While 99% – representative of the global population who have not versus the 1% who have in abundance – is mostly metaphorical, a journey through the changes and challenges we face in South Africa by way of statistics is an enlightening one.

• 25% of our national population (and 48.2% of our youth) are unemployed
• 17.8% marks the HIV prevalence among adults
• 50% live below the poverty line
• Only 7.71% of public schools have a stocked, staffed library
• 28% of Cape Town’s populations live in slums (many without adequate access to water and sanitation)
• 20% of the richest residential property owners in Cape Town occupy 41% of the residential land area
• Over 50% of Cape Town’s population are in traditional townships, run-down high rises, classified as the urban and working poor, or fall below the poverty line

In that context, what can design do?

Across the design industry and across the globe, we’re seeing a move: from designing pretty things to designing change. And transforming people’s lives through design is Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 promise.

As part of Cape Town’s bid for the 2014 designation, three case studies were identified as part of showcasing what design can do to reconnect, rebuild and reposition the city, and dramatically improve the lives of the 28%, the 50%, the 92.29%. Three highlights?

• The Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading project increased the safety of Khayelitsha residents, helped to reduce crime and violence and upgrade low-income neighbourhoods.
• Design Indaba’s 10×10 low cost housing project saw architect Luyanda Mpahlwa’s 54m² sustainable homes built from local materials and without advanced construction knowledge for around R65 000.
• Tsai Design’s Nested Bunk Beds are a set of five beds that can be retracted to take up the space of a single bed, meaning families living in small homes can sleep more children without compromising play and living areas.

What should design do?

The next milestone for World Design Capital 2014 is the signing of the host city agreement between the City of Cape Town and ICSID by the end of March 2012. In the interim, the City is working with a multi-sectoral task team to design the World Design Capital process and programme so that it’s inclusive and transformative. As an important step in this direction, they’ve planned a stakeholder forum on Tuesday 28 February at the CTICC, in the run up to Design Indaba, to provide clarity on the World Design Capital process going forward, and to stimulate ideas and excitement for getting involved.

Be a part of designing our path to 2014 and determining what World Design Capital can and should do for Capetonians. To be at the stakeholder forum, contact Fritz Marx on fritz.marx@capetown.gov.za (but note that space is limited to 500 participants, and preference is given to organisations over individuals if demand exceeds availability).

If you can’t make the forum, don’t worry: Mail your name, organisation, contact details and details of how you’d like to be involved in World Design Capital 2014 – as a project, event, sponsor or volunteer – to yourwdc2014@capetown.gov.za.

Design Indaba 2012: Creativity can change the world

Now in its 17^th year, Design Indaba is known for championing emerging creative and designers who help find key solutions to society’s seemingly intractable challenges – and inspiring others to follow suit.

As founder Ravi Naidoo puts it: “We do what we do because design is about more than aesthetics, it is about finding creative solutions to transform and improve the lives of people across the globe. Creativity can have the most material economic impact on a country and it is for this reason we are committed to our belief that a better world is possible through creativity.”

This year’s Design Indaba is made up of three key components: the conference, the expo and the film festival.

• The conference: A gathering of great design minds

These fairly high-profile public art incidents/accidents have forced us to ask fairly basic, but important questions: What is public art, and why does it matter?

The Free Dictionary includes a surprisingly good definition (while also going into scope, controversies and public arts’ connection to politics):

The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that has been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all. The term is especially significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a particular working practice, often with implications of site specificity, community involvement and collaboration. The term is sometimes also applied to include any art which is exhibited in a public space including publicly accessible buildings.

What do our local curators and commissioning bodies say about its purpose?

Jay Pather, who heads up UCT’s Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts and is curating Cape Town’s 2012 public arts festival Infecting the City, explains: “Public art is simply a way to bring the work of artists into public spaces instead of the usual expectation of the public going to theatres and galleries. This grew into a form in and of itself. Now public art is highly sophisticated and deals with ideas of public-ness, open spaces as well as developing awareness of the city and each other – thereby contributing to the wellbeing of the city’s inhabitants. In South Africa this serves two purposes: We have a history of segregated art and as a result the development of audiences has suffered – it is crucial that awareness of the value of art is raised in every possible way. We are also still a divided society in some respects. Public art brings us together into a common focus and takes what’s on the inside and makes it accessible, poetic, dynamic, vibrant.”

