A C ATA L O G U E O F I N T E RV E N TIONS PRETORIA — SOUTH AFRICA
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A C ATA L O G U E D E D I C AT E D TO C H A N G E PRETORIA — SOUTH AFRICA
SPONSORS
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LETTER F RO M L A FA RG E MAIN SPONSORER — Lafarge We are delighted to be sponsoring this impressive publication, which celebrates Pretoria’s wealth of award-winning contemporary culture and gives recognition to the work of influential citizens of Pretoria.
We are delighted to be sponsoring this impressive publication, which celebrates Pretoria’s wealth of award-winning contemporary culture and gives recognition to the work of influential citizens of Pretoria. By providing potential clients with an appreciation of quality design, while inspiring artists and designers to use more creativity, Cool Capital will contribute significantly to enhancing standards in our built environment. Lafarge has a proud track record of innovating products and systems to serve architectural creativity. Our research and development in concrete technology has contributed to the creative advancement of architecture in ways that could only be dreamt of a decade ago. Close partnerships with architects worldwide have fostered progressively more challenging architectural achievements, while aiding the development of sustainable construction methods. In the words of our Chairman and CEO, Bruno Lafont: “At a time when architects have to reconcile an increasing range of constraints, whether they are environmental, urban development, technical or aesthetic, to bring their projects to life, concrete provides them with virtually limitless scope. We are proud to serve their art with a material which, every
day, achieves new levels of performance: a material which stimulates their creativity, a material of its time.” For many years, Lafarge has been a building materials industry leader in sustainable development, continually searching for ways to allow people to enjoy the benefits economic growth, while minimising the damaging impact the manufacture and use of building materials on the earth Innovation has always been central to Lafarge and as ne challenges are Identified In relation to global warming ami dwindling fossil fuels, It Is being used to tackle the challenge of sustain ability. Given our presence in many different areas of the world, our Group is in a position to make a significant positive contribution. In South Africa, Lafarge Cement was the first cement manufacturer to offer a full range of lower carbon cements in a market that is increasingly aware of environmental issues. During 2009, Lafarge received more than 50 sustainability awards from around the world, covering environmental as well as social and economic topics. And in 2010, for the sixth consecutive year, Lafarge was listed in the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World”. My colleagues at Lafarge Cement join me in wishing Cool Capital the success it so richly deserves.
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CONTENTS Introduction...................................... 2
SECTION ONE
THE INTERVENTIONS Save The Zoo........................................4 Anti-zenophobia...................................6 We Own The Night..............................10 The Know It Wall.................................12 Mark Making Time...............................16 Alternative Light..................................18 Clean Up Your City.............................22 Acknowledgements...........................24
I N T RO D U CTION CREATE OUR CAPITAL! — Pretoria Cool Capital Biennale 2014 is a citizen-lead initiative to bring about visual, perception and actual change to Pretoria, by means of a multitude of small interventions. The aim is to introduce the public to a wealth of art, architecture, urban- and graphic design, as well as sculpture creations, while affording them the opportunity to interact with these civic interventions. The event is inclusive and open to any individual, or group.
Cool Capital Biennale 2014 is a non-government organisation and citizen-lead initiative to bring about visual, perception and actual change to Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa and the surrounding metropolitan area of Tshwane, by means of a multitude of small interventions.
THE AIM IS TO INTRODUCE THE PUBLIC TO A WEALTH OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, URBAN- AND GRAPHIC DESIGN, AS WELL AS SCULPTURE CREATIONS, WHILE AFFORDING THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO INTERACT WITH THESE CIVIC INTERVENTIONS.
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The event is inclusive and open to any individual, collaboration, educational facility or group willing to contribute something creative within the borders and the laws of the city. The entire campaign would be web based, app and mobi driven and would culminate in a prestigious catalogue documenting the entire inaugural Biennale. In addition to generating a legacy of attractive civic interventions, the creative talents of the people of Tshwane will be showcased beyond our borders in the virtual and printed worlds. The official logo of Cool Capital depicts a map of the city with key features, places and culture groups linked by an intricate web of lines symbolising connectivity as the catalyst for social coherence.
A bonus and highly desirable outcome of the Biennale would be renewed appreciation and rethinking of not only our city but of creativity in art, design and architecture in general. Cool Capital Biennale 2014 has been scheduled to run from 23 August 2014 to 29 November 2014, concurrently with the Cape Town 2014 World Design Capital event and the Durban Otherwhere 2014 conference of the International Union of Architects. The groundwork to bring the dream of a Biennale in our Capital City to reality is well advanced. Let’s show the leadership of a true capital. Our wish is that the city and its people will seize this opportunity and make the Cool Capital initiative their own.
