil May, A Curiosity in her Own Country, 1888

All this brings me to the point of this particular post – where is our own Museum of Cape Town?

To find the story (or stories) of our city, you have to try and piece it together through visits to a range of different museums: Iziko Slave Lodge (slavery), Rust en Vreugd (visual images of life in early Cape Town), Koopmans de Wet (household life), Bertram House (the British period), Groot Constantia (Cape Dutch life), Bo Kaap Museum (Islamic, slave and apartheid history), Castle of Good Hope (artefacts, military history), South African Museum (archaeology, social history), District Six Museum (apartheid forced removals), SA Sendingstigting Museum (missions and slavery), Heart of the City at Groote Schuur Hospital (first heart transplant), Lwandle Museum (migrant labour), SA Maritime Museum (history of Table Bay Harbour), SA Jewish Museum (social history), Robben Island Museum (colonialism and apartheid) and so on.

I’m sure I’ve left some places out, and this is not a comment on the good work done by the museums in our city, but the point I am trying to make is this – our city story is fragmented and largely untold. There is no single place which brings together the histories and memories of our city in a coherent way. This is why for example I believe our own ‘first encounters’ continues to be uncritically and stereotypically depicted on many contemporary Cape Town websites largely through the painting of Charles Bell: Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay in April 1652.

Charles Bell, 1813-1882, Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay in April 1652. Charles Bell was the Surveyor General at the Cape. He was also an artist and a stamp designer (he designed the famous Cape of Good Hope triangular stamp). The suburb of Bellville is named after him.

In essence, the history of Cape Town, known as the ‘Mother City’ for good reason, is the history of our nation. It is the original place of our own first encounters – the first dispossessions around water and land, the first conquests and subjugations, the first struggles for freedom and justice.

So, do we need a Cape Town Museum? I believe we do, but then where should it be located? What form should it take? Who is going to get the ball rolling?

I toured the East City precinct in the Cape Town Central City yesterday – and saw two amazing projects, and one disaster.

I first went to the City Hall to see the installation of the Spier Contemporary biennial Arts Competition and Exhibition, set to open on 14 March. In my view – we’re in for a treat! The exhibition is organised by the Africa Centre and will showcase 132 pieces from 100 South African artists. The best news is that the City Hall is finally receiving a bit of a – albeit temporary – makeover, showing what the space could look like if it is properly restored.

Clutter and debris dating back to the 1970s being removed from the City Hall to create bright modern exhibition spaces

Majestic spaces - where the City Library (now next door in the restored Old Drill Hall) used to be

Next, I went around the corner to Caledon Street to the Sachs-Futeran building to look at the new Fugard Theatre. Its going to be the home of the award-winning Isango-Portobello Theatre Company. Situated in an old Congregational Church Hall and an adjacent warehouse, it is one of the best restorations of an historic building I have seen in a long time. The Fugard opens on 12 February with Mozart’s The Magic Flute-Impempe Yomlingo. Situated next door to the District Six Homecoming Centre, and the Old Granary Building (also due for an upgrade in 2010), the complex is set to become the heart of the Cape Town Partnership’s East City Design Initiative.

The entrance to The Fugard in Caledon Street, off Buitenkant Street

Rehearsal space on the second floor

Terri Carter of the Cape Town Partnership auditions on stage

The roof terrace boasts some of the best views in the Central City

See recent Sunday Times article on The Fugard by Marianne Thamm

And finally – the bad.

I walked around the newly-upgraded Grand Parade and was bitterly disappointed in what I saw. The Grand Parade is Cape Tow’s oldest public space. It is one of our most important heritage sites. It was where Nelson Mandela first spoke to the world as a free man 20 years ago. It is the venue for the official FIFA Fan Fest in June. The City of Cape Town has recently spent R22m on upgrading the Parade. It looks like this:

The brand new brickwork is covered in ugly oil stains due to the vans and bakkies that are allowed to park there

New paving turning to rubble due to lack of maintenance

The vandalised base of a monument

Lack of cleansing and refuse removal mars the environment

The main problem is that the City does not have a public space management policy and strategy in place. No one is responsible or accountable for maintenance and management, even though many of the spaces have been beautifully upgraded by the City in recent years. This issue, which has been kicking around the Civic Centre for the past four years, needs to be resolved once and for all. Watch this space!

