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
I will be presenting an introductory course on how to create Instagram and Facebook filters as well as how people can implement their art projects in different ways through Augmented Reality and Social Media.
Algorithmic Autobiographies and Fictions Writing with your Digital Self
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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 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
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Young Woman brings a healthy child to life, her husband gets retrenched and loses his job, who then decides to abandon his family because he doesn’t want anything to do with the child or the idea of being a father.
Director: Joseph Komani Written By: Joseph Komani Choreographer: Mpho Maifadi Music Composed By: Nebo Mafabatho Featured Artists: Gina Mabasa, Nondumiso Mabena, Busisiwe Mazibuko, Nonhlanhla Dube, Nonstikelelo Mfene, Siseko Mvelelo, Zimkhitha Nyoka, Gomotsegang Rangwashe Company: The South African State Theatre
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A story about two South African waste workers that earn the minimum wage. They take us on a journey of how they got to where they are and they also highlight the different spheres of the economy. The play is set on a day with them where they are at work and are fed up of their barely moving standard of living.
Director: Mthobisi Khwela & Thobani Gama Written By: Mthobisi Khwela & Thobani Gama Featured Artists: Mthobisi Khwela & Thobani Gama Company: Young Outreach Artists
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito – UnOwed to Kwaito / Photo: Mark Wessels
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Ekasi Lam – An Ode to Kwaito, Un-Owed to Kwaito presents the point of view that there is no genre closer to an accurate portrait of the township than kwaito. It posits that when closely observed, kwaito – and all its subsequent sub-genres – is the living literature of Johannesburg’s South Western Townships, and every kasi beyond Soweto’s borders.
Writer and director Jefferson Bobs Tshabalala together with musical director Bernett Mlungo use scamtho poetry as a vehicle to tell a unique township story about South African kwaito and how its vast catalogue has offered timeless, nuanced vignettes and a myriad insights into how the majority of Mzansi lives.
Much like hip hop, kwaito is ‘urban poetry’, an agent for social commentary through its lyrics and the statements its practitioners stand for. From points of charged political awareness to engaging with sociological issues, from cultural critique to astute personal introspection, kwaito’s themes and concepts are far reaching and formidable.
Director: J.Bobs Tshabalala Music Composed By: Bernett Mlungo Featured Artists: Simpho Mathenjwa, Mathews Rantsoma, Gugu Dhlamini, Lucky Ndlovu, Kopano Tshabalala Company: Jefferson Bobs Tshabalala
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Sirqus Alfon is the story of a group of friends who started out as street performers and ended up on big stages. Using their personalities as a starting point for drama and physical tension, the performers of Sirqus Alfon weave an infectious spell of unbridled insanity. Chaotic adventure with technical hi-jinx that you have never seen on the stage before makes Sirqus Alfon a unique artistic experience.
Hailing from Sweden, Sirqus Alfon presents I AM SOMEBODY – a unique high-tech musical innovation for the internet generation (and everyone else). Skilfully crafting an interactive comedy performance imbued with rhythm, humour and a touch of magic, they represent a genre entirely of their own in which the audience gets to be the star of the show.
Sirqus Alfon has been touring internationally since 2004 – from Chinese theatres to refugee camps in Palestine to burlesque clubs in New York. They have worked with the Swedish National Touring Theatre, Cirkus Cirkör, and Clowns without Borders. Sirqus Alfon appeared on Season 12 of America’s Got Talent and won the Pick of the Fringe Award at the 2017 Adelaide Fringe.
Featured Artists: Martin Östman, Erik Rosales, Henrik Strindberg Company: Sirqus Alfon
Creators: Martin Östman, Erik Rosales, Henrik Strindberg Outside eye: Hugo Hansén Assistant Choreographer: Sofia Södergård Costume Design: Helena Andersson Makeup Design: Agnes Kenttä Creative Producer: Follow the Rabbit / Josefin Lindberg Photo Credit: Klara Granberg
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Birthing Nureyev is based on the life of Rudolph Nureyev, Russia’s finest dancer who slipped through his keepers’ fingers to defect to the West on 16 June 1961. The work focuses on Nureyev’s dramatic defection and the KGB’s insidious attempts from behind the iron curtain to destroy his career, juxtaposed with his prodigious success in the West. Despite his fame and fortune, Nureyev was shattered when his country of origin denounced him and damningly charged him with high treason. Most disconcerting was his inevitable alienation from his loved ones, and his untimely death due to AIDS-related complications.
Director: Andre Odendaal Written By: Henque Heymans Choreographer: Ignatius van Heerden Company: leftfoot productions