S AV E THE ZOO THE REBRANDING OF THE PRETORIA ZOO — Central Pretoria The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, also known as the Pretoria Zoo is the largest zoo in the country. Situated on 85 hectares in the heart of ‘Jacaranda City’ it became the official National Zoological Gardens
It is home to more than 700 species of mammals, birds, fish, Invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. The Pretoria Zoo has been a part of the social community for almost 100 years. The overall experience of the zoo has dramatically decreased. The lack of visitors has taken its toll on the financial requirements to sustain the zoo. A high quality experience is what the public expect from the largest zoo in South Africa. We believe Pretoria Zoo has the potential to regain its former glory. Also regaining a vital part of the Pretoria tourism district. The cleanliness of the zoo has unfortunately declined. Being understaffed and underfunded it’s hard to get the zoo back on its feet. We believe a crucial rebranding of the zoo is in order. By changing the public view of the zoo we can eventually change the zoo itself. The goal is to inform the community that a positive change is coming. A logo is the face of any brand. The new logo was created to display a new and fresh start. By creating a new face of the brand, the brand shows its eagerness to adapt to change and improvement.
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The bright colours of the logo were chosen to depict the bright future of the zoo. A simplistic advertising campaign will not only inform the public of the change, but also connect with the entire community.
THE PRETORIA ZOO HAS A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL THAT WALKS THROUGH THEIR DOORS. BY SIMPLIFYING THE DESIGN ELEMENTS IT WILL BE EASIER FOR THE PUBLIC TO RELATE TO THE BRAND. Most of all the rebranding was created to be more welcoming and friendly. The rebranding of the zoo is only the start. The secondary goal is to showcase that positive change is possible. That the zoo can provide not just a product, but rather an experience that is unique.
WRITER: Reynard Nel PHOTOGRAPHER: Reynard Nel
The Pretoria Zoo is a crucial part of the community and always will be. It’s our job to keep this part as pure as possible. The results will be an uplifted community and a sense of pride within. Be part of the change, visit the Pretoria Zoo today.
ANTI XENOPHOBIA THE CULTURE CONNECT CAMPAIGN — Mamelodi & Lynnwood Pretoria Due to the increasing number of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, a highly noticeable rift has divided our country in two - those native to South Africa and those who’re not.
Since 1994, South Africa has always been a country that prides itself on its unity in the midst of diversity. Thus the birth of Ubuntu (the Zulu term used to describe a kind of humanist philosophy). The magnitude of the xenophobic attacks reported between 2008 and 2012 serve as evidence that a much needed anti-xenophobic campaign is long overdue. South Africa has a long history of successful campaigns where committed and passionate South Africans stand together to fight for those who are unable to fight for themselves, like the Shout SA campaign - aimed to eradicate crime - along with the Save The Rhino campaign aimed at discouraging the pouching of Rhinos. With the above two very successful campaigns we have seen the immense natural ability South Africans have to stand together against all forms of injustice. Xenophobia is just another injustice for South Africans to work towards demolishing and what better way to do so than with the use of design.
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With the blanket theme “Be Kind, Design”, an antixenophobic campaign that focuses on eradicating Xenophobia through celebrating diversity rather than reprimanding the lack of, emerged. This campaign aims to highlight the many positives those that are not native to our country can bring and also aims at honouring areas in South Africa that have made a conscious decision to not only embrace these cultures but to also hybridise them with South African cultures. This campaign reinforces Ubuntu, human kindness and the bridging of cultures, thus the name Culture Connect.
What the Culture Connect Campaign is working towards not only celebrating the hybridisation of culture but to also honour and reward the areas that do so.
A TWO METER HIGH RECTANGULAR PRISM INSTALLATION, CALLED A CULTURE CONNECT PRISM, WOULD BE AWARDED AS HONORARIUM TO AREAS THAT SHOW A PASSIONATE INVOLVEMENT IN EMBRACING FOREIGN CULTURE.
each culture involved in epitomising Ubuntu. At the moment there has been two noteworthy instances where South Africans are embracing the growing number of international cultures in our country. The first being the union between the Tswana and the Ghanaian culture through the use of music in Mamelodi, Pretoria. The second being the union between the Afrikaans and the German culture through the use of language and food in Lynnwood, Pretoria.