A story on the state of the Grand Parade appeared in the Weekend Argus on 30 January 2010:

Vandals trash Grand Parade after upgrade

City’s main fan park ‘not managed’

By Helen Bamford

The Grand Parade, the site of Cape Town’s main fan park for the World Cup, was upgraded at a cost of R24 million but within weeks has been damaged and vandalised, apparently because of a lack of management.

In his blog, the chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership, Andrew Boraine, described his disappointment after walking around the newly-upgraded site.

He posted photographs of what he saw: brickwork covered in oil stains from vehicles permitted to park on the parade, new paving turned into rubble due to lack of maintenance and the vandalised base of a monument.

He says the main problem was that the city did not have a public space management policy and strategy.

“No one is responsible or accountable for maintenance and management, even though many of the spaces have been beautifully upgraded by the city in recent years.”

The city’s 2010 co-ordinators are also concerned.

Shameel Ho-Kim, project co-ordinator for the city’s 2010 operations office, said the Grand Parade was a high priority for 2010 and they wanted it closely managed.

He said that they had raised their concerns with the city’s sports and recreation department, under which the Grand Parade fell.

“They have indicated it will be managed more closely with increased patrols.”

The Parade will be fenced off from May 1 for construction of the fan park which will create a stadium atmosphere accommodating an estimated 25 000 people, with an overflow along Darling Street which will take 15 000 people.

All 64 World Cup games will be screened live at the fan park which will be open from 10am until midnight on match days with hospitality areas and beer tents.

The city has appointed an operator called Grand World Visions, a consortium of World Sport, VWV and Grand Parade Investments, to plan, implement and manage the fan fest on its behalf.

Paul Williamson, city service co-ordinator for business areas management, said the city had identified two alternative sites for existing traders during the World Cup.

The city would ensure that the Grand Parade was in a suitable condition for the fan fest, and the damage identified would be repaired.

 Weekend Argus sent written questions to Gerhard Ras, the councillor in charge of sports and recreation under which the Grand Parade falls, on Thursday asking who was responsible for managing the site and why it was not being done.

He did not respond but Gert Bam, director of sport, recreation and amenities, said the areas requiring attention since the upgrade were not substantial.

In one area the electricity department had “disturbed the paving” during an installation.

“This caused a ripple effect on the surrounding paving. We have asked the electricity department to correct this.”

In other areas the paving seemed to have sagged.

“As we are still in the maintenance period of the contract a snag list has been drafted and the urban design department which managed this project will interact with the contractor to attend to all the snag items,” Bam said.

Published on the web by Cape Argus on January 29, 2010.

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© Cape Argus 2010. All rights reserved.

While in Sydney, I was taken on a fantastic walking tour of some of the laneways that are part of a CBD lane revitalisation strategy. One of the ways in which this is being done is through an innovative urban art installation project called By George! Hidden Networks (George Street being the main street in the Sydney CBD). I particularly enjoyed the following projects:

The Urban Barcode

The Urban Barcode in Abercrombie Lane refers to suspended white fluorescent tubes that represent the bar code to Jan Gehl's influential book on public space 'Life Between Buildings'

Family Unit – Chill Trailer

Family Unit - Chill Trailer in Bond Street is a series of constantly changing performances in the hidden network of Sydney’s laneways. The Chill Trailer is an adaptable mobile unit that accommodates a multitude of uses.

 The Seven Metre Bar

The installation in Underwood Street is a real bar located at the 7m point of the CBD that marks the projected rise in sea-water should the effects of global warming not be mitigated timeously

A picture taken from the By George website showing the bar in action at night. Weather projections that build in ferocity in response to increasing bar patrons flicker across the installation.

Forgotten Songs

Forgotten Songs in Angel Place references the bird species that used to sing in the region before urban growth forced them away, drawing attention to the loss of habitat

See Cities Matter and Christmas Lighting in Sydney for more stories about my trip to Sydney.

The rich tradition of Cape Jazz continues at the Rainbow Room Jazz Club. Last night I had the pleasure of listening to the Denay Willie Band. What was even more impressive was the showcasing of new Cape Town talent, as impressive young musicians aged 14-19 joined the band for various songs. The Rainbow Room Jazz Club is part of the Rainbow Experience, one of Cape Town’s newest cultural landmarks, based at Mandela-Rhodes Place in the Central City. A must for every jazz lover and supporter of the development of young Cape Town musicians! Well done to Alison McCutcheon and Frank Gormley for such a creative enterprise.

The Rainbow Experience at Mandela-Rhodes Place at 23 Church Street