Master-ful ART at the SUBSTATION at WITS
Two MA Fine Students Cobi Labuschagne and Mary Wafer are back at WITS to finish off their degrees… They’re inviting you to check out their work at the WITS SUBSTATION. Represent found out some more about them from Mary Wafer: Who are you ý Mary wafer and Cobi labuschagne? – MA fine art students. Where have you been for the last few years? Ive been living in c…openhagen for the last 2.5 years, where I still live half the time. Cobi has been in london, and cape town. Why did you decide to do your masters now? Wanted a way to spend some time in Joburg because its my home and my practice is based in a South African context. It is therefore important for me to spend some time here and paint, and of course finish my bloody degree! (ED: yes didnt want to mention u and I were at varsity together 8 years back 🙂 ) How is UJ treating you?Actually I am at WITS, which is great. Its incredible to come back to university after so many years, and realize how much time and freedom students have. (lucky buggers) What inspires this exhibition? It is really a crit, to get some feedback from lecturers, other students and public. Are any of the works for sale>? If so ý how much (range)>? All works are for sale. The substation is part of the university and does not opperate commercially. However if someone likes any paintings they should contact either me or Cobi. Most of the works will be between 6 and ten thousand rand. How do you describe your work? My paintings are lonely landscapes, with bridges. Cobis work is lonely interior spaces. What can patrons expect? A glass of wine and conversation, some paintings by up and coming yound artists. Where is the substation? The substation is opposite the Wits theatre, Jorrisen Street entrance. Open to the public of course. WITS SCHOOL OF ARTS 5 – 12 May 2005 11h00 – 14h00 Entrance in Jorrisen st Contact MARY or COBI A Statement from Mary: I am an artist living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa and Copenhagen, Denmark. I am currently registered at the University of the Witwatersrand for a Master’s Degree in Fine Art. My work explores issues of exclusion and marginality in relation to notions of space and place, particularly in relation to national transport routes and related facilities. I am working with ideas around edges, borders, and spatial liminality and differing perceptions of space/time realities. Through paintings of alienating and peripheral structures, such as freeway margins and bridges, focusing on the architectures of...
Ejo’burg.. esdididini – Will Joburg be ready for 2010?
“Ejo’burg….esidididini” – Special Assignment does its usual sniffing around to find the truth and this week its somewhere close to our heart – the Joburg Inner City building renewal plan – the big question is – will Jozi be ready for 2010 – make sure to watch and find out! Special Assignment 10 May 2005 SABC3 2130 The challenges are formidable, yet exciting. “Ejo’burg.. esdidi…dini” explores the process of turning the city around in time for the 2010 World Cup. It is directed by Msizi Khuhlane and was filmed by Jan de Klerk. They call them “sink holes” or “bad buildings”, the many derelict buildings in Jo’burg’s inner city. They have been abandoned by their owners and now house illegal tenants who live in squalor and fear. Toilets overflow, pipes leak and refuse piles up in the stairwells. This Tuesday Special Assignment travels with the Inner City Task Force, the team responsible for targeting these buildings and making them habitable again. Rescuing bad buildings from the abyss is just one of the strategies the Jo’burg Metro has adopted to revive the inner city. South Africa will be hosting the Soccer World Cup in 2010 and all our major centres will have to be ready for the spectacle. Johannesburg is the country’s economic hub and the aim is to make the CBD and surrounding areas a destination of choice – for tourists and locals alike. Ultimately the goal is to make Jozi world class. There is one big problem though. The Johannesburg city centre is probably far less ready for the soccer spectacle than most of our other cities. By the mid 90s it had gone into decline as major businesses started vacating it for the safety of the northern suburbs. Crime was out of control, hawkers had started trading where they pleased, and many apartment blocks were overwhelmed by large numbers of tenants. Even the Johannesburg Stock Exchange had left, symbolising the departure of serious capital from the inner city. And with capital gone, grime and crime took over. In the last three years there have been fresh moves to rejuvenate the inner city. The Johannesburg Development Agency has been tasked with the daunting task of turning Johannesburg around in time for the 2010 soccer spectacle. The inner city and surrounding areas are abuzz with construction: new residential blocks are going up in places like Newtown, while majestic old buildings are being renovated and turned into upmarket apartments. Any vibrant city has a mix of residents and business, and city strategists hope to achieve just this. Steps have also been taken to deal with crime. In a desperate effort...
Finally – a Joburg DVD shop to beat all others!
