Category: 2020 vNAF

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Another Kind of Dying: Virtual Experience – Amy Wilson

In this 360 degree Virtual Experience, viewers can glimpse scenes from Another Kind of Dying by Amy Louise Wilson, which won the 2020 Distell National Playwright Competition. The play follows the journey of Silumko, who moves from rural Eastern Cape to Johannesburg after the loss of his father. Judge Yvette Hardie called the play “transcendent and hopeful”, while Malika Ndlovu praised its treatment of “issues of substantial gravity and complexity.”
Created using volumetric capturing of a live performance, the actor’s body is captured in 3D depth and placed it into an animated virtual environment.

Written by Amy Louise Wilson
Translated by Aphiwe Livi
Performed by Aphiwe Livi
Direction by Joanna Evans
Video by Francois Knoetze
Music by Dumama + Kechou

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Algorithmic Autobiographies – Tanya Kant and Sophie Bishop

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Many people will be familiar with that targeted ad that follows them around the web, or that unnerving feeling that Facebook or Google is tracking their every move – perhaps even listening to their conversations. In the age of data vellience, platform providers use such techniques to predict our age, gender and interests. But who does Facebook really think you are? What kind of identity has Google decided you inhabit? This workshop will tackle these questions, by offering participants a chance to engage with their data self. We will discover how our algorithmic identities are created, what they can and cannot know about us, and what we can and cannot know about them. But this is no tech workshop – no experience with data required. Instead, participants will get the chance to creatively collaborate with their data self: through experimental drawing and / or by a writing a short story, based on the selves that social media platforms think they are.

Co-developers and directors:
Dr Tanya Kant
Dr Sophie Bishop

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After God’s Own Heart – Palesa Matabane

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After her untimely demise in a taxi a young girl finds herself at the Pearly gates. Before her Anubis, Death, Saint Peter, her Ancestors, a host of angels and Styx all awaiting to hear her final confession before she can be led to her final resting place. The audience take on the role of the host of Angels and the Ancestors who are there to help Saint Peter, Death, Styxs and Death determine her final resting place. The narrative is a true confession superimposed on the fictional situation of my death. The fiction provides a context through which to involve the audience and the confession is the performance. By using online social media tools and methods the performance is to be carried out as a guided confession where the actors coax the audience into performing with them and the come to a verdict.

Creator/director and performer: Palesa Matabane
Cast/content creators : Morena Hlatshwayo, George Dywilli, Mahloli Pesa, Matete Phala, Chad Johnston, Hlobisile Mahlangu