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06 October 2005 by nathaniel

Just in Time

athena mazarakis - just in time. photo by christo doherty
athena mazarakis – Just in Time. photo © christo doherty

I went to catch the student production of Athena’s new physical theatre piece last night, Just in Time. The critic in me has to start by saying that most of the “movements were unfinished.” It’s funny cuz this is what my wife, an ex-ballerina, says about a lot of dancers in general, claiming that you need to learn how to speak with your entire body first, before you can disregard portions of it. When I say this, I mean it conceptually.

But my saying this is meant to be a compliment, in that it’s so rare I see a piece of theatre that attempts, and even begins to engage in, such interesting concepts. Almost every scene enthralled me, and heightened my curiosity in seeing the journeys they would take me on – in and around an exploration of time, and our relationship to it. Oh, and it had a lot of funny bits, too :)

Is it also really fair that I couldn’t help but compare it to the best theatre piece I’ve ever seen (simply because of a similar subject matter — by the way, I’m speaking of Mnemonic, by Theatre de Complicite)? This is a student production, after all, so probably not….

recommended

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05 October 2005 by nathaniel

art in JHB and GHT

First off, big ups and big welcomes to AJ Venter, the newest guest blogger on this site. You can catch him, and the occasional post from me (from now on) over at silent coder.

So, this week/end I’m going to be missing a lot of great art and openings. I’ll catch them on the flip, but I thought I’d give y’all the heads up for JHB…

  • VANSA (Visual Arts Network of South Africa) show opened at The Premises last Saturday
  • Ian Waldeck opened at Gordart last Sunday
  • Angus Taylor opened at ArtSpace last Sunday
  • Tonight, new student piece choreographed by Athena Mazarakis opens at Wits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Athena is probably the most underrated physical theatre director in South Africa
  • Thursday at WITS, Richard Kilpert will be conducting a talk and a slide show of his experience of this year’s IMPACT printmaking conference in Berlin and Poland. (thanks to Jill, over at David Krut, for this) — Appollonia room, Main WSOA, at 12 noon (thanks to Colleen Alborough for further details)
    note: latest word on the street is that this talk has been postponed until 20 Oct, 12:30 – will re-post then
  • Thursday 6 October, 18h00 at Gallery MOMO is a Marco Cianfanelli solo show; he is a beautiful sculptor and fellow major award winner at the Brett Kebble Art Awards, 2004.
  • Friday 7 October, 18h00 at Franchise Gallery, 44 Stanley, is SURFACE, a group show with works by Luan Nel, Virginia MacKenny, Moshekwa Langa, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Trasi Henen and Dineo Bopape; this is gonna be H-O-T

And why am I missing all of this? Because I’ll be in Grahamstown giving this talk on interactive video:

The Interactive Video Landscape
Three hour lecture/presentation
Fri: 7th Oct 2005. 2:00 – 5:00pm
Fine Art Dept Lecture Theatre (Painting & Sculpture Building, Upper Rhodes Campus)
ALL WELCOME

This lecture, discussion and demo will survey the interactive video landscape in 2005, and the pioneers who led up to it. We’Äôll take a look at the likes of David Rokeby, Camille Utterback, Golan Levin and others like them over the last 20 years – all artists working with technology and the body. During our time together, we’Äôll also see what kinds of tools are available for potential VJs, artists and musicians who want to produce interactive installations or multimedia performances. Finally, we’Äôll break down, conceptually, how someone might achieve body-tracking, motion tracking or proximity sensing with a simple web cam, and take a quick look at ’Äújitter’Äù (a very popular interactive video development environment for artists), and some projects made with it.

If in GHT, tell your friends. It’ll be followed by a two-day advanced workshop on interactive video (using Jitter), but I’m pretty sure that’s invite only – for members of the Studio for Interactive Sound (yay, Toni Olivier!) and the fine arts department staff (who will hopefully pass it on to students).

next blog (probably) from Grahamstown!

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03 October 2005 by kaganof

symbolic


don’t forget to tune in to sabc1 tonight at 22:00 to see GIANT STEPS, an afrocentric approach to blackness now. it’s 52 minutes and features the cream of south african poets and musicians, including zim ngqawana and kgafela oa magogodi

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02 October 2005 by nathaniel

he has been gettin round

Hey everyone:

Sorry for the silence on my part; it’s been a hektik while. My laptop broke (again), I was crazy with making plans for some new projects, my wife had a b-day, I went to Aardklop to give a talk, started teaching online again, blahblahblahblah. Have some exciting things coming up in the next few weeks, and not just in Johannesburg! Will be giving a talk at Rhodes this Friday (followed by weekend Max Workshop), and will be in Durban for Colleen Alborough’s show at NSA Gallery two weeks after that. Then, NYC here I come (be sure to catch Sean Slemon at Krut Gallery in Chelsea)!!!!!! If you are in any of these three places and want to hang out with me, holler. Oh, I may be heading to providence to give a talk at Brown while I’m in the states, too.

richard kilpert: Bride of the Wind Further back and faster - a woodcut self portrait of the artist himself, only with two heads; in both places.
richard kilpert’s Bride of the Wind Further back and faster – a woodcut self portrait of the artist himself, only with two heads; in both places.

Highlights at Aardklop on the fine art circuit were the Sasol exhibition, the Outlet exhibition and talks – curated by Abrie Fourie – and Impulse – selections from the Sanlam collection, curated by Stefan Hundt, which explores Expressionist (the german rather than abstract variety) impulses in South African art. The above woodcut was next to a Kentridge at said exhibition.

I am a loser and lost all the documentation I took of the beautiful lino-cuts at art on paper in Melville last week. Please forgive me, Alet, and know that I am trying to send my blog readers there. You should really update your site (I went there to find some info on the exhibition, so I could remember more; but alas, I came up empty handed!) – I can help you with that, you know….

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