“Live art can best be described as both an intersection and an amalgam of disciplines,” say the Institute for Creative Arts curators in setting the stage for Cape Town’s beloved Live Art Festival.
The festival that draws on, and brings together visual art, performers choreographers and storytellers is back in Cape Town, and ready to disrupt, inspire and sometimes disturb in an insightful way, those seeking an immersive art experience. From ghost tours to sentient beings, the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) is back in the flesh and set to be hosted by UCT in the public spaces it’s meant to serve.
Ghost tours you say?
“Ghosts rupture time by reminding us of the unfaced, unrestituted and unresolved,” says performance artist Chanelle Adams of the part meditative journey, part of the ghost tour that she is scheduled to present.
This is just one of the numerous live art performances that will play an integral part of the festival and is located at multiple and intriguing sites across the city, including one of the renowned New 7 Wonders of the world – the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
The artists taking part in the 38 productions in this groundbreaking festival will explore new forms, flout aesthetic conventions, confront audiences and experiment with different perceptions.
Like its counterparts on the programme, Adams’s performance Ghosts of Ravintsara/Camphor Trees has been created to challenge and extend the public’s experience of live art in a non-commercial environment. She describes the work as “an experiment in face-to-face encounters with ghosts… to release the future from historical horrors.”
Who can we expect to see?
Featured South African artists include Tracey Rose, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Rehane Abrahams, Phumulani Ntuli, Albert Khoza and Princess Mhlongo, Ilze Wolff, Ntone Edjabe, Qondiswa James and Gavin Krastin. Joining us from around the globe are the likes of Nora Chipaumire from New York/Harare, Eric Androa Mindre Kolo from Paris/Kinshasa, Syowia Kyambi from Nairobi, and from Yaoundé, Zora Snake and Christian Etongo.
Now in its ninth year, this flagship festival from the ICA touches on everything from how water is connected to blackness, rituals and the ancestral realm, to queerness and ecological urgency. This year, it will touch particularly on the effects and after-effects of the pandemic.
The festival is a journey that encapsulates inspiration, generated by its spellbinding, sometimes unsettling but always engaging subject matter.
“After the past two years in which the global arts community and its passionate audiences and consumers have largely lost access to cultural events such as these, it is a relief that we can once again experience these immersive artworks in person,” says Jay Pather, director of the ICA.
Pather further says: “It is incredibly heartwarming that the concerts, art events and festivals we all relish for inspiration and enrichment can be enjoyed in person once again.”
Details:
- Where: Various locations around Cape Town. Check out the full programme here.
- When: From 19 March to 3 April 2022
- Bookings: Bookings will open on 9 March 2022. For more information, email: [email protected].
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Picture: Desire Marea by Musa Dlamini