Connected Futures - British Council Connect ZA by British Council #SouthernAfricaArts

Website www.britishcouncil.org.za/ programmes/arts/connect-za Tumblr www.connectza.tumblr.com Facebook www.facebook.com/zaconnect Instagram connect_za Twitter @connect_za

FutuRe COnnectiOns British Council’s Connect ZA programme is redefining the relationship of South Africa and the UK through culture. Launched in 2013, this programme connects the emerging generation of dynamic, creative voices across two continents by facilitating projects in live music, film, spoken word, creative economy, visual art and design. We focus on working with young people between the ages of 18-35, reaching new audiences and using digital platforms and technologies in innovative ways. As part of this and central to our work is a desire to update how contemporary British and South African culture is perceived by one another. Having completed over 200 events and 70 projects, which have directly reached 2.5 million people, as well as 20 million in print and 50 million online, we’re now taking account of what we’ve achieved. And while numbers are useful they only tell one side of the story, often missing the vital human connections that are intrinsic to the work that we do. This publication is a way of acknowledging the impact of these connections. It is dedicated to Thabiso Sekgala (1981-2014).

Future Connections

EditOR's LEtteR I first heard about the British Council Connect ZA programme back in 2013, when they invited me out to Johannesburg as a UK delegate for a Creative Currencies conference. During my time there I met international artists and speakers, became a floating mentor, judged a digital hackathon, saw projects come and go, and generally soaked up the creative fusion of ideas from individuals representing diverse continents. Two years on from that visit, it’s been wonderful to be able to re-trace and newly discover many of the activities that have come under the British Council Connect ZA umbrella, by working on this Future Connections publication. We’ve essentially spotlighted the cultural kinship and positive collusions of photographers, curators, designers, innovators, entrepreneurs, musicians, storytellers, poets, programmers, knowledge-sharers, creative hubs and public spaces that all help to fuel the ongoing exchange between two dynamic and culturally rich countries. So, we hope you’ll enjoy the publication’s interviews, profiles, images and graphics that highlight the dynamic energy of all those featured within these pages. Nana Ocran Editor

For more on the British Council Connect ZA programme visit: www.connectza.tumblr.com www.twitter.com/Connect_ZA

Contents

Parks & Public Recreation From Gateshead to Jeppestown

Learning By Design A focus on the Maker Library Network

From New Economies To Altered Images And Youth Culture Braamfontein’s Ithuba gallery

and its UK and South Africa

Facts and fictions from visual storyteller Mongi Mthobeni

A Poet’s Business

One man’s perspective on Johannesburg’s

Portrait Of An Artist

spoken word scene

Talking with UK photographer

Curating Digital An interview with international

Yuri Suzuki

curator Irini Papadimitriou

Sound and vision from an

innovative artist

Images From Abroad Photoworks (Brighton) and Market

The Music Man

Photo Workshop (Johannesburg)

An interview with SBTV media

reflect on A Return to Elsewhere

founder, Jamal Edwards

Mandela Day Shorts

All In The House

A visual celebration of Madiba

London’s Roundhouse and its

South Africa connections

International Fashion Showcase

Future Music Rising

A collection of the latest creative

The sounds of a lyrical competition

ideas from around the world

The British Council Connect

Vox pops interviews with

ZA digital and visual number

international practitioners

crunching

Infographic

Mongiwekhaya The Storyteller

connections

Kalpesh Lathigra

Creative Futures

Travel Diaries

In The Name Of The Fathers

Personal places and spaces,

Scottish hip hop trio Young Fathers

from the UK to South Africa

talk touring, collaboration and

South Africa’s musical energy

Beyond Zero Inspiration onedotzero makes a mark in South Africa

Super Dream

Park life: Jeppe Park (above) and Windmill Hills Park (below) were the chosen sites for the Superdream events.

Super Dream

PARKS & PUBLIC RECREATION By Nana Ocran

Two continents, two parks and a unique idea. Windmill Hills Park in the UK and Jeppe Park in South Africa are two sites for artistic expression.

Weaving real issues into filmic stories was a powerful aspect of some of the Superdream programming, an imaginative touch being a film, The Superhero, which was shot and edited by artist group Black Screen on location and in a nearby building within the Jeppe area. Featuring a caped crusader who jumps from trees to rescue residents from thugs and robbers, it’s a playful way to redefine the area while looking at some hard concerns. One of two other films it was part of Superdream’s broad programme of featured artworks, live music and public interaction with a largely Zulu community that ranges from residents of men’s hostels, African traditional healers, medicine traders and religious groups. With such a rich cultural palette of performers and participants, memories of the Superdream event must be strong. For Stephen Hobbs, working with numerous artists under the Superdream banner, one of the biggest impacts and recollections ‘was being immersed in an enthusiasm and overwhelming audience from Jeppestown, celebrating the work of its local artists in the freezing cold of a winter’s night’.