Jonathan Garnham, from the Visual Arts Network of South Africa, develops: “Public art enhances a city’s quality of life, making places where we live and work more dignified, interesting and beautiful. It is accessible to all and creates civic pride, reflects and promotes local identity and leaves a legacy for future generations. Public art responds to the higher needs of a community. It gets people thinking, reflecting and promotes engagement and discussion, which are important in the development of a community’s sense of self and place. It also helps with the regeneration and upliftment of an area, creating civic pride and attracting business and tourism which obviously has economic advantages.”

For Roger van Wyk, who managed the public art installations at the MyCiTi bus stops, the art form’s value is most effective when it helps people connect – which is part of why he believes in public art connected to public transport: “Public art is significant not so much for its material or sculptural qualities but rather for the opportunities that can be created for enhancing social interaction in public spaces. Art policies linking public art to public transit systems are an effective strategy proven in cities around the world. Making public transport an attractive and pleasurable experience is vital to the system’s success and is an egalitarian way to justify public expenditure. New York’s subway art programme is exemplary for decades of consistent investment in a range of public art commissions of high standard, giving the system cultural value, orientation and enhanced identity.”

What’s the state of the art in Cape Town?

Graffiti is by-and-large regarded as a public nuisance – something “unauthorised that is obnoxious or injurious to the community at large” – if you go by the City of Cape Town graffiti bylaw. Graffiti artists who don’t have the right permissions face a fine of R15 000 or imprisonment for up to three months. As Anton Visser from the City of Cape Town recently argued in an article in the Big Issue: “What happens is disorder creates disorder. Where graffiti is rampant, it invites other forms of disorder. It attracts certain elements and sends a message that it’s okay to do whatever you want there, you then have people urinating there and so on. It culminates in crime.”

If this is our legislation around street art, what’s the city’s stance on performance art, or statues or installations?

Tanner Methvin from the Africa Centre explains: “In Cape Town, our current approach to public art is via our busking rules, which dictate who can perform in public at what times. Everything else requires a permit, whether an installation piece or a performance piece. That means you need a full permit with a full plan before you can engage in any kind of public art. This kind of time consuming, resource constraining process makes it completely debilitating for artists to engage in public spaces unless you’re an organisation with capacity and resources. This keeps individual artists out. If the city wants to become a vibrant place, wants to be engaged in publicness, then we need to have a progressive and enabling (and transparent!) public arts policy.”

Jonathan elaborates: “For a city of Cape Town’s size and ambition, the situation is dire. Not enough is done by local, provincial or national government to promote and fund public art. With a population of around four million and claims of being a world-class destination, we are lagging far behind. Cape Town does not even have a public art policy in place.”

And Jay? “It is surprising that public art is not more evident – Cape Town’s environment lends itself so well to it. The reason for this is the absence of a public art policy for the city and the great bureaucratic difficulties in getting permissions. I think generally only the very persistent survive. Artists who try to do some good get lumped with large film companies who are making commercial products. Our City needs to understand that people who do public art are non-commercial, since you can’t charge pedestrians. People who do public art are doing it for the city and its residents and visitors. The City needs to realise this essential fact and act accordingly. This will help this vital art form to grow.”

How then do we ensure a more progressive stance for public art in Cape Town, one that doesn’t see it as a public nuisance?

Answer: Public policy

A public art policy – a document and an agreed-on sense of place and purpose for public art in the city – would go a long way.

Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, MD of Cape Town Partnership, explains: “The line between legal and illegal public art is not always easy to draw, since it is open to interpretation and subject to differing views. Consensus is not easily reached. All artists must get pre-approval for their works to avoid contravening bylaws. But during the World Cup, these bylaws were interpreted in a way that resulted in a more enabling environment for public art. Installations breathe life into public spaces that would normally go unnoticed. A happy medium must be found and mapped out in policy form. In this way it will not be so much about ‘illegal’ or ‘legal’ public art from a bylaw perspective, but about a vision of how public art can enrich Cape Town’s public spaces.”

A South African city that knows this and is acting accordingly is Johannesburg. That’s right: The city of gold trumps World Design Capital 2014 (at least in this regard). You can read Jo’burg’s public art policy here for yourself, but it requires, in amongst other things, that up to 1% of all capital expenditure of R10-million or more should be set aside for public art: That is, for every R10-million public investment – a new park or building – R100 000 is allocated towards a mural or sculpture or performance of some sort.

In line with this policy, the Johannesburg Development Agency – charged with stimulating and supporting area-based economic development initiatives throughout the Johannesburg metropolitan area – has commissioned 175 new public artworks and installed them in strategic public spaces across the city.