The Reddy brothers – Seren and Rohan did what many of us are doing these days – they quit their day jobs and decided to follow their hearts and do what they really wanna do. They decided to open a DVD rental outlet that would surpass all existing ones in Joburg and provide an abundance of great film to several niche markets. They decided to make the underground the norm – making it easil…y accessible to all…and chipile too! You know that feeling when you stare mindlessly at the rows and rows of commercial crap videos on offer in a video shop and feel completely uninspired and not interested in anything? Thanks to the Reddy brothers, those days may be just a distant memory… Seren Reddy started out as an engineer whose travels took him all over the world where he was exposed to really great films – he fell in love with movies and began collecting his favourites on all his trips and bringing them home to share… Seren’s brother Rahon, a graphic designer, was equally inspired by good film and so their passion for fabulous movies grew. Seven months ago they decided to put their moolahs where their mouths are and they started DVDGURUS in Melville on the humming moving and shaking 7th Avenue – they were attracted to Melville’s cosmopolitan crowd and knew they would find a loyal clientele there… They decided to cut through the crap and instead of becoming a mainstream video shop with 10000 titles of which only 1000 are decent, they honed in on several niche markets and decided to go for quality and not quantity… They currently stock over 1700 titles, nearly every single one being a must see. Their DVD’s are rented out at R22 each but on contract they go out from as low as R10 up to R18,50 depending on which deal you get – 5, 10, 20, 40 or 80. No draconian rules for these fire-startes – the best thing about DVD gurus is that on contracts you get 2 day returns! Unheard of! Off contract you just have to get them back by 5:30pm and on weekends 1pm ! Yebo! DVDGURUS are particularly loved for their fabulous ARTHOUSE and FOREIGN LANGUAGE and GAY AND LESBIAN movies- they have the largest ARTHOUSE/FOR LANG section in Joburg and they hope to keep on growing this stronghold. They also have a fabulous range of CLASSIC titles and documentaries. Seren gives us his TOP FIVE for the Alternative Market – people looking for movies that make u feel!: 1) OLD BOY 2) HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS/HERO 3) KUNG FU HUSTLE...
RED BULL ACADEMY – Entries close 3 June 2005!!
Anyone that’s interested in DJ’ing, music production or having wings, get on over to the RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY website and enter for this years academy taking place in Seatle in the US… Now in its eighth year, the Red Bull Music Academy continues its wholly unique approach to modern music education and appreciation, bu…ilding a free-wielding, groundbreaking curriculum composed of – in the words of Public Enemy – food for the brain, beats for the feet. At the Academy, information and inspiration are culled from any number of sources: the exchange of ideas, influences, and anecdotes; the spark and friction from hotly contested artistic debates; the communal exhilaration of a night up in da club, or the simple banging of rhythms on lunchroom tables. For those that don’t know, the Red Bull Music Academy template goes a little something like this: two groups of thirty aspiring DJs, producers, and musicians from as many as thirty different nations and representing varied musical styles descends on a different location each year. Their lecturers and mentors range from living legends and essential old school figures to some of the most talented young craftspeople making music today. Their labs are practice/recording studios equipped with turntable set-ups, mixers, samplers, keyboards and the latest music production software. Their duration of study: two two-week semesters. Their chance of experiencing something profoundly life-changing: based on the feedback of past participants, virtually assured. After memorable stops in Berlin, Dublin, New York, London, Sao Paulo, Cape Town, and Rome, this year the Music Academy plants its stakes in the “Emerald City” of America’s Great Northwest -Seattle, Washington. SEATTLE: An at once bustling and sophisticated yet charmingly intimate metropolis, the caffeine capital of the Western Hemisphere is in fact an exemplary locale for the Academy ’05. Seattle, of course, possesses a strong history of musical fertility (a splendid jazz tradition; the manic garage rock scene of the ’60s; the formation of the Sub Pop label and “grunge” movement in the ’90s), and boasts an impressive roll call of favourite sons and daughters; jazz and R&B icons Ray Charles, Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson, surf rock dudes the Ventures, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Mr. “Square Dance Rap” himself Sir Mix-a-Lot have all called Sea-town home during their formative and/or most potent years. This community also clearly cherishes the value of artistic preservation, being the home of the Experience Music Project, a landmark museum featuring exhibits on every important pop music movement of the past five decades, from the inception of rock n’ roll through the underground disco years and birth of hip hop. But perhaps what makes Seattle most...
CARDS – A refreshing sexy performance
The ‘Parental Guidance’ printed on the ticket is not just a space-filler. It’s probably the best advice you need when watching CARDS at the Market Theatre coz if your parents didnt guide you as to the birds and the bees of this world, you’re sure to have it all spelt out for you at CARDS. Represent attended the media viewing of the show and WOW were we blown away. It’s an exp…licit tale of the realities of a Hillbrow brothel, brilliantly led by our very own Nigerian Siyabonga Twala – the man was outstanding… It’s a 100% South African story, cast, director and show but in it’s very nature is a break from the traditional content of our theatre and a welcome foray into the NOW of our lives… Well not our lives but the lives of a whole bunch of gorgeous prostitutes working for the dodgy MUBARA (Twala). The set is cleverly put together, creating a moving, shifting and energetic show, filled with some incredible acting talent… I particularly loved the madala security guard, who caused us endless giggles… then there’s world class acting performances from a range of actors – Tsepo(the lawyers son), the crooked lawyer himself, Tana, Eva, Bonolo, the christian soldier…the bribable Judge… they’re all great actors and I am so proud of this work. It’s a long all night affair, but we never found ourselves bored for a moment – it’s one of those stories that one doesn’t want to give away as the nudity and sex scenes need to be experienced first hand for them to have the full effect. Only two small comments – the music = which was a great selection – tends to cut in and out a bit abruptly and there were one or two moments where it was a little too loud underneath dialogue. Also – the STRIPPY scene – and you’ll know which one i mean if you go and watch it – could also have been lit a little more erotically… But otherwise – it’s a mind-blow and a shock to the system but what we would account for an extremely realistic and entertaining journey into the dark side of our tough old Hillbrow. Bravo to the entire cast and team – guys – make sure to watch this and for those with weak hearts, don’t forget to take your medication before you go. CARDS Market Theatre Written and directed by Paul Grootboom. 7 May – 5 June 2005...
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