For a single night in July last year, a dynamic clash of cultures was showcased in a spectacle of short films, lighting installations, and artworks direct from Windmill Hills Park in Gateshead, UK to Jeppe Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. An artist-led, performative public meeting, the Superdream event was launched for the first time as part of the Gateshead International Festival of Theatre (GIFT) in May 2014. Artists collaborated with international arts organisations Swallows Foundation UK, ISIS Arts (UK) and The Trinity Session and Sticky Situation, which are both based in South Africa. Speaking to Stephen Hobbs, Co-Director of The Trinity Session, he relays the fact that the Superdream title relates to the idea of thinking and acting beyond any limitations and challenges. This notion resonates with the Johannesburg arm of the project when Jeppe Park, which has a myriad of cultural activities on a daily basis, became the creative location. ‘From an outsiders perspective, the undeveloped, neglected appearance of the area has negative overtones, and this is compounded by local complaints of attacks, lack of lighting and basic service’ he says. There was a common ground in the apparent twinning of Jeppe Park with Gateshead’s Windmill Hills, but elements of neglect are probably where the similarities end. ‘Windmill Hills, despite its recent upgrade has had little use and therefore there’s a sense of abandonment, whereas Jeppe Park has a rich cultural and social history compared to the established but different traditions in Gateshead.’ These contrasts made for good curatorial starting points for the creation of a project aiming to connect artists to what parks as public spaces represent and offer in major cities today.

For further info visit www.giftfestival.co.uk www.isisarts.org.uk www.stickysituations.org www.theswallowspartnership.com www.onair.co.za

Maker Library Network

LeaRning by design By Nana Ocran

“All I want to do is make interesting things and think about them.” Heath Nash’s Making haiku range called ‘other people’s rubbish’ between 2004 and 2012. Since joining the MLN he’s been involved in a three-way collaboration with architect and maker librarians Gunner Groves-Raines and Stuart Falconer of GRAS Studios in Edinburgh, and Marc Nicolson and Lyall Sprong of Cape-Town-based Thingking, a designer-maker consultancy. All three took a mobile maker caravan to the London design festival, and invited the public to make objects out of waste materials. This engagement with the MLN has had a specific affect on the way Nash now views his work. ‘It’s changed my practice in terms of seeing myself as a programmer and a curator more than I’ve done before’ he says. ‘It’s been a fantastic challenge. I’ve had the opportunity to connect people who I think should be meeting’. In turn, Marc Nicolson has said ‘we gain the most from understanding and witnessing how different people work. There’s a lot of scope for us to take certain models and apply them in South Africa’. Overall, there is a strong entrepreneurial element built into the network, and Makerversity, a community of makers in London’s Somerset House have over 60 businesses tapped into the project. On making in general, Makerversity founder Tom Tobia echoes the social

‘Design is a profession, it’s a process. Making is a body of knowledge that we all share. In that sense I think we are due for more surprises and possibly a successful network that can grow’. So said Daniel Charny, founder and director of the Maker Library Network (MLN), last year, when asked about what has become a growing national and international movement. A design professor and co-founder of From Now On, a small team researching design and curating projects, Charny has forged a growing community of charismatic makers, artists, designers and librarians – generally aged 18 to 35 – they share ideas, resources, books and skills in a unique hub spaces both online and offline, across borders and continents. One of the key elements of the British Council Connect ZA programme, MLN has some compelling partnerships that straddle architecture, product design, electronics, engineering, fashion, art and ultimately shared education and mutual learning. The network launched in 2014 at the Design Indaba expo and the Guild Design Fair, both in Cape Town, with one of the founding maker librarians being designer Heath Nash, who first made a name for himself working with post-consumer plastic waste products, created a self-producing

Running Head

Making It: The Maker Library Network showcased in Cape Town and straddled product design, architecture, electronics, engineering, art and shared learning.

Running Head

Social Networks: Indoor and outdoor creative spaces all feed into the energy of developing art and design skills, building new innovative platforms, using pubic arenas and highlighting emerging creative communities.