The installation would consist of one prism - with illustrations wrapped around the two sides of the prisms. Each prism represents
WRITER: Karabo Moletsane PHOTOGRAPHER: Karabo Moletsane
The Culture Connect campaign would then reward the efforts made by the people living in Mamelodi and in Lynwood by awarding them each with their own pair of Culture Connect Prisms.
THE PRISMS WOULD BE PLACED IN A COMMUNAL SPACE IN THE CENTRE OF CHURCH SQUARE IN PRETORIA. As an area is awarded a Culture Connect Prism, a weekend long festival would be held, where people have the opportunity to learn more about the participating culture and how their area could be next in line for a Culture Connect Prism. These festivals would be an explosion of cultural food, dress, dance and music brought together by an explosion of graphic design incorporating Projection Mapping, murals and urban designs.
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The Culture Connect campaign, along with it’s prisms would bring a sense of pride to Pretoria and all its accomplishments in reverting back to the Ubuntu philosophy made popular by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. This intervention would introduce the public to how Visual Communication and creativity can help solve a social problem as complex as xenophobia. The Culture Connect prism would make areas like Johannesburg and Cape Town envious of Pretoria’s progress. It would then be a matter of time for these cities would soon start making cultural connections within themselves. This contagious act is bound to have a massive effect on how South Africa’s ability to unite in diversity is a trait that will grow exponentially.
WRITER: Karabo Moletsane
PHOTOGRAPHER: Karabo Moletsane
WE OWN THE NIGHT AN ELECTRICALLY CHARGED EVENT — Hatfield Pretoria This event was conceived in partnership with the Be Kind, Design and Cool Capital Biennale initiatives. Its main aim is to encourage people to spend more time in the city of Pretoria and to allow them to feel safe doing so.
The market is veiled in illumination cast from the bistro lights strung from Jacaranda tree to Jacaranda tree, and takes place on the first and last Saturday evening of every month. It can be found along two blocks of Park Street, extending from Jan Shoba to the Tuks Sports Campus grounds. This area was chosen as The Night Market’s initial location as it is already well known to the targeted age group. It is near Hatfield, Pretoria University, as well as neighbourhood treasures such as Bravo’s Pizzeria and Duncan Yard, all popular locales for the group in question. One block of the market is filled with individually crafted and decorated stalls selling locally produced goods; anything from hand crafted jewellery to genuine leather satchels. The other is a communal eating area with long wooden tables and ample seating. It is surrounded by food vendors and abutted by a small stage that is often occupied by a band playing an acoustic set.
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Possibly the most iconic trait of this market is the neon signage hung over the centre of the street. The sign reads, “we own the night”, which happens to be the market’s unofficial motto. Many people can be spotted photographing or being photographed under the sign. The signage also correlates to the advertising of the market, which often consists of positive offbeat messages illustrated by local artists on posters that are hung around the city.
The buzz of the surrounding city and business of the market culminates in an energetic atmosphere. Once the market has grown and become better established, it plans to move to Church Square, which is closer to the centre of Pretoria. Notwithstanding that The Night Market’s priority is to bring people back into the city, it is also focused on re-branding the city as a young, creative and vibrant area worthy of investment, and promoting local creative’s and entrepreneurs.
THIS IS CONGRUENT WITH THE COOL CAPITAL’S PLANS TO “BRING ABOUT VISUAL, PERCEPTUAL AND ACTUAL CHANGE TO PRETORIA”. In short, it is an event with good food, good products and good people brought together for the good of the city.
WRITER: Amber Smith PHOTOGRAPHER: Amber Smith
THE KNOW I T WA L L EDUCATIONAL WALL MURALS — Pretorian Townships Township communities face many problems each day. Children walk far to school and return home when it’s already dark, leaving them with no light by which to study and do their homework.
According to the School Realities Statistics for 2012, there were approximately 7 million students in primary school but only about 4 million in high school. This means that many children leave school before grade 10 to take responsibility for their siblings or to help their family earn extra money. This means that many people in the communities don’t even learn basic general knowledge. Select walls in a township community will be filled and painted with various simple educational diagrams, for example ‘the provinces of South Africa’ and ‘the human skeleton’ etc. The idea is that, by walking past these wall murals every day to school or to work, the community will learn the information displayed on the wall, by means of repetition. This will improve the general knowledge of the community and will also help children to learn basic lessons on their way to school. Furthermore, these walls will add colours and beauty to previously run down areas, encouraging community pride.
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To make this project become reality, a project manager will have to be employed. The project manager will have to do research on which walls to paint (strategically, the walls most walked by) and will have to make sure that the walls can be painted on (so that no one feels like their property is being violated). Furthermore, this person will be in charge of organising volunteers to paint the walls. They are in charge of making the whole initiative happen and come to life.