“We should lobby local and provincial government to implement a public art policy,” argues Jonathan. “It is a public right to experience such culture. It should not only be enjoyed as an optional extra, but is actually one of our basic human rights: A principle of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, at principle 27.1, ‘Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.’”

Towards a public art policy

So how do we bring a public art policy into effect? The Africa Centre, as part of the Infecting the City public arts festival in March 2012, will be hosting a half-day conference on developing a public art policy – looking at different policies effected in cities across the world, and try to distil what makes most sense to adopt in Cape Town.

When? Around 9 or 10 March 2012, during Infecting the City
Where? Somewhere in the City Bowl
Who? You, together with the Africa Centre, the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts and Cape Town Partnership
Watch this space: www.infectingthecity.com

If you want to be a part of devising an appropriate answer to our public art predicament, be there. And until that time, look on the bright side:

“The one positive to all the rules is that there are more art projects happening in our townships,” muses art curator Shani Judes. “PASTE, the street art exhibition, went into Khayelitsha – and if you take a drive you will see some of Faith47′s pieces, some Mak1one works, even two international artists – Tika and Dal – in Khayelitsha.”

Take another look at Cape Town’s public art scene:

• Public art or public nuisance? What’s public opinion? (Read more)
• Public eye on public art (Read more)

Rosemary Lombard: “The proposed bylaw defines all public art on walls in brushstrokes too broad – if passed, positive forms of expression will be criminalised. This will not solve the problem of vandalism, but merely open up more space for illegal activity.”

Ryan Jales: “Cape Town’s emerging graf artists are being recognised internationally. Why can’t we, locally, recognise our own talent?”

Cal Bruns: “Legislation like this fails to consider the social advancement evidence in support of graffiti projects in townships. Wake up to the possibilities, politicians, and say no to this poorly crafted piece of legislation!”

Amy Lehner: “There are many beautiful murals that improve the appearance of otherwise bleak corners of our city. It is important to differentiate between these and vandalism.”

Bryn Divey: “Let’s not turn the city into another bland, aesthetically commercially controlled wasteland.”

Zola Tsotetsi: “The street is our gallery. If the city only permits big corporations to advertise their products on our places, where do individuals stand who don’t gain any monetary value from beautifying our own places.”

Richard O’Mahony: “Upon visiting Cape Town last year I was blown away by the amazing paintings and murals around the city and on the sides of buildings. Cape Town is brimming with amazing, creative people and to stifle their talents would be nothing but destructive. Cape Town is a beautiful city – all the more for its fantastic street art.”

Aiden Steenkamp: “Keep the city colourful and inspiring for all who cannot afford to go to a gallery or have the luxury of a library.”

Maciek Strychalski: “If there is to be any policy making, it should be targeted at advertisers who display signs/slogans/imagery etc that is specifically aimed at hurting people’s self-perception and breaking down community pride.”

Mirjam Asmal-Dik: “Please don’t underestimate the value of art (especially graffiti!) to enrich people’s lives and its capacity to communicate socially relevant messages”

Aksel Anker Henriksen: “Criminalising public art will only lead to a crime surge.”

Neil Steenkamp: “Art is not a crime”

Incident #1: But is it art?

The first of these involved a zebra and a mistaken identity: One of 33 zebras decorated by local artists and displayed around the Artscape precinct was realistically painted (in black and white stripes) but included red graffiti-style tagging. The artwork was subsequently “cleaned up” by city officials thinking they were removing evidence of vandalism. The artist, in an interview with Myweku, tells of how the work itself was a commentary on the city’s graffiti bylaw (which draws distinctions between murals and tagging): “My work is a commentary on the… passing of the graffiti bylaw in Cape Town as I believe too that the bylaw itself is not black and white. The fact is that the city wants to completely outlaw the art of graffiti. I deliberately tagged my own artwork in this public exhibition to prove a point, to provoke them, as I knew they would remove it and they took the bait.”

Incident #2: Who is an artist?

Shortly thereafter, Sea Point became a hotbed of activity, starting with the creation and desecration of a secret garden: Henry Young and Ernest Jacobs, who have lived on the city streets for a number of decades, grew a “garden of peace” on the Sea Point promenade – cutting down bushes, planting flowers, laying down compost – only to have it dismantled by officials. “We made this garden for the community. It is a garden of peace,” said Henry in an interview with the People’s Post. “It used to be a toilet for people from the taxi rank, but we decided to make it beautiful and nice for everyone. It used to stink a lot and nobody wanted to walk past here. Now we are just very sad. Very, very sad.”

