Season SA hits New York
26 November 2004
Season South Africa, a pioneering celebration of the country's contemporary visual and performing arts, opened in New York on 21 September and runs through to 3 January 2005.
Coinciding with the country's celebration of its first decade of democracy, Season South Africa aims to challenge the world's perceptions of South African - and African - arts.
"Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art" features installed works by 17 contemporary South African artists commissioned to create site-specific art for Season South Africa.
Works will be exhibited at two venues: The Cathedral of St John the Divine, the major venue for Season South Africa, until 6 December; and the Museum for African Art, the project's partner institution, also in New York City, until 3 January 2005.
Cape-based lyric theatre company Dimpho Di Kopane
will stage four productions from 25 October to 28 November in the Synod Hall of The Cathedral of St John the Divine, including the world premieres of "Ikumankanikazi ye Khephu", a South African rendition of the classic fairy tale "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen, and "U-Carmen", a Xhosa version of Bizet's famous opera.
"The developed world holds a view of the art and culture of African origin that is not accurate", says Ralph Freese, project leader for Season South Africa.
"We hope to help shift that mindset, demonstrating that developments in contemporary South African arts have catapulted us into a leading position globally. This has happened in parallel with improvements constitutionally, and in terms of corporate and social governance."
Season South Africa is "in the spirit of a gift", says Freese, that comes largely by way of Spier, an estate in the Cape winelands which provides a space for the meeting of cultures, people and ideas.
The
International Marketing Council of SA, an agency established to promote the country's brand value, has also provided a substantial backing for Season South Africa, with Nandos and Hollard Insurance also contributing to the initiative.
Personal Affects
Much of the project will be based in one of New York's premier tourist attractions, the Cathedral of St John the Divine. The neo-Gothic building has played an important role in the city's history, and provided a challenging environment for the 17 commissioned South African artists.
In February this year, the artists - including Jane Alexander, Steven Cohen, Churchill Madikida, Samson Mudzunga, Jay Pather, Clive van den Berg and Sandile Zulu - travelled to New York with the exhibition's curators to explore the vast cathedral space.
The experience, says Freese, was a fascinating departure from the "white-cube space" of the art gallery. Equally novel was the involvement of all the artists
in the curatorial process and in dialogues with curators David Brodie (Johannesburg Art Gallery), Laurie Farrell (Museum for African Art), Sophie Perryer (Art South Africa magazine), Churchill Madikida (Constitution Hill) and Liese van der Watt (University of Cape Town).
The exhibition will show artworks created out of the artists' responses to their week-long stay in New York. Media employed include drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, installation, video, performance and dance.
The artists involved are: Jane Alexander, Wim Botha, Steven Cohen, Churchill Madikida, Mustafa Maluka, Thando Mama, Samson Mudzunga, Jay Pather, Johannes Phokela, Robin Rhode, Claudette Schreuders, Berni Searle, Doreen Southwood, Clive van den Berg, Minnette Vári, Diane Victor, and Sandile Zulu.
Dimpho Di Kopane
Dimpho Di Kopane (DDK), seSotho for "combined talents", is a three-year-old company of 40 performing artists that has garnered critical acclaim
and performed to sell-out houses on four continents. DDK specialises in re-imaging classics from the lyrical-theatre repertoire and performing them in many of South Africa's indigenous languages, as well as imbuing the works with South African perspectives.
DDK specialises in re-imaging classics from the lyrical-theatre repertoire and performing them in many of South Africa's indigenous languages, as well as imbuing the works with South African perspectives. The four productions that they will perform at Synod Hall are all eloquent examples of this genre.
"Yiimimangaliso" (The Mysteries) is a reworking of the medieval Mystery Cycles, with their dramatic retellings of biblical stories.
"Ibali loo Tsotsi" is a blend of John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" (1728) with elements of the democratic South Africa to create what is billed as "an indigenous piece of inventive theatre which rekindles the musical fire of the original through the combination of old England and the new
South Africa".
"Ikumankanikazi ye Khephu" is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" seen through South African eyes. Its world premiere takes place on 19 November.
"U-Carmen", a translation of the libretto of Bizet's "Carmen" into isiXhosa, has its world premiere on 20 November.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
| 