The company would also need to hire an illustrator to create the illustrations of the educational material that is put on the walls.The illustrator would need to do research into the general knowledge of the community to see which lessons would benefit them. I have decided that a very simple geometrical style would be best suited to the illustrations, as they have to be clear and easy to understand. Thus far, three images have been created. The first is a map of South Africa and its provinces. The second is a diagram of the human skeleton and the third is a fun depiction of the alphabet. These images are aimed at different people. The map and the skeleton will teach kids older than the kids that will learn from
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the alphabet – thus, there is a little bit for everyone. The colours used are bright and fun, making the whole diagram attractive and memorable.
SPONSORS LIKE DULUX WOULD ALSO HAVE TO BE APPROACHED FOR PAINT AND OTHER PAINTING TOOLS. They would be an essential part of the team as every other year, the paintings will have to be restored or replaced with new educational material and so their sponsorships will constantly be required.
WRITER: Lize-Marie Dreyer PHOTOGRAPHER:Lize-Marie Dreyer
B e f o r e A n d A f t e r O f A M u r a l Wa l l : I l l u s t r a t e d b y L i z e - M a r i e D r e y e r
MARK MAKING TIME AN ADVENTURE SKETCHBOOK PROJECT — Throughout Pretoria Sketch my PTA is an adventure sketchbook project running in The Cool Capital Biennale 2014 that promotes local businesses and beautiful sites to see in Pretoria amongst young creative students, also giving them the opportunity of showcasing their talents.
The project inspiration began with the idea that students especially do not take the time to explore the cities that they’re living in. this is possibly because they are new to the city and just do not know what the city has to offer or because what the city has to offer is just in general not always out there for people to know about.
THUS, THE SKETCH MY PTA PROJECT IS A WAY TO PROMOTE WHAT PRETORIA HAS TO OFFER. The project hands out sketchbook packages to creative students who wish to partake in the project. The package contains a rule postcard with any necessary information about the project on it, part of a sketchbook, string to bind the sketchbook in an interesting way, a map of a selection of trendy places to visit in Pretoria, a business card of the projects social buzz information with any necessary social
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network handles to get radical networking about the project out there; allowing further exposure on Pretoria and an invitation postcard to the exhibition in the end of the project. The participants are encouraged to visit the places on the map, however do not have to visit them all and are welcome to add other places they might enjoy visiting and sketch their adventures in their sketchbook; be it a positive or negative experience. To lure the participants to the places the specific paper that is compulsory to be used in the sketchbooks is kept at the promoted places and will be given to the participants on arrival, the participants need the paper to build up their sketchbooks in order to effectively partake. Perhaps freebies from selected places on promotion might also be available to further lure the participants there.
The project runs from the time the beginning until the end of the 2014 Cool Capital Biennale having that as the time limit for their adventure, thereafter their sketchbooks need to be returned to the Sketch My PTA project where the project will host the ‘PTA through unalike eyes’ exhibition.
THE MOST EXHILARATING SKETCHBOOKS WILL BE PUT UP FOR AUCTION AT THE EXHIBITION WHERE ALL MONEY WILL GO TO CHARITIES IN PRETORIA. This exhibition on top of giving to charity will allow for an honest and interesting outlook on Pretoria as the “Cool Capital” due to the different outlooks on the city that the participants will offer through their personal adventures and views.
WRITER: Sinead Floyd PHOTOGRAPHER: Sinead Floyd
A LT E RN AT I V E LIGHT BE BRIGHT CAMPAIGN — Shoshanguve, Mabopane, Atteridgeville, Mamelodi and Olievenhoutsbosch. It is well known that South Africa has an electricity problem. Less than 5% of the rural population in Southern Africa have access to electricity and those who are fortunate enough to have the luxury, often have it stolen from them.
The lack of light is the cause for multiple issues within these rural communities such as: diminishing eyesight, poor education, shack fires, increased crime, unsafe roads and so on. How does one solve this problem in order to improve the community and the quality of life for its members? My solution is an initiative which uses a means of education in order to teach the members of these communities to stop relying on other people, but to take action and help themselves. There are so many small and cost effective ways of improving their own living standards in the form of alternative light sources. I have decided to design multiple information packs which can be made available at spaza shops (local grocery stores). These packs will contain educational posters communicated in an
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image-based infographic style (as most members of rural communities are illiterate) guiding and teaching the members about things they can make or do which will provide alternative light. Fluorescent paint is an enviro-friendly paint which can glow for up to eight hours after being charged by day light. One poster will indicate ways of using fluorescent paint to improve safety. For example, painting bicycles to make them more visible and less likely to be knocked down on the dark roads or using fluorescent paint along the floors or walls in particularly dark roads or alleys in these communities in order to prevent crime.