Maker Library Network

a network with over a dozen maker libraries that includes hubs in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, with a recent pilot in Lodz, Poland, and plans for new regions in Europe, Africa and America. Each MLN hub is unique in the way that public events and workshops are run, so it will be interesting to see how the broad geography of this maker community will continue to influence the ideas that come out of each space. That, and a vision to keep challenging the notion of what knowledge is, how social spaces can be used, and according to Charny to keep the network a ‘part of the future of real libraries’ by creating collaborative spaces that are essential to culture.

and mixed nature of MLN affiliation. ‘I guess my main motivations are about the fact that making has traditionally been the realm of either the geeks or the manufacturers’ he says. ‘The idea that there’s a huge chunk of society that sits in between that, and the power of being involved with something that’s tangible, whether that’s digital or physical is massive. I want to look at the 98 per cent in between the geeks and the manufacturers and see how we can reach them in the best way possible’. The network’s online element is another vigorous way to make sure the maker door remains open to new tribes looking to share, fabricate and push the boundaries of creative solution solving. A strong feature is the library, with specialist publications (many provided by the librarians themselves) offering a core reference point, with topics ranging from Egyptian art to eco, open or industrial design, and titles including The Arduino Cookbook, The Geometry of Space and The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions. These books and others can all be found in various MLN spaces, while maker resources including a DIY speaker, instrument and gamer kits and trestle table instructions are all downloadable from an online resource site. A little more then one year on, what Daniel Charny started as a small, local initiative is now

For further info visit www.fromnowon.co.uk/work www.makerlibrarynetwork.org

Ithuba-Co Lab

FROM NEW ECONOMIES TO ALTERED IMAGES AND YOUTH CULTURE By Nana Ocran

This year, dance, fashion, performance and photography all shared floor space in a three-part, Braam-located exhibition that linked the art scenes of the UK and South Africa.

Johannesburg’s Ithuba Gallery sits in the Braamfontein suburb and straddles a dual identity as a forward thinking project space and the offshoot of a funding body offering creative support for artists. An extension of the 2011-established Ithuba Arts Fund, the gallery space kicked off early 2015 as a hub for a dynamic showcase of innovative collaborations between the art scenes of the UK and South Africa. The idea of this cultural link for the gallery came in early 2014 when British Council Connect ZA, invited Lavendrhi Arumugam, Director of the Ithuba Gallery to the UK. Travelling with British Council visual arts curator, Katrina Schwarz, Arumugam’s scoping visit enabled her to spread the word of Ithuba and to highlight South Africa’s art scene at the same time. Arumugam’s trip was subsequently mirrored when she chose and invited six UK artists from three independent art spaces over to South

Africa for a tour of Johannesburg studios, local artists’ sites and a range of public, commercial and independent spaces. The visiting artists were Kate Cooper, Marianne Forest and Marleen Boschen from Auto Italia South East in London; Gavin Wade and Stuart Whipps from Birmingham’s Eastside Projects and Ami Clarke from Banner Repeater. What ultimately emerged from the cultural mix was LAB: an exhibition in three parts, which ran from 13 March to 4 April. A manifestation of experimental concepts and observational thoughts, it featured a trio of unique but interconnected ideas. On Coping, Auto Italia South East’s fusion of research and image production sought to imagine a cultural economy that might produce a new consumer model of ‘lifestyle rich’ artists. Stuart Whipps remixed the contents of the Photo Colour Services, a photo lab that functioned during the 1970s on the 9th floor of the Old Arcade in Johannesburg’s Central Business District.

Ithuba-Co Lab

Photo Fusions: A three-way exhibition at the Ithuba Arts Fund in Johannesburg linked UK artist collectives Auto Italia South East, Banner Repeater and Eastside Projects in a mix of performance, visual art and photography.

Ithuba-Co Lab

Image Lab: Eastside Projects and artist Stuart Whipps unearthed photographic materials from the Photo Colour Services lab, which was based in an old arcade in Johannesburg. After working on the negatives back in the UK, the Ithuba showcase helped put the original contents back into their geographical context. Auto Italia South East: On Coping (middle) was on display at Ithuba Arts Fund, South Africa as part of an exhibition with Banner Repeater and Eastside Projects. Ya-Sho: (bottom) A performance representing the Skhothane dance style, showmanship battles that emerged from South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s townships.

Ithuba-Co Lab

As part of a 3-month residency back in 2007, Whipps had salvaged the PCS materials and flown them over to the UK. He’d then reworked the material before returning to Johannesburg for his section of the LAB exhibition, which involved unlocking and showcasing the latent knowledge held within the materials for what could ultimately become a permanent PCS archive. Banner Repeater looked to youth culture, the flagrant trend of Skothane dance battles, Johannesburg as a global entity and a new clothing label for its contribution to the LAB exhibition. They collaborated on YA SHO! a performance piece that took its name from the clothing label of Skothane legends Pinky Tsotetsi and Big Dada who also extended the collaboration to Jamal Nxedlana, co-founder of the digital arts collective, Cuss Group, in an Ithuba launch of their designs. In all, the LAB exhibition, as well as other equally potent examples of new, emerging and experiential ideas are part of a solid creative master plan by Ithuba. Having supported over 22 Johannesburg-based artists through the venue’s prize fund, the gallery’s promotion of creative ideas, business and global connections have given it a key position on South Africa’s artistic landscape.