Incident #3: Who commissioned and paid for it?

Still in Sea Point, a series of statues were hacked and then hijacked: Marieke Prinsloo-Rowe’s Walking the Road – the journey of a young girl and a dragonfly meant to stand is a metaphor for our move to democracy – caused quite a stir, both online and on the street. It started with stern criticism from a Goldsmiths’ PhD candidate Linda Stupart (published on Mahala) – in which she commented on the City’s public arts’ stance (which seemingly only allows the affluent to exhibit in public spaces, at their own expense, as was the case with Walking the Road) and the artistic value of the installation itself. Shortly thereafter, the statue’s limbs were repeatedly hacked off, and one particular statue was “forcibly relocated” to the UCT men’s residence. Linda, in a response to the vandalism, said: “I am sorry that Ms Prinsloo-Rowe’s work has been so mindlessly destroyed, an action that is violent and unacceptable. It was never my intention to incite people to vandalise the work. Rather I felt it was important to point out that the work is there because of Prinsloo-Rowe’s economic advantage rather than its artistic merit. There are, however, issues [that need to be addressed] of both transparency and transformation with regard to the Sea Point Council’s decision to erect the sculptures, as well as the decision for the work to remain.” (Read the original critique, and the follow-up on Mahala for all the details).

Anything incident or accident you think we should’ve included? Leave a comment below, or find us on Facebook or Twitter to tell us all about it.

Image: courtesy of Hanrie Bosch at the People’s Post.

It is a Sunday evening in October. The end of the year is still two months away and yet a core group of the V&A Minstrels has been practising every Sunday evening since August – in preparation for Tweede Nuwe Jaar and the minstrel competitions that follow. They are one of the more than 70 troupes active all over the city – most in the Cape Flats – who are busy rehearsing for the January celebrations.

“For some people it is rugby, for others cricket,” explains Hardy Dollie, who heads up the V&A Minstrels. “For others, this – singing – is their sport.”

Hardy, who joined in his first carnival at the age of seven, speaks of the tradition with a great fondness. He explains that the V&A Minstrels – in existence since 2007 – were established in an attempt to keep the traditions of the carnival alive.

For the V&A Minstrels, it is not just about winning competitions. Hardy is quick to point out that while the coach is paid – all coaches are – they don’t pay anyone to sing, and members of the community who can sew are employed to make the costumes. While some turn running a troupe into a profitable enterprise, Hardy explains that for those without a sponsor it can end up becoming very expensive. The basics – transport costs, practice hall and coach hire, and costumes – can set you back at least R200 000. And yet, despite this and the fact that the V&A Minstrels no longer have a sponsor, Hardy admits that they will probably give away a few costumes for free or at a discounted rate so that everyone who wants to participate can do so.

“It is about keeping the traditions going and about keeping the kids off the streets,” says Hardy. “It gets everyone together and that is the beauty of the thing.”

There is something rather beautiful about the informal, social nature of the practice session. Between songs, the men break up into smaller groups; at the back of the small hall, friends sit on plastic chairs chatting; and there is an almost constant flow of people in and out of the hall.

While there are only about thirty people at this practice session – most of them men who have long since left their youth in the past – Hardy explains that, come New Year, the troupe’s numbers will swell to 600, of which between 70 and 100 will be youths. A younger man with two small daughters walks into the hall at that moment, as if to prove Hardy’s point.

When you watch the troupes marching through Cape Town on 2 January, you might not see the months of practice that have made this carnival possible. But in this small and slightly worn hall, you see it all – the love, the dedication, the community ownership that ensures Cape Town’s carnival is passed from one generation to the next for over a century.

The rich timbre of a sentimental fills the hall, and Hardy shrugs: “Hmm… it’s a bit rough around the edges. It still needs a lot of work.”

Got goema? What music has to do with emancipation

Did you know that Tweede Nuwe Jaar is closely connected with the history of slavery in Cape Town? Under slavery, some wealthier households had their own orchestras or slave bands who would play popular European dance music of the time. These bands would also play music inherited from Indonesia (many slaves in South Africa were originally from Dutch Batavia), Angola, Mozambique and the local Khoi. These would eventually fuse into goema – the base sound of the Kaapse Klopse carnival. In the early 1800s, bands would parade in the streets and visit friends on the day after New Year’s Day (Tweede Nuwe Jaar) – the one day slaves were given off every year – playing goema music. On Emancipation Day – 1 December 1834 – freed slaves paraded through the streets of Cape Town accompanied by bands of musicians.

