CURB THE VENGEANCE – Special Assignment Tue 12/4
Special Assignment takes us on another mind-opening journey but this time into the prisons of SA – Don’t miss the show next Tuesday 12 April. South African prisons are bursting at the seams. We have the largest number of prisoners in Africa, with 185 thousand South Africans incarcerated. Problem is there is only space for 115 thousand inmates. So 70 thousand prisoners a…re crammed into our jails in steadily worsening conditions. There is barely space for exercise, let alone rehabilitation. It’s a subject that evokes much passion and anger. Victims of crime say too much is made of the rights of prisoners. But a man who describes himself as “a real jailbird”, 77 year old Judge Hannes Fagan, is outraged. “We are the 3rd worst country in the world for our love of incarceration. Four out of every thousand South Africans in prison. We are completely out of touch…what are we doing?” Fagan, who heads the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons, lays the blame for over-crowding at the doors of Parliament, which passed minimum sentence legislation in response to crime. It sets out a string of minimum sentences that courts have to impose for certain types of crime. As a result, the prison population has shot up and human rights advocates are aghast. Vincent Saldanha of the Law Society, who has visited prisons countrywide, has urged government to reconsider the legislation when it comes up for review at the end of April 2005. “No society should be burdened by having so many life prisoners. It is not the answer to the public baying for blood. We need to be more creative about our sentencing”. Special Assignment goes into South African prisons and introduces viewers to inmates like Byron Smith, who received a 15 year minimum sentence for dealing in cocaine. But he says his real punishment was the death of his mother from a terminal illness. They wouldn’t let me see her. All I wanted to do was to say goodbye to the old lady. No one feels sorry for you in those situations. For me that was my sentence. It shaped my heart. We meet Charne Brown, a mother who runs her home from her cell in the women’s section of Port Elizabeth’s notorious “Rooi He””. “There are a lot of people that don’t belong here. Why can’t we get correctional supervision? Nothing is done here to help you change. There is no rehabilitation. You change yourself”. In the words of Judge Hannes Fagan: “It is vindictive! It is vengeance!” “CURB THE VENGEANCE” was directed by Jessica Pitchford and was filmed by Byron Taylor and Thulo Monare. SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT...
BIRTHDAY PARTY at 44 Stanley – 1 week to go
Not much can beat lazing around 44 Stanley in Milpark on a schoolday pretending to talk business – the laid back atmosphere is contagious… Make sure to ‘Expose yourself and get intimate’ with NIcola Deane who’s having a sexy BIRTHDAY PARTY EXHIBITION at the Muti Gallery. NICOLA DEANE THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 14 APRIL TO 5 MAY 2005 THE MUTI GALLERY, 44 STANLEY AVE, MILPARK, …JOHANNESBURG Email -gallery From the artist: ‘I have three major interests in my life: food, sex and art,’ declares artist Nicola Deane. ‘The order of importance is constantly shifting, and they also merge at times.’ Deane’s provocative body of work includes a video piece titled ‘Nicola’s First Orgasm’ in collaboration with Aryan Kaganof, and a live performance, ‘Home Economics’, featuring the artist making chocolate moulds of her labia. Her latest show, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, continues the theme of exposure and intimacy. The show presents images from her soon-to-be published book Cunt Skin Poems, and includes a collection of intimate digital works installed as light boxes, together with the title work, ‘The Birthday Party’ – a billboard-sized digital image of a Victorian threesome. Asked about the title work, Deane is characteristically playful. ‘Combining the erotic image of a Victorian threesome with the innocent title “The Birthday Party” challenges social etiquette. The threesome depicts a strange celebration, like a mad hatter’s tea party. It makes sense in some obscure and disturbingly sexy way.’ As a show, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY literally and figuratively sheds light on the intimacies of womanhood – unveiling biological and sexual taboos that are usually kept hidden. Most of the images are composed from found images and text, including erotic novels and pornography, remixed with Deane’s own text and imagery. Hers is the irreverent and unapologetic voice of a new kind of sexual liberation. Though startling, even shocking, Deane’s exploration of femaleness and sexuality is playful rather than preachy. She brings an almost-childlike innocence to essentially adult material and the result is refreshingly honest. ‘I merge the primary sexual nature of the little girl with the psycho-sexual preoccupations of the adult woman, who is always searching to reclaim that childhood sexual freedom and “purity”,’ says Deane. In an act of artistic bravery, Deane casts off the security blanket of political correctness in favour of a more naked statement. This nakedness is what makes her work both beautiful and uneasy....