“The Ithuba gallery space is a hub for a dynamic showcase of innovative collaborations”

Auto Italia South East www.autoitaliasoutheast.org Banner Repeater www.bannerrepeater.org Eastside Projects www.eastsideprojects.org Ithuba Art Gallery www.artsithuba.co.za Cuss Group www.cussgroup.com/blog Ya Sho! www.ya-sho.com

A Return to Elsewhere

POrtrait Of an aRtist Interview by Nana Ocran

A Return to Elsewhere was a photographic collaboration between Kalpesh Lathigra and Thabiso Sekgala. By focusing on the lives of specific Indian communities in South Africa and the UK, an important friendship was forged, and for Lathigra, another step taken in a new creative direction.

A café in the vibrant Shoreditch area of London is where I’d arranged to meet photographer Kalpesh Lathigra. We were due for a conversation about his process and perspective on the photographic project, A Return to Elsewhere, and his thoughts on the two diverse locations he’d worked in. When we met, he was deep into the challenge of organising a Kickstarter campaign for his forthcoming book, Lost in the Wilderness – a visual narrative about the community of Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, USA. Despite his mild concern about this entrée into self-publishing, he was candid and effortlessly friendly, so the subsequent conversation flowed easily. Against a backdrop of clinking cups and communal chatter, Lathigra explained the build up to A Return to Elsewhere. His involvement perhaps goes back to Northern Ireland, 2013. During that year, at the Belfast Photo Festival, he’d exhibited his latest work, a photographed scene from the set of Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes’ Bafta-nominated film. It was there that he’d met Photoworks Brighton Director Celia Davies (see Images from Abroad, p.46) who was already forging the idea of a project based on themes of community and collaboration. She invited him

for a meeting later that year, and they explored the idea of a UK-South Africa partnership. ‘I was really excited’ he recalls. ‘As a photographer you work on your own most of the time. I thought it would be interesting to talk with another artist about their vision’. The South African photography scene wasn’t new to Lathigra, and he felt it did have certain conventions around it. ‘I’d seen a lot of great South African photography, but it wasn’t from black photographers’ he says. ‘It was mostly from people like Pieter Hugo, Broomberg and Chanarin, Mikhael Subotzky … all the big, successful names, but what threw me was the fact that I knew there was an Indian population in South Africa and I knew they’d been there for a very long time’. Fuelled by a desire to look at his own culture and heritage within South Africa, this became a focus and led to an introduction to photographer, Thabiso Sekgala, which developed into an easy friendship during their subsequent travels together. ‘Just getting to know Thabs as a person was really special’ says Lathigra. ‘I was taken aback by his confidence. He was very astute about his practice. Here was a young guy in South Africa going against the grain, doing what he wanted to do and having full authorship of his

A Return to Elsewhere

Kalpesh Lathigra

A Return to Elsewhere

“As a photographer you work on your own most of the time. I thought it would be interesting to talk with another artist about their vision” Pujari and wife: The Pujari (Hindu Priest) and his wife at the Hindu Mandir (temple) in Portslade, Brighton.

work. He reminded me of the new generation of young American photographers who are influenced by their country’s great history of colour and the work of their older peers such as Stephen Shore or Joel Sternfeld. Thabiso made me think of that; being in his country but telling his stories in his own way’. Having come from a world of news journalism and reportage, Lathigra found that the energy and bold, emotional use of colour that informed Thabiso’s work was a big influence. With a career trajectory that includes dropping out of law school, doing a stint in the retail sector, and finally signing up for a photojournalism course, Lathigra had at one time ‘become very narrow minded’ in the sense of his emulation of the black and white work of journalistic photographers. After a number of good years as a successful news photographer, he did eventually break out with his own style, by producing a solo project on widows in northern India. However, his journalistic background is still a valuable part of his process. ‘I’m still interested in stories of forgotten communities’ he says. ‘Stories of people’s lives are always my jumping off point’. It therefore made complete sense that while he was in South Africa, he and Thabiso

looked for South African townships that had histories of dispersed neighbourhoods. ‘This is where the collaboration came into play’ he says. ‘My idea was to focus on an Indian community and to go to Durban. It was Thabiso who suggested Laudium, an Indian township. It was very close to Marabastad, a place that he remembered because his grandmother and most of his family had lived there. The link between the two places is that Marabastad was a mixed area – Indians, Chinese, Africans and some white families used to live there – until it was segregated under the Group Areas Act. The Indian communities were forcefully moved to Laudium, so with this context, Thabiso and I had to find a joint point for us both to work in’. Thematic threads of belonging, silence, loss and memory all ran through the project, so gathering verbal stories from older generations of the township residents was a key part of the process.‘Memory is interesting’ says Lathigra. ‘At one time there was a South African magazine, Fiat Lux, published by the Ministry of Indian Affairs. It showed Laudium as being this uber community where everything was perfect. When we went there and spoke to older Indians they’d say no … “some of the houses didn’t have water”, “we couldn’t leave

A Return to Elsewhere

Nancy: Nancy was photographed in a hairdressers in Brighton.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are in a climate where anyone who looks remotely Muslim might be feeling less openâ&#x20AC;?