Your guide to the goema and the glitter 

When watching the Kaapse Klopse march through town, here’s what to keep in mind:

Spirit and size matters

The troupes are made up of a core group – those who attend practice sessions throughout the year – and those who pitch up on the day, buy a uniform, and march with the troupe. Smaller troupes have between 200 and 300 members, but larger troupes can have as many as 1 000 members. Membership is open to men, women, and children.

Troupes dress for success

There is a prize for the best dressed troupe. The costumes need to change colour from one year to the next, but are always made from satin, and the style remains the same – trousers, suit jacket, and an umbrella.

Not everyone wants to be a minstrel

If you look carefully among the minstrels, you might catch sight of one or two slightly unorthodox figures – “moffie” and “atjas”. “Moffie” is a male character dressed up in women’s clothing. While some may see this as homophobic, the name “moffie” suggests a light-hearted acceptance of cross-dressing. “Atjas” – or Apache Indian – who is sometimes accompanied by devils in red costumes, wields a tomahawk, wears a scary mask and yells war cries. His role in the festival is to chase and frighten spectators, particularly children.

The parade is only part of the action

The Kaapse Klopse will parade through Cape Town, from District Six to the Bo-Kaap, at midday on 2 January 2012, starting at Keizergracht Street, moving down Darling, into Adderley and then Wale as far as Bree Street. What many Capetonians do not realise, however, is that the parade forms only a small part of the New Year’s festival, which begins with the nagtroepers (Malay Choirs) walking through central Cape Town on New Year’s Eve – usually dressed in tracksuits – singing songs. Following the Tweede Nuwe Jaar parade, the klopse will converge in stadiums for the competitions.

Where to watch

Grab your spot in the shade where Adderley turns into Wale – at the opening to the Company’s Garden and on the stairs of St George’s Cathedral. The crypt below the cathedral contains your closest coffee spot.

This article first appeared in the December/January issue of City Views: Cape Town as an unexpected city

Words: Rebekah Kendal
Image: Cape Town Tourism

Cape Town has just been named World Design Capital in 2014 – topping two other shortlisted contenders, Dublin and Bilbao, and over 50 other cities who took part in the bid – and there’s been much celebration in the Mother City. There’s also been a lot of debate about what this means, and how Cape Town should proceed. The back-and-forth inspired November’s hot topic: A beginner’s guide to what World Design Capital 2014 isn’t.

It isn’t an award
Winning the right to be called World Design Capital in 2014 doesn’t mean Cape Town is unequivocally a design city forever after, amen. It doesn’t mean we can now rest on our laurels, and wait for the design world to come to us, expecting that jobs and exposure and cross-continental collaboration will naturally follow.

It isn’t an event
This is not the World Cup – not simply a mega-event or a series of events in which Cape Town appears for a time on the international calendar. Firstly, Cape Town already has those signature design events – Design Indaba being a case in point. Yes, there will be key events on the 2014 calendar, anchored by the many exciting design –and creative industries – events Cape Town already plays host to. But the real focus of World Design Capital 2014 is the legacy it will leave. If the clock strikes midnight on 31 December 2014 in Cape Town, and we are left unchanged, then we will have lost, not won, the opportunity to be World Design Capital 2014.

It isn’t an ego trip
Ask not what World Design Capital can do for you, but what you can do for World Design Capital. There will be opportunities to submit current and future projects for inclusion, to be involved as an individual or an organisation – stay tuned to www.capetown2014.co.za for details – but in the end it’s the collaborative, the collective good, the communities that count.

So what is it?

It’s a tool: to reimagine and reinvent a Cape Town more inclusive of all its communities. There is much that we will need to do to prepare for our increasingly urban future. Our earthly population hit 7-billion this month and in the developing world, around 5-million people move to cities every month – too large a number of them to slums on the edges of cities, with inadequate access to water and sanitation facilities, yet still choosing to live there because they believe in the economic opportunities cities present. As we prepare for this future in the Mother City, help to build access – to services and opportunity – and ensure our city is sustainable and resilient, design is a powerful tool and frame of mind to inform our decisions and our decision makers. Designers need to play an integral part in reimagining an inclusive city – a Cape Town that is rebuilt, reconnected, repositioned and ready for whatever the future holds.