8 April – Beautiful SA film released – THE FLYER
I LOVE IT! More and More local film releases are steaming on through – Make sure to support this burgeoning industry of ours = Catch THE FLYER – a poignant tale of a street kid {Kier) who is taken under the wing of former trapeze great (Anders) – Kier battles to break free of his dodgy criminal past but the belief and support of Anders takes him to new...
MIME and JAZZ at WITS (UJ) this month
If you feel like your arty side needs to hang out a liitle bit this month and you don’t know what to do and don’t wanna pay big bucks – head for WITS – there’s plenty going on! AT great prices! 4 STRAIGHT SAXES & A TRIO OF JAZZ If you’re not watching the SAMA’s on Saturday night get down to The Atrium, SW Engineering Building, Wits East Campus in Braamfontein… for two JAZZY performances all for the unbelievably good price of R50. There’s The Lex Futshane Trio featuring Tlale Makhene on percussion – a SAMA nominee if I am not mistaken – There’s also Clare Loveday and her Saxophone quartet – sounds like it’s going to BLOW UP!! 4 STRAIGHT SAXES AND A TRIO OF JAZZ The Atrium, SW Engineering Building, Wits East Campus, Braamfontein Saturday 16 April @ 18h30 Book at Computicket – for any enquiries please call (011) 717-1376 or Email them JOURNEY – Movement theatre with Pieter Van Zyl Well if Jazz is not your Flava then how about watching one of our slickest MIME artists who’s recently returned to the country after studying with the best of the best overseas – He focuses on the the corporeal mime-technique of Etienne Decroux in which compositions for the body is combined with spoken text about journeys… Mhhm – sounds interesting – But isn’t MIME supposed to SOUNDLESS??? Well you get a chance to ask Pieter all about it as In addition to the two performances of Journey, Pieter Van Zyl will present a lecture-demonstration, which is open to the public, on Tuesday 26 April from 16h00 – 17h30, in the Wits School of Arts Movement Room 9th floor University Corner, Jorissen Street admission is free. Tickets for the movement-theatre piece, Journey, are very reasonably priced at R 20,00 and booking is at the door only! JOURNEY – movement theatre with Pieter Van Zyl The Wits Theatre, Jorissen and Station Streets, Braamfontein Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th April @ 19h00 R 20,00, available from the box office, Wits Theatre Foyer Enquiries on (011) 717-1376 or EMail...
Poetry in N-town @ Couch and Cofffee -Market Theatre
If you’re a wordsmith and love to hear them flow make sure to get down to Newtown to the Couch and Coffee on the first Sunday of every month from 3pm for a Performance Poetry session. That would make the next one on the 1st May… They usually have guest poets, some regulars plus an open mic session, so bring something of your ow…n if you’re up to reading in front of an audience. See you at the Couch and Coffee. First Sunday Every Month 3pm onwards Couch and Coffee Market Theatre parking Newtown...
Special Screening of WE REMEMBER DIFFERENTLY
Jyoti Mistry, head of television at WITS School of Arts will be having a special screening of her short film WE REMEMBER DIFFERENTLY at Wits on Thursday 21st April at 18h00. To attend the screening, please call (011) 717 -9749. Short synopsis: A mother and daughter come to terms with their memories in present day Johannesburg. we remember differently is a story… about the experiences we choose to share and those we prefer to keep safely hidden, about the questions we ask and those we keep to ourselves. Focusing on memories and interactions in the realm of the private, we remember differently presents a unique voice within the South African discourse on race and memory and offers a comment on the unconscious of an emerging nation. we remember differently a short film by Jyoti Mistry Thursday, April 21st, 2005 at 18:00 Senate House, 2nd Floor, Senate Room Introduction: Colin Richards Panel Discussion lead by Jane Taylor with Jyoti Mistry, Dorian Heatlie and Nishlyn Ramanna...
We will be back!