Jalalabad: (Above) A Sikh family from Birmingham on a weekend trip to Brighton Beach. The dancers: (Opposite page) Young women from the gated community of Claudius, which is an extension of Laudium.

The dancers: Young women from the gated community of Claudius, which is an extension of Laudium.

Return to Elsewhere

here”, “we still had to carry our passes” …’ Similar stories came out of Marabastad where historical tales of social or commercial improvements were also contested. A converse experience of tracing Indian communities happened in the UK, when both artists travelled to Brighton. ‘I had to approach the UK experience in a very different way’ says Lathigra. ‘Brighton has a small, almost peripheral Indian community. I definitely felt freer in South Africa, but that may purely be a personal reaction to the way I work’. An undeniably amiable worker, the conversational nature of Lathigra’s interactions with his Brighton subjects had to take a slower, and more cautious pace. ‘Explaining the idea of how community and locations affects us was difficult. Some of the people were suspicious and wondered, why do you want to photograph this? What was it that was so interesting? Also, we are in a climate where anyone who looks remotely Muslim might be feeling less open’. It’s testimony to the honest approach and creative integrity of both artists that the results of photographing the different communities are so strong. ‘I think what empowered me with A Return to Elsewhere is that it took me full circle in the belief that I am an artist’ states Lathigra. This

statement also feeds into his plans for the future. ‘I want to work in India, but I refuse to be pigeonholed as an Indian photographer who goes to an Indian thing here and there. From the moment I chose the path of taking pictures I said to myself, I’m not going to be that guy. I’ll do what I want to do, but you know, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t’.

For further info visit www.kalpeshlathigra.com

Yuri Suzki

YURI SUZUKI Interview by Nana Ocran

Yuri Suzuki hails from Japan, lives in London and carries a Russian first name. A busy man, he’s constantly developing his futuristic and persistently playful concepts, which have featured a travelling sound taxi, a tube map radio and an acoustic pavilion amongst many others.

Good to speak to you Yuri. I wanted to ask, how would you describe what you do? I have quite a lot of interests. I do interactive art and design projects, but it’s quite hard to categorise myself because some people call me a designer, or an artist as well, so I always call myself a sound artist and designer. But music is the thing you’re most passionate about. Yes, exactly. My creative process is always to use sound and music because it has a certain type of physicality. That’s basically the way that I work.

What are your musical inspirations? There’s a lot actually because my dad was a really big music collector. I’m really into Herbie Hancock; his Future Shock album. That kind of electronic music really impressed me a lot with the robot video that went with it. I was really addicted to that kind of thing when I was a child. After that is was acoustic and modern jazz music. Also dub and that computerized, spacy sound. The whole dub and reggae culture is really interesting, but I haven’t really dug deeply into it as much, although I am really passionate about it.

Yuri Suzki

Yuri Suzuki created a collaborative sound installation called ‘Warm leatherette’, which was commissioned by onedotzero. He worked with artists Nathan Gates, Bogosi Sekhukhuni and Neo Mahlasela.

Your work seems so high-tech, although you say you’re essentially non-technical… Yeah, that’s kind of an issue because I don’t have the skills for programming. I have the ideas myself but I always need someone’s help to realise them. I always use very simple and descriptive inputs in my work. My projects are therefore more about experiencing something, and generally avoiding too many words. You’ve been in London for almost a decade, how come you chose to study and live here? It was really because of the Royal College of Art. I really respected the great work that people who went there were making. You were a key part of the cascade project in South Africa last year. What are your memories of that? It was a great experience, and the first time I’d been to South Africa. I’ve wanted to go there for a long time. I feel there’s some super interesting new creativity in Johannesburg. I went to a really weird street demonstration. A big python was being used in an explanation about chemicals and medicine. It was interesting. A unique way of showing the ancient and the modern. It was almost futuristic.

If there was any other place in the world you could travel to, where would it be? It’s a tough question. Cape Town is a place I’d like to see in the future, and with my name being Yuri, I’d like to get over to Russia. That’s a place that has a really amazing electric music culture. Also China; I haven’t been there yet. Any plans to make your own music album? No, no. In fact today I was in the live musicstreaming platform, the Boiler Room. It’s really unique. So much young music culture is made through that platform. I was doing some recordings for my live set. That’s basically what’s kept me busy all day.