It’s a deadline: 2014 marks 20 years of democracy, an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve come as a nation, a city, a community, and how we’d like to design our future. World Design Capital in Cape Town is an opportunity to set deadlines to our big picture, design-minded thinking while not compromising our long-term strategic planning – just look at what we achieved through collaboration and the collective desire to meet 2010 World Cup deadlines, and how that has helped transform the city.

It’s a designation with the potential to become a movement: If you consider the word designation – an appointment, a title, a nomination – it contains both the words design and nation. World Design Capital in Cape Town has the potential to birth and become a nation, a movement, of design professionals and design-minded citizens, committed to making social change in their communities. 2014 has to start now, and we’re all a part of it.

Join the movement:
Online: www.capetown2014.co.za
On Facebook: CT4WDC
On Twitter: @CapeTown2014, #wdc2014

What makes Cape Town a design city? A visual journey
Go back in time to hear what these thought leaders had to say on the topic as part of the Creative Cape Town Clusters at Design Indaba 2009:

• David Schmidt from Strategies for Change on Cape Town as the capital of cool
• Tina Smith from District Six Museum on huiskombuis and the senses of memory project
• Architect Alastair Rendall on rapid transit by design
• Cathy Stone from the City of Cape Town on whether we can plan space for creativity
• Nadine Botha, editor of Design Indaba magazine, on Cape Town, cover to cover

Now watch the video that played when Cape Town was announced World Design Capital 2014 at the IDA Congress in Taipei:

Photo of Faith47′s artwork by Rowan Pybus: www.faith47.com

“Open Book started with a burning question,” explains the Book Lounge’s Mervyn Sloman (and co-founder of the festival), “How do we make books, the written word, available and accessible – and relevant – to the larger public, especially the youth. Literature and literary festivals can sometimes be closed-door discussions. We wanted to host something that opened up doors and debate, between Capetonians themselves, between South African authors and the international publishing scene, between those who read and those who write, and hopefully those who don’t read – yet. We wanted to open up this city through stories.”

Events were staged at key locations around the city – the Fugard, District Six Museum, the old Slave Lodge, 6 Spin Street – and included everything from serious discussions around searching for leadership in South Africa (driven by thought leaders Jay Naidoo and Jonathan Jansen) to interpretations of literary works through music (such as cellist Robert Jeffery interpreting Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo). Key to the celebrations was a youth festival on Heritage Day, which started with the library opening at Matthew Goniwe Memorial High School, moved to Harare Library in Khayelitsha where Sifiso Mzobe and Cynthia Jele read from and spoke about their novels, and ended at the District Six Homecoming Centre, where the life stories of youth who live on the Cape Flats – collected in the book Edge of the Table – were dramatised by the Human Rights Media Centre.

Given more than 150 events over five days, what was the festival’s highlight? “One of the most rewarding components was undoubtedly stocking Matthew Goniwe Memorial High School’s library,” says organiser Frankie Murrey, “thanks to the generosity of festivalgoers and publishers. The relationship with the school, its students and teachers, is one we feel strongly about and will build on through projects like the reading club we’ve begun. Our mentoring project will kick off soon, and while it isn’t focused at Matthew Goniwe students, we are excited about the impact it will have on aspiring writers.”

What has been festival feedback? Hear it from acclaimed authors themselves:

“I can say without stint or reservation that I had a glimpse of a different sort of Cape Town, a kind of literary heaven, where I had one of the best times I can remember in the nearly thirty years I’ve lived here… I know a lot of other people feel the same way. Open Book was really wonderful.” – award-winning South African author and playwright Damon Galgut

“Open Book 2011 was just terrific. Cape Town audiences and the book shop and Fugard crowd are very warm, smart, chatty, occasionally inebriated on Leopard’s Leap cabernet sauvignon. They make you feel the years of scribbling are worth it.” – comedy writer, author and performer Jane Bussmann

“Open Book offered a variety of intriguing and beautiful venues, and writers from all corners of the globe, speaking on subjects of many kinds, but I appreciated above all that through Open Book, the Matthew Goniwe High School library in Khayelitsha is now stocked with books, for school students now, and in future years to come. This reaching across from the literary community, to a less privileged community, is something I have seldom seen, but it is surely essential to the building of a better world. Thank you, Open Book, for leading the way!” – South African-born, Toronto-based author Dawn Promislow

“Open Book Cape Town is the friendliest and most fertile of festivals. The organisers run it with commitment to engaging the community that transcends the navel-gazing that can happen at these events. Cape Town itself is a key player, offering a magnificent and complex backdrop for the entire schedule.” – New York-born, Melbourne-based author Steven Amsterdam

“Open Book dazzled in its debut year – delightful venues, exceptionally well-organised and a feast of exhilarating talks and readings. Set against the unbeatable backdrop of Table Mountain, Open Book is sure to become a much-loved fixture on the international literary calendar.” – deputy director-general at the Brenthurst Foundation Terence McNamee

If you’d like to find out how you can help make Open Book 2012 in Cape Town bigger, better and even more inclusive, contact Frankie at frankie@openbookfestival.co.za.

