Johannesburg City's Cultural Adventure
by Maeve Hersman
Saul Symanowitz can be described as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs think big - and that is just what Saul did when he conceived the idea of 'Jhb Art City', a massive outdoor art gallery which is unique to Johannesburg. It is also the largest outdoor gallery in the world. In fact, thinking big again, Saul hopes that one day 'Jhb Art City' will be the defining feature of Johannesburg in the same way that the Statue of Liberty is for New York, and the Eiffel Tower for Paris.
Saul's involvement with 'Jhb Art City' stems from an event which occurred during his undergraduate BCom days. In his year he was the prize-winning student in a course entitled Property Finance and Investment. He subsequently became tutor of that course and organised a symposium at which one of the speakers, Gerald Olitzki, also a Wits Graduate, was an inner city property developer who followed up his lecture with a tour of the inner city. Saul went on that visit which left him captivated.
"I was never around in the heyday of town and had many negative misconceptions about it, primarily due to ignorance. But when I saw it and saw all the wonderful regeneration going on there I was struck by its energy and its tremendous vibe. What's special about it is that it is a contemporary, functioning African city. You can go to Sandton and it's very impressive and modern, but it's essentially the same as any North American or European City, there is nothing special about it. Something inside me clicked about the inner city and I became passionate about it."
Keen to contribute to Johannesburg's inner city regeneration, Saul became involved with the Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP), a Section 21 company dedicated to the regeneration. The CJP acts as a catalyst for such regeneration and handles many of the day-to-day aspects involved. Towards the end of 2001 Saul approached Neil Fraser, Head of the CJP, with his ideas for 'Jhb Art City', a project to display enormous artworks on buildings and thereby change the face of the inner city.
Says Saul: "My proposal struck a chord with him. He was very excited and subsequently took it to the City Council. The timing was great because of the World Summit. The City Council was looking to do programmes which would attract tourists, because there isn't that much to do around Johannesburg in terms of tourism, while at the same time showcasing the regeneration that is going on and the positive projects that have been initiated". 'Jhb Art City' was one of 10 projects selected by the City Council for funding in terms of the World Summit mandate.
Only in May 2002 was the CJP given the go-ahead for the project and granted R1 million seed capital. At the same time they were told that the pictures had to be on display by the beginning of August. A sense of urgency certainly concentrates the mind. This was a project of a magnitude that required professional input. A full-time professional Project Manager, Peta Thomas, was appointed. She worked intensively with the graphic design, printing, PR and construction companies to ensure the effective delivery of the final product. The Outdoor Media Company, a specialist outdoor advertising company was also enlisted to help. By the time of the World Summit 21 pictures were in place.
Art works were sourced in two ways. The first was via a national competition, limited to South African artists. Because of time constraints, there was only a three-week period in which to publicise the competition. In spite of this it attracted 200 entries of which 20 were selected by a panel of judges, all of whom are respected members of the art community. The other 10 pictures were drawn from large corporate companies, many of which have wonderful collections never on display to the public. Once a work had been chosen a digital image was made of it. It was blown up to massive proportions - between 100-500 times its original size.
Some of the pictures were over 600 sq meters in size. It was important to ensure that no distortion occurred in the enlargement process. The picture was then printed onto one of two types of material. If it was to be erected on a flat, windowless wall, this was a pvc or vinyl-type material. If the wall had windows a special mesh-like material was used. This enabled people in the street to see the artwork but also enabled people in the building to see through it. The pictures were then mounted onto specifically erected steel frames. The logistics of putting up the steel frames and mounting the artworks were complicated and, as Saul describes, involved a fair amount of abseiling by the construction workers.
The plan is that each year new artworks will be chosen via the competition and the corporate galleries. This will ensure that there is always a fresh new face to Johannesburg, that it will not stagnate, and that interest in the project is sustained.
The first aim of 'Jhb Art City' is to highlight the regeneration of the city, give it a facelift and a welcome splash of colour. More than R1.5 billion has been invested in specific regeneration projects by the Johannesburg Development Agency, Blue IQ and the City of Johannesburg. The art works are specifically positioned along streets which pass the regeneration sites of, inter alia, Gandhi Square, Constitutional Hill, the Newtown District, the Oriental Plaza and soon to be completed Nelson Mandela Bridge.
The second aim is to expose art to the people. "Generally art is a very exclusive pursuit in many senses," says Saul. "The average man in the street would never get the opportunity to be exposed to it, just because resources primarily stop him from doing that. What 'Jhb Art City' does is to bring art to the people rather than having to bring the people to the art. I hope it will strike a chord in a lot of people, that it will reveal a latent desire or interest they never knew they had and potentially change their lives for the better."
A visit to the inner city reveals how the artworks have become a living, breathing part of the city and interact with its buildings, workers, residents, pedestrians, hawkers and traffic in a special and positive manner. Saul adds "'Jhb Art City' successfully contributes to and reflects the soul and culture of Johannesburg. Soul and culture are abstract concepts which are difficult to pin down, but I think art, more than anything, can put a tangible face to them".
Saul Symanowitz (BCom LLB cum laude Wits), is serving his articles with the Johannesburg branch of law firm Sonnenberg Hoffmann Galombik. This article previously appeared in Arena, the magazine for the alumni and friends of the University of the Witwatersrand. It was published in the March 2003 issue, Volume 10, Number 30. Thank you to Maeve Hersman for agreeing to its publication of ArtThrob.
