One of my oldest and dearest friends in the world, Joao, has arrived for a long visit to SA; I look forward to enjoying a bit of the country with him.
My aunt and uncle also arrived in joburg this week, so we’ll be doing a bit of a blitz on things to see :)
Most importantly, my new distance teaching course, net.art: online interventions, is now open for registration! This class will be H-O-T, so get on board ASAP…
Just got back from a little extended weekend trip to Cape Town, where I met up
with my Aunt and Uncle, on their first trip to South Africa. Admittedly, it was
more exhausting than relaxing to show them around, but great to see them, do a
bit of the wine routes, and also chill with my bro-in-law and his peops (tho catch-up
/ work time is a bit daunting, and there was no turkey on thanksgiving). Only
got to see my NYC buddy Ralph Borland
briefly, but that was pretty cool – he’s also attempting to find ways of promoting
and lecturing on new media art here in SA. I have to admit, although Wits seems
to be much more on the ball with their MA program(s) in Digital Media (thanks,
almost entirely, to Christo Doherty), there seem to be more practicing artists
aware of, and using, the niche technologies used for interactive art and video
over in CT and at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, at UCT, than here in Joburg.
Perhaps I should spend more time down there… or maybe talk to Christo about
getting some of them up here?… I was really impressed to chat to an artist experimenting
with Jitter and SoftVNS, as well as hear about a few students engaging with analog-to-digital
communication for their work – both rarities in this here country (mostly unheard
of, to be honest).
Due to family and exhaustion, I couldn’t make it to the 46664 concert, tho I did
spy the masses down in Green Point. I think Madiba and Oprah are gonna do a world
of good with this one (will not list all the wonderful artists involved on my
blog, but you get the gist).
I hear that the Kebbles have doubled and that Clive van den Berg, lecturer and
artist at WSOA (Wits School Of Arts) has taken over as curator. I wanted to read
up, but none of the media links on the
site seem to be working… That awards sums up to a lot of food.
At least I get to see Finding Nemo with Angus tomorrow. Off to Newtown now for
the close of the HIV festival…
I recently stumbled onto Lauren
Wheeler’s web site. Although I honestly can’t remember having long or meaningful
conversations with this woman while we were together at Cornell (this is because
they never happened by chance, not because either of us was incapable of such
things – or so I’d like to think), I do have a handful of fond memories where
I had the pleasure of seeing her perform some poetry up in i-town. And from the
few brief conversations we did share, I think she was/is a bit of alright. Admittedly,
reading her words on screen is not as dialogical or powerful as seeing her live,
but that is Mos Def not to say that power is lacking. Check
her out.
Another note, Pat Benatar playing live, and for free, in NYC. Sorry to miss it.
And, for those of you on my side of the globe, Anti-Retroviral
Theatre (ART) has its first showcase of student work this Sunday, beginning
2PM @ The Dance Factory, Newtown Cultural Precinct (downtown, next to MegaMusic),
Johannesburg. Background: ART
is a course aimed at providing people living with HIV with a range of new skills,
in order to transform their own lives and find innovative ways of creating positive
possibilities for themselves and their communities, to become more actively engaged
in social transformation.
I’ve done a few poetry workshops with these peops, and I have to say that they
are doing amazing work – and I’m talking about the students, here, even more than
the facilitators. Ages range from 17-45, and the backgrounds of the participators
are even more diverse (most are coming in from the townships, daily; ART
provides transport money and lunch, and the workshops are all free free free).
Be prepared for some amazing and dynamic people, doing even more amazing and dynamic
things – the course has included workshops in arts, holistic and positive living,
dance, trust, music, painting, photography, storytelling, performance poetry,
sound journeys, acting, mime, physical theater, yoga, PNI (psycho-neuro-immunology),
nutrition and home based care. The showcase will feature its students speaking
back to, and conversing with, these skills and topics.
…………….goodbye elliott
i’m no genius, but I believe that elliot smith’s death is a real tragedy. let’s hope the media treat this one with some care…
Ha! Apple’s iTunes is now available for Windows machines. Their headline reads: Hell froze over; the best Windows app ever. And, of course, it’s free. It is indeed pretty cool to be able to buy music on the fly…. Movin’ on up!
Last night, I headed over to Gallery
111 for a musical performance and the Botsotso poetry reading. There was a
really great vibe, and it was nice to share some words. I recommend checking out
the space/reading next month.
Ralph B is back in SA and
I think we’re going to start to see a lot more interesting digital art experiments
out here, thanks to him. We’re going to chat today about introducing "physical
computing" to the new digital media MA programs at Wits
and UCT. Of course, we’re
also going to catch up and have a fun braai (that’s a South African BBQ).
Just (imagine that word sung) in case any of you haven’t heard, I am
currently seeking venues for my new interactive installation, stuttering[odys]
– there are images and video online, and I’m also happy to send out a package
on
request.