This report back on Open Book 2011 was initially published in the November edition of City Views, on Cape Town as an innovative design city. Image courtesy of Sydelle Willow Smith

Creative Cape Town’s Goematronics Remix Competition, of course – held in partnership with Red Bull Studio, Paul Bothner Music, BPM magazine, African Dope Records and Mutha FM. This two-month competition saw digital enthusiasts and local musicians invited to create their own goema-inspired remix, with the prospect of winning over R40 000 in prizes – including a full week’s worth of Red Bull Studio time and software from Paul Bothner Music.

Blendor was our 2011 winner for his track simply entitled Table Mountain, and spent last week in studio in the Mother City claiming his prize – on a trip sponsored by Cape Town Tourism. Creative Cape Town caught up with him to find out why a KZN musician cares about a mountain and a sound from the foot of the country.

What are your musical roots?
“I grew up in northern KwaZulu-Natal. My father was a polygamist and so there are 12 of us. My granddad was a reverend and held the church in our household ­– my father used to play the keyboard. That’s where I was first exposed to music.”

Tell us about your winning track, Table Mountain, and its influences.
“With me there are no boundaries with music. My early days were rooted in gospel, then in high school listened to rock and hip-hop. That’s what my name – Blendor – links to. I can fuse different genres and come up with something unique. When I heard the sax in one of the goema tracks for the first time, it reminded me of Table Mountain. Then I found out that the mountain was being nominated as one of the New7Wonders of Nature. I’ve already voted for it.”

You went up Table Mountain for the first time as part of your prize. Can you tell us about the experience?
“It’s so high! How much higher is Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest? If it wins the New7Wonders of Nature, it would be so appropriate – it’s so beautiful.”

How did you start making music?
“In 2005 I finished my studies in visual art and bought a Pentium 4 Celeron and started making music with it in 2006. I used FL Studio and taught myself through YouTube, the help option and downloading instructions on PDF, so I’ve no formal training in sound engineering. I realised I needed better instruction and left for Durban in 2008: I needed help to understand how to produce music and get professional experience. That was the year I started using the name Blendor.”

Will you move into producing?
“I would love to see myself producing music for top artists. So far I’ve worked with Makhloka Hlalele, a house music vocalist – her single Falling is getting airtime all over at the moment. At the moment I work for KCAP, the Kwamashu Community Advancement Project, an NGO that looks to expose talent. In 2010 I was asked to be in charge of their sound studio. I find there is a higher demand for the skills to work on the desk at the moment.”

What are the highlights of your visit?
“My sessions at Red Bull Studio, going up Table Mountain and the Long Street clubs – Zula Bar and Purple Turtle are the ones I can remember. I had a lovely time.”

What can Durban learn from Cape Town?
“It’s much safer here in terms of crime. I forgot my USB storage device at an internet café and I went back the next day and it was still there, in the computer where I left it. That surprised me. Cape Town traffic can take Durban’s relaxed attitude to traffic, and its weather.”

What advice would you give aspiring artists?
“Music is a tough business. You have to be persistent and know your story. Become an expert in at least one music-making software. It’s not about the programme but what you can do with it. The programme is just a tool.”

Inspired by Cape Town’s natural wonder as much as Blendor is? Check out his song Table Mountain, and then go vote – as many times as you like and on as many platforms as possible:

Online: www.new7wonders.com/vote-2
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/New7WondersofNature
On MXit: Go to Tradepost and access MXit Reach. Click on My Culture. Add Vote4Table Mountain as a contact and then vote as many times as you like!
By SMS: SMS “table” to 34874. Each SMS costs R2.

The New7Wonders of Nature are going to be announced this Friday, 11 November 2011: Go to www.votefortablemountain.com for more information.

To hear some of the other sounds to come from the Goematronics musical mashup, go to http://soundcloud.com/groups/goemarati-remix-competition.

