Feb
13
2010
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.
1 comment | tags: Africa Centre, Creative Cape Town, Infecting the City, Public art, Public space, Spier Public Arts Festival | posted in Cape Town Central City, Cities and Culture, History and Memory, Public Space for Public Life
Jan
19
2010
Ports d’Attache, or Home Ports, is a Canadian documentary series on 13 major port cities*, currently in the process of production. One of the cities is Cape Town, and I had the opportunity earlier this week to show reknowned Canadian photographer Heidi Hollinger, the host of the show, and her crew, around the Central City. The documentary series is looking, amongst other things, at the impact that ports have had on a city’s history, people, culture and development.
The series is specifically not focusing on popular tourist spots but what it terms ‘the soul of the city’. Walking only a short distance, we were able to discuss the origins of Cape Town as Camissa, the ‘place of sweet waters’ where for centuries, indigenous inhabitants watered their herds until their dispossession by the Dutch East India Company; the consequences of the importantation of slaves from Africa, India and the East to build the Castle, dig the canals, plant the Company’s Garden and construct the early settlement; the origins of Greenmarket Square, Church Square and the historic role of Eerste Berg Dwars Straat (St George’s Mall); the devastating impact of forced removals of tens of thousands of families from the Central City through the Groups Areas Act; the gradual separation of the city from the sea with the construction of the modern industrial harbour and the reclamation of the Foreshore, and current efforts to reconnect the mountain to the city to the sea, and the many other issues that have shaped the history of Cape Town.
The Purple Shall Govern - telling the story of the September 1989 march in town that defied the apartheid police alongside the public sculpture by local artist Conrad Botes on the corner of Berg and Church Streets that commemorates the event
With photographer Heidi Hollinger at the Rainbow Experience in Church Street
Celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990 (almost twenty years ago!) and his first speech to the world as a free man from the Cape Town City Hall balcony
All pictures courtesy Heidi Hollinger and crew, with thanks. The Cape Town Partnership conducts regular walking tours in the Cape Town Central City – all welcome!
*Cities: San Francisco, Helsinki, Marseille, Lisbon, Havana, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Houston, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Melbourne and Reykjavik
no comments | tags: Cape Town Central City, Heidi Hollinger, History and Memory, Home Ports, Ports d'Attaché, Public art, Reclaim Camissa | posted in Cape Town Central City, Global Cities, History and Memory
Jan
17
2010
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.
2 comments | tags: By George, Jan Gehl, Laneways, Public art, Public space, Sydney, Urban Development | posted in Cities and Culture, Global Cities, History and Memory, Public Space for Public Life, Urban Development
Nov
20
2009
There is nothing better than a city with great public art, sculptures, murals and posters in well-used public spaces. Here are some of my favourite examples…
Water Games, Barcelona: 'An interactive and refreshing installation that invites you to participate by holding hands with others to make a ring around a fountain'. Part of the newly upgraded public space known as the Forum, these water featues proved to be an instant hit.
Interactive water features are always a hit with children
Tate Modern, 2008
La Defense, Paris, 2008
Chicago, 2009
Government poster, Hanoi, 2007
Known irreverently as the 'Stiffey by the Liffey' and various other uncomplimentary names, the 120m Spire of Dublin, the world's tallest sculpture, was erected in 2003 as part of the regeneration on O'Connell St area in Dublin. The metal changes colours depending on the light due to its reflective properties.
Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, Millennium Park, Chicago, 2009
Joan Miro's 22m Woman and Bird (1982) located in the Parc Joan Miro (or Parc de l'Escorxador, named after the former slaughterhouse on the site), Barcelona
To be continued…
no comments | tags: Barcelona, Chicago, Dublin, Hanoi, La Defense, Paris, Public art, Public space, Tate Modern | posted in Cities and Culture, Global Cities, History and Memory, Public Space for Public Life
Copyright & Copy 2009 Andrew Boraine