The Cape Town Festival is on again
by Sue Williamson
Despite a long period of on-again off-again frissons and the mean-spirited withdrawal of all support from the Democratic Alliance dominated city council, the Mother City will once again host a cultural festival for a seven day period from March 16-24 2002.
At a well-attended launch at the District Six Museum last week, the organisers, Zayd Minty, Ryland Fisher and Beryl Eichenberger, stalwarts of past festivals, introduced plans for what promises to turn Cape Town into a "hot, rhythm-related city" with an emphasis on the culture of the Southern Hemisphere. Visual arts, crafts, music, theatre, dance, literary arts, film, video and media arts, cuisine and heritage will all play their part.
On the visual arts side, 'Night Vision', based on the successful Art Nights initiated by the Association for Visual Arts, will take place on Wednesday March 20. This expanded event will offer the public a night on the town, with street performances and galleries and antique stores staging special events for a walkabout experience which shows the city at its safest. This time around, the popular gay district of Cape Town around Somerset Road will be added to the central city areas.
The second biennial Month of Photography will form the core of the visual arts programme, and exhibitions and installations will be found not only in traditional venues such as galleries and museums, but also in alternative venues like clubs, bars and restaurants.
Arts organisation Public Eye will host an international symposium on public art from March 15-17 at the Spier Wine Estate, a 35 minute drive from the city. Also at Spier will be the first Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, set in the beautiful surroundings of the popular wine estate. Linked presentations on public art will take place at the Centre for the Book during festival week. International artists include Swiss contemporary arts couple L/B and US media artist Lyn Lukkas (whose piece will use body sensors and the viewer's heartbeat).
One of the most exciting art projects will be 'Voices in Transit', located in the Cape Town city station on the theme of xenophobia, space and travel. Commuters and visitors will see the advertising showcases and billboards in the station buildings transformed by art installations. Performance, a free newsletter to commuters and special broadcasts will all be part of the programme.
Curated by Tom Mulcaire, Portuguese-Mozambican artist Angela Ferreira will create a unique public art installation on the foreshore, based on plans for a building for the Zip Zap circus.
The Italian contribution to the festival will be the highly acclaimed La Compania dei Folli (the Company of Madmen) who will be presenting high energy medieval inspired street performance with mime, fireworks, stilt walking and original music scores. Cape Town's own Odd Enjinears will perform their brand of African site-specific work with music machines, In addition, there will be dance, music, Brit DJs, parties - and the Vodacom in Touch project will take people to two community centres on March 17, where performance, visual arts and film organised by Molweni Films will take place. Transport from the city centre will be provided.
Planning a trip to Cape Town? Come in March!