WRITER: Sonia Dearling PHOTOGRAPHER: Sonia Dearling
Another poster will contain a simple tutorial teaching people to create solar powered bulbs by mixing bleach and water in an old soda bottle and exposing it half in sunlight and half in darkness in order to make a 60 Watt indoor bulb. A third poster will explain how to recycle everyday materials to make cheap and effective candles, for example using old sardine tins and rope from a mop to make a
candle which will burn for hours. These are just a few ideas of what the information packs could contain. The materials required to make or do these things will then be provided to be purchased at the local grocery stores. Perhaps some of these materials could even be sponsored or made available at a cheaper rate.
WRITER: Sonia Dearling
PHOTOGRAPHER: Sonia Dearling
This project will start within the largest rural settlements of Pretoria namely: Shoshanguve, Mabopane, Atteridgeville, Mamelodi and Olievenhoutsbosch. This is the Be Bright initiative.
The advantages of this initiative is that it can start out as small as a few educational brochures or posters, and it can evolve into an entire active selfdependant lifestyle, improving the living conditions of communities not only with light, but with farming, education, entrepreneurship and so forth.
IT ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO HELP THEMSELVES AND TO REALISE THAT THERE ARE MANY ALTERNATIVES AND SOLUTIONS TO ONE PROBLEM.
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CLEAN UP OUR CITY PRETORIA RECYCLING INITIATIVE — Throughout Pretoria For years, South Africa has been behind in going green. That is about to change now. Precycle, a proposed recycling initiative in Pretoria is pushing boundaries in environment conscious circles.
As part of the Cool Capital Biennale 2014, Precycle proposes an initiative to bring actual and visual change in Pretoria. The aim is to include the public in a city-wide recycling scheme. This intervention will actively show concern for Pretoria and its environment. It will give the public the opportunity to interact with and contribute to a prettier city and above all, raise the quality of life in Pretoria - a major improvement! Illegal dumping and littering in public areas are ever-growing problems in Pretoria. Awareness and realistic ways to deal with these issues need to be implemented. To add to these problems domestic and commercial recycling aren’t familiar concepts in many circles. This means that Pretorians do not recycle items that have a significant environmental impact. There are limited recycling initiatives in different suburbs and companies but in order to make an impact these need to be promoted more. Many of
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these schemes aren’t organised well and inconstant pick-ups and a lack of communication irritate citizens.
AS A CITY, PRETORIA NEEDS TO MAKE RECYCLING AS EASY AND EFFORTLESS AS POSSIBLE FOR RESIDENTS. All of these initiatives also pick up all the recycling in one bag and need to separate the recyclables later - a time and labour intensive task. Initiatives can ultimately be grouped under one, better organised, umbrella - Precycle - to make a fundamental environmental impact in the Capital. Before we can create awareness about recycling in the Capital we need a solution. The team at Precycle believes that the solution lies in our unique recycling box-bin. This new fashionable design is breaking
boundaries on many levels. The box-bin consists out of four different compartments, one for every recycling category - plastic, paper, glass and tin. It
at home, the office, malls and communal areas. This consumer-inspired recycling box-bin gets picked up by the rubbish services, and a new recycling bin is
is modern in nature and uses only four pieces of biodegradable cardboard. The box-bin is made out of 100% biodegradable material that can be recycled with the recycling items it contains. It can be transported flat and be quickly and easily assembled
dropped at your doorstep for the following period. It is fast and convenient - the perfect tool to help Pretoria recycle easier!
W R I T E R : M a r t i n Va n N i e k e r k P H O T O G R A P H E R : M a r t i n Va n N i e k e r k
AC K N O W L EDGEMENTS PRETORIA — SOUTH AFRICA
Recieving the oppotunity to curate this catalogue was a tremendous adventure and experience. A thank you to Cool Capital Biennale for their tenacity in bringing about visual perception and change to Pretoria. Many talented students’ ideas on how to change Pretoria through the execution of small intervention feature in this catalogue. the great deal of participation that took place serves as a sign that many creatives are eager and willing to help this process of change.
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A CATALOGUE OF INTERVENTIONS PRETORIA — SOUTH AFRICA
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