Photo of Blendor on top of Table Mountain by Caroline Jordan.

Cape Town’s feeling on top of the world after being named World Design Capital 2014. Want to catch the fever? Watch this video – screened at the International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taipei during an electrifying announcement of the Mother City’s win. Created by Studio Muti and set to Freshlyground’s catchy and unmistakeably Capetonian Mowbray Kaap, the video gives just a glimpse into what the Mother City has to offer.

‘Meet the Makers: Design Studio Tours’ offered attendees a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the inner workings of some of Cape Town’s premier design studios. Those who participated had the opportunity to see projects in progress, demonstrations, and learn about different studios’ culture and methodologies.

“F_ _ _ the Box” at Fusion

The week kicked off in in the Cape Quarter on Monday, 12 September with a tour of Simon Croft’s stunning furniture design studio, Fusion, followed by a stop at the industrial design headquarters of the renowned …XYZ and finishing the day at the ethereal space of graphic design studio Room 13.

Andy and Charlene Walton, the husband and wife team behind Cuie & Co.

Tuesday focused on The Fringe, so the day began with an audience interactive demonstration by design duo Pedersen + Lennard at their showroom, Field Office, on Barrack Street. ‘Meet the Makers’ then met with the lovely Cuie & Co. in their newly opened shop, Blank Space, on Roeland Street, where owners Charlene and Andy Walton gave a history of their communications design business in the most charming and polished animated presentation.

The Bank during ‘Meet the Makers: Design Studio Tours’

The day then culminated in a 2-hour tour of The Bank, a design collective on Harrington Street. Situated in the heart of  The Fringe in the former FNB Cape Town headquarters, The Bank houses the Everybody Love Everybody collaborative, Formula D Interactive, Aidan Bennetts Designs, FVE Interiors, and Furnspace 3D.

Wednesday concentrated on Woodstock studios, beginning the day with Katie Thompson showing ‘Meet the Makers’ around her visually stunning interior and product design business,  REcreate. Heath Nash then followed, with an informative tour of his studio and plastics repurposing system. The afternoon then wrapped up with Only Today, a collective consisting of Daniel Ting Chong, Adam Hill, Gillian Benjamin, Jordan Metcalf, and Emma Cook.

Vincent Urbain of Urban Africa speaks with ‘Meet the Makers” attendees.

Returning to The Fringe on Thursday, ‘Meet the Makers’ convened at the studio of Vincent Urbain of Urban Africa for a captivating talk about Vincent’s path from working in the financial sector to becoming a leather designer. Located above The Bookery on Roeland Street, Urban Africa shares a space with g-mo Footwear. g-mo Footwear owner and designer Grandt Mason then introduced tour attendees to his ethically sourced and produced line of quirky footwear.

The colourful studio space and showroom of Olive Green Cat.

The next stop on ‘Meet the Makers’ was the light and delightful studio and showroom of jewellery designers Olive Green Cat on Church Street. The charming Phillippa Green took ‘Meet the Makers’ through the history and creative process of Olive Green Cat, a joint project with fellow jewellery designer Ida Elsje and architect Gregory Katz.

Liam Mooney, renowned furniture designer, completed Thursday with a talk about his evolution as a designer, as well as his creative and business methodologies in his chic Wale Street studio and showroom.

Friday, the final day of ‘Meet the Makers’ started with a stop at the enchanting studio space of Tammy Frazer, owner of Frazer Parfum. Tammy took the group through her perfume range with sampling of all the perfumes,  and detailed her creative process from scent creation to product packaging.

Greg Wright Architects was the next port of call, where the team discussed projects and showed “Meet the Makers’ around their expansive office and studio on Buitenkant.

‘Meet the Makers’ participants with the award-winning World Design Capital bid book at Design Infestation.

Design Infestation was the final studio on ‘Meet the Makers.’ Christo Maritz led tour attendees through the bright and colourful graphic design studio. The team at Design Infestation gave ‘Meet the Makers’ the scoop on several different projects, including the Creative Week campaign as well as the World Design Capital bid book, which they won a Loerie Award for later on that weekend!

‘Meet the Makers: Design Studio Tours’ provided an opportunity for Cape Town design aficionados to rub elbows with local design luminaries and up-and-comings in their respective creative headquarters.  Moreover, the programme showcased the intense, dynamic flow of creativity that is coursing through this city.

Images: Sarah Scott www.hallucinarium.com

Words: Caroline Jordan