SBTV

THE MUSIC MAN Interview by Nana Ocran

Jamal Edwards has gone from being a local rapper to an international wunderkind. Nana Ocran chats to him about his SBTV music phenomenon. Jamal Edwards, MBE, comfortably fits the tag of entrepreneurial whiz kid. At the tender age of 14 he set up a YouTube account as a platform for his handycam-filmed rap freestyles. A decade later, the 24-year-old sits at the helm of SBTV, a global music channel that takes its name from his alias â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SmokeyBarz. The young pioneer has also managed to gain the attention of the international press, and snagged some bestie-style photo opps with the likes of Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson and Princes William and Harry.

In the early stages of setting up SBTV, what was initial goal for it? Just to make sure talent that was going unnoticed had a platform. Talent that was not considered populist or mainstream, but I knew would be loved by British and global audiences. You have a slick website. How big is your online and offline team? I have a small team that is consistently growing. I have three people that focus on the tech and around four or five people work on the editorial.

SBTV

As SBTV has grown, would you say that the average age of your audience has changed? We get new viewers all the time meaning the community is constantly growing. What is interesting is that the audience is growing with us, which makes the brand feel like a living organism rather than something static that only speaks to one demographic. We are truly a community. How did your name SmokeyBarz come about? I used to rap and it was my alias. At the time I felt I had the hottest lyrics, so I decided to call myself SmokeyBarz. Do you still rap? From time to time, but only for a giggle. I have a few raps about being a cameraman/ entrepreneur that I’m sure the world would love to hear. You’ve been snapped at fashion shows, with royalty, with politicians, fashionistas and pop stars. Have any of them made you feel particularly awestruck, or is it all in a day’s work? Meeting the Princes was quite surreal because they are really down to earth people. To meet them and discover they were super humble and friendly kind of threw me. It made me not only respect them, but really appreciate them as people. Would you say there’s a natural streak of ‘showbiz’ in your family? I guess so. My mum is a singer and so is my sister so I think entertainment seems to be a part of our DNA. Do you think entrepreneurship can be taught or are there some people who are just naturals? I definitely think it can be taught. A lot of people think Great Britain is lacking in opportunities but I think it’s about information getting to the right communities. Information is a transformative institution meaning wrong or right information will always impact on your life. I sought out the right information in terms of who to talk to and how to conduct myself, which helped to open doors.

“I would love to use the brand of SBTV to empower young people globally” Apart from the lucrative nature of having global audiences, why are digital connections important for you? Sharing our human experience with the world. Exploring how we make our choices as individuals. You were set to travel to South Africa at one point. Do you have specific SBTV business plans for that country – or any other country in Africa? Yes. I would love to use the brand of SBTV to empower young people globally, both on and off screen. I want to find the Jamal Edwards of South Africa and empower him or her to share their nation’s story and talents. I would love to do the same in the Caribbean. Who currently inspires you from the world of art, fashion, music and business? In the world of art I am really inspired by the artist Phillip Butah. I love his style of portraiture and how he tries to capture the state of the soul in that moment. I’m also really excited by the likes of Edjer, a fashion movement that is trying to redefine highend fashion as an attitude rather than a price point. With music, I must say I feel like what Skepta is doing at the moment is mad inspirational because he is really accentuating his Britishness rather than trying to fit in and I think as a nation that’s one of our strongest points. We stand out; we don’t fit in. It reminds me of the punk movement and I just hope Grime gets the cultural support it deserves now, after the likes of Kanye and Kim Kardashian supporting it. You are now seen as a role model. How does that make you feel? It’s mad because the last thing I ever thought I would be is a role model. For me I just want to be transparent with the youth. It’s hard out there in the world, but it doesn’t mean to achieve incredible things is impossible.

SBTV www.sbtv.co.uk

Roundhouse Rising

All iN THE HOuse By Amelia Ideh

In 2013 the Roundhouse and British Council Connect ZA embarked on an ambitious creative project to encourage young, emerging musicians from South Africa to enter a competition to perform at the annual Roundhouse Rising festival in London. Part of the Future Music Series, the project aimed to build creative links between the UK and South Africa. Amelia Ideh, founder and co-director of Put Me On It, an artist management company, spotlights the Roundhouse organisation through its dynamic and lyrical activities.

