The projects for this years Biennial Festival in Cape Town are being exhibited at various venues throughout the city. In years past, the festival was somewhat of a commercial event, with organizers seeking to create an international art scene. This did serve to bring in artists and spectators from around the world, however at the cost of the local artists and their work being pushed to the wayside. This year, and the economy is still in decline, and in an attempt to rectify the issues of the local art being somewhat ignored, organizers focused on the art of their own country. This is still serving to bring in tourists, many of them staying at the South Africa five star hotels, and giving a boost to the other businesses and the local economy.
One of the events, curated by a young local curator, Nonkululeko Mlangeni, was exhibited at a high school. The woman known as the “Queen of African Pop” was a student at the school in the Langa Township, Brenda Fassie. Langa is the oldest black neighborhood in Cape Town and the location of one of the most fierce resistance during Apartheid. Murals were painted along the school walls celebrating her controversial style and the song she had written during the early 90′s, “Black President”, which was in honor of Nelson Mandela. The turnout at this particular exhibit was impressive and enthusiastic.
Another local curator, Lerato Bereng, staged a traveling show called “Thank You Driver”. Performers from the company Gugulective, performed in taxi cabs while they were driven throughout the city, and from town to town. This was an interactive and audience participatory show, as the performers interacted with the passengers lucky enough to hail one of these cabs. On one of the performance days, gospel singers rode along and would occasionally burst into song, much to the surprise of unknowing passengers.
The exhibit that most attacked the social issues in the country was designed by a journal that is based in Cape Town, Chimurenga. This was an installation piece at the Cape Town library. They created an alternative catalog of the books, using cards with words written on them that were simplified into one word descriptions, such as “Complacency”, “Poverty”, and “Truth”. They also reclassified the books in the History of South Africa section. The spines of the books were covered with paper, two shades of brown, black and white. This was intended to question the censorship of what is written in the history books about the aspects of Apartheid. While this was a socially charged event this year, it was after all, still a festival, and there was celebratory feel as the artists and performers were not just illustrating the world, but attempting to change it for the better.
Related posts:
Leave a Reply