Have you, as a South African, ever realized just how beautiful our nation really is? The wealth of the natural surroundings in our mountains, coastline, rivers, hills, veld, valleys and bush? But even more so, the true treasure we possess: our people.
On 21 February, Africa’s only public arts festival – Infecting the City – will turn streets and squares into stages and theatres, train station into an art gallery and malls into dance studios. In this way art will be freely on display for people of all colour, creed and status. All in the name of celebrating and remembering what makes us so unique in the cape and highlighting our treasures.
Artwork and live performances will be on display for us in the most unexpected places. Perhaps as you step off the train, as you leave work during your lunch break or even as you pass rubbish truck collecting all the cities dirt.
Cape Town is home to the most diverse range of people who all have their own cultures, traditions, rituals and way of life. “The Jewels” are a collection of short performances which stage this cosmopolitan flair of ours. Piper system (cape flats martial arts), xhosa stick fighting, b-boying, ballet, sari-wrapping and Ratiep (ritual piercing brought by Indonesian slaves) are just some of what the “jewellers’ or choreographers will piece together into public art.
On the music gem stage at Cape Station, you’ll find a carnival of sounds stemming from different communities. You may hear the car guard quartet, goema symphony, spaza hiphop or teiko drumming on any given day. Or if you happen to be shopping in St.Georges mall, you could join a jazzing class which can also be described as the salsa of the Cape flats.
You may think you know Cape Town well but I “˜d take a bet that some of the city treasures to be uncovered by the artists, you may never have imagined existed. Concealed symbols, old “˜third class’ parts of the station, heritage sites and even rivers running from Table Mountain beneath our streets.
There are eight artists participating in the “slices of life” portion of the festival who are revealing just how destructive and wasteful we are in the city and will use our recyclable garbage collected from the richest and poorest areas and turning it into creations of “wasted treasure”.
So for six days, we all get the chance to experience old and new, a bit of our past combined with our present, learn and experience and enjoy what the city of Cape Town has to offer. The best part is that you don’t even have to visit a theatre or gallery for art or performance, because Infecting the City is bringing it all to the streets.
Dates: 21-26 February
Times: Performances, displays, tours begin at 8:15am and run throughout the day until 10pm
Venues: Main festival hub and information desk is based at the square in front of Cape Town train station.
Contact:
Visit www.infectingthecity.com for the festival map, times and programme. Join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter
Tel 021-422-0468, [email protected]