With year round programming of cutting edge live music, the Roundhouse is one of the most exciting spaces in the UK for young digital music makers to develop. Offering a combination of artistic access and a continually evolving range of projects for young creatives, the venue – complete with its inhouse, industry standard studios – is uniquely placed to support the emerging talent of the future. The link between music industry professionals and the Roundhouse Studios is perhaps the venue’s greatest asset. Young people who have the benefit of developing their skills and knowledge through the programmed projects are, by default, provided with crucial links and routes for taking their first steps in their careers. Having been a guest speaker on DIY Digital Marketing at Digital Futures, a day of workshops, panel discussions and talks as part of Roundhouse Rising festival of emerging music, I have found that the level of information and range of speakers on offer were not that different from major industry conferences such as South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas. The rise of digital culture and music has meant its democratization. It has never been this easy to learn about, create, and share music at the touch of a button. That also means creators are getting younger, and exponentially

more aware of the opportunities available to expose their work to the world, which can also expose them to risks. The industry professionals who take part in the Roundhouse Studios projects are able to share current best practice information with the next generation of music makers, who in turn, gain valuable insights into creative business development. What I find most exciting about these projects is the exchange of ideas. As the music industry and global businesses are adapting to digital culture, young digital natives tend to be curious, innovative, global thinkers who are able to develop new concepts quickly. The Roundhouse complements this by providing a space where learning takes place on both sides, which helps blur the lines between ‘professionals’ and ‘students’, in favour of an ecosystem of creative people, with a variety of skill sets and interests, who are looking towards the future. All these overlapping elements are present in the roll call of events that constantly fuel the Roundhouse Rising festival. Some of the energy around the competition to enter last year’s event was boosted by British Council Connect ZA partner Live Magazine SA, who spread the word on the ground in South Africa, and helped in the judging process. Over in Johannesburg,

Roundhouse Rising

hundreds of aspiring artists applied, 84 were nominated, and six were shortlisted to perform in the city’s final (See p. 24). In the end, the winners – computer scientist and producer Wildebeats, from Cape Town and Johannesburg based performance ensemble The Brother Moves On – were flown over to London’s Roundhouse Studios in February 2014, where they collaborated with other artists before performing their own work during the festival. While the project was a success, and both participants and audiences found it an exciting and inspiring experience, the evaluation process revealed key areas for development. In order to move towards sustainable creative connections between South Africa and the UK, more collaboration and integration was needed – with artists being more deeply embedded in the scenes they were going to be a part of. This knowledge inspired additional creative projects in 2014 and 2015. In August last year, The Roundhouse took Talking Doorsteps, their ongoing spoken word and film project to Johannesburg and Cape Town. Since its inception in 2011, the event has been bringing creative young people together with professional artists to explore the theme of ‘home’ through pop-up performances on doorsteps around the world. From London to Lebanon, the collaborative process has resulted in a series of inspiring short films, which are now on the Roundhouse Youtube channel. May 2015 sees InZync Poetry Sessions from Cape Town and London’s Chill Pill spoken word club night collaborating on an event as part of The Last Word Festival – two weeks of spoken word, live performance and storytelling at the Roundhouse. InZync is a ground breaking multilingual event featuring poems and stories

“Global businesses are adapting to digital culture, young digital natives tend to be curious, innovative, global thinkers who are able to develop new concepts quickly” told in a variety of mother tongues including Xhosa, English and Afrikaans, while Chill Pill is a relaxed club night where emerging artists and established spoken word performers share the same stage. The combination of these two events in one of the world’s most diverse cities is a unique opportunity for an evening of boundary pushing cross-cultural collaboration and ideas. Among other Roundhouse projects coming up on the horizon are a boot camp in Johannesburg in July 2015, featuring two UK musicians and two from South Africa. Each duo will work with 20 young musicians on a project that will lead in to the London Jazz Festival in November 2015. The time, energy and open-mindedness behind all these creative and collaborative projects embody an ongoing commitment by the Roundhouse and the British Council Connect ZA to continue to grow long and sustainable connections between young artists and audiences in both Africa and the UK.

The Roundhouse www.roundhouse.org.uk

Future Music Rising

FUTURE MUSIC RISING Photos by Chris Saunders

Six live acts, six different sounds and two cities. One competitive weekend of live performances in Johannesburg created a rhythmic synthesis between the British Council Connect ZA, Live SA and the Roundhouse venue in London.

Beat surrender: Computer scientist and producer Mohato Lekana brought the energy of his Wildebeats alter ego to Future Music Rising.

A Cape Chanteuse: Poet, rapper and artist Andy Mkosi.

Facing off: DJ Skelton on the decks at Future Music Rising.

Future Music Rising

Six and the city: The 6-strong instrumental band Bateleur have been honing their sound since 2009.

Cape Town-based hip hop producer Wildebeats and Johannesburg ensemble The Brother Moves On were the Future Music Rising winners 29

Future Music Rising

A rising star: Paul van der Walt is The Watermark High, a solo, electric musician from Johannesburg.

Battle Rapper: Sizwe â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Reasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Moeketsi has taken his lyrics from the street corner to the main stage.

Future Music Rising was part of the 2013 #FutureMusic series

Horn of plenty: One member of the seven-piece performance art ensemble The Bother Moves On.

Future Music Rising

Infographic

BRitish COuncil Connect za A Graphic Impact From media partners and Twitter users to audience numbers and Facebook hits, the visual number crunching of the British Council Connect ZA programme is a graphic manifestation of a celebration of twenty years of South African democracy.

Audience for art in public spaces

15,000+ 150,000+

Taking the facts and stats of a two-year programme, the energy of working across countries and cities, and reaching new and dynamic contacts along the way is part of a bigger picture to unearth the power of new generational thinking between UK and South African creatives.

2 15 70+ 300+

3,500,000+ Commmunity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr

Monthly reach on Facebook

Countries

Cities

Projects

Events

20,000,000+ Reached through traditional media

Engagements with aspiring professionals Engagements with arts professionals

1,500+ 3,000+

50,000,000+ Reach through digital activations

Infographic

CREATIVE FUTURES

Thinking Digital Behind the infographic numbers are curators, innovators, musicians, filmmakers, designers and researchers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all tapped into the world of technology and social media in ways that fuse and connect new, existing, emerging and even futuristic thinking that impacts the arts across two continents.

3 6 16 850 3,500 226,000 2,000,000 3,700,000 Days

Countries represented

Young professionals from UK and Africa

Audience at events

Page views on partner site

Twitter users reached

CREATIVE HUSTLES 2013 & 2014

13 60 1,100 1,400 850,000 19,000,000 Eve nts

Hashtag reach

Media reach

YOUNG FATHERS

Creative professionals

2 3 5 120 600 75,000 6,000,000

Aspirant professionals attended

Cities

Subscribed to newsletter

Live Music events

Reached on partner platform Live SA

Media partners

Reached through media

Attended meet and greets

Live audience

Livestream views

British Council Connect ZA twitter reach in week of tour

Young Fathers

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHERS Interview by Amelia Ideh

In a group conversational mash-up, Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and “G” Hastings of alternative hip hop group, Young Fathers, talk with Amelia Ideh, an artist manager and founder of Put Me On It – an artist development company. Memories of their South African tour this year, first impressions of the country and sounds from South African taxis are all part of the chit chat.

Can you describe your first impressions of South Africa when you stepped off the plane? We got off a plane that was 80 percent white into an airport that was 80 percent black people. London is multicultural but this was a reversal of amounts. And then the ‘orange men’ trying their best to lift luggage, point the way and generally earn a buck and us feeling embarrassed because we didn’t have cash to tip. The journey into Jo’burg was like travelling through a ghost version of parts of the USA. Within minutes of being in the car our hosts were talking about ‘race’, skin colour, identity. On the

whole journey we didn’t see a single white person walking. We did see people without shoes by the side of the motorway, travelling in the back of pick-ups looking worn out. Did you experience anything unexpected or surprising during your stay? The hope. The energy of younger people. It was fresh. But the feelings of injustice, the echoes of apartheid, are still raw. You can ‘know’ something like that before visiting South Africa, but to encounter it is humbling. The country is full of aspiration – it’s taken on the dreams of doing well wholesale, it seems, but there is an undercurrent of

Young Fathers

community that is palpable. Even though there’s still so much separation, everyone seemed aware that there was something special about the country. Maybe, if the riches can be shared, then it could be a real model for the future, but most people we spoke to thought the process was way too slow. Can you tell us about the collaborations you were part of during your trip? The big musical collaboration was at Red Bull studios with Mashayabhuqe, Zaki Ibrahim and Shane Cooper (AKA Card On Spokes) and LAWholt. It’s still unusual for us to collaborate with other artists – we like to keep things so they are controllable. But just before heading out to South Africa we had worked, almost by accident, with some singers and a rapper from Durban who happened to be in Edinburgh and this maybe gave us a taste for working with other musicians. The session went very well, with good spirit and created something unique that still needs to be mixed and mastered. Did you learn anything that might affect your musical process in the future? Everything filters through… it was great to work with open minded and spirited people. What was the energy in and around the musical scene like? There seems to be a frustration, which seems appropriate. The world isn’t paying enough attention to the music from Africa generally, and the music from South Africa in particular. The feeling seemed to be that people on the scene considered their music to be as ‘legitimate’ as any from Europe or the States but that it was always sidelined, or shifted to some sort of world music category. Exotic, because it’s from Africa. But the country is a modern, industrial place. The electronic scene, in particular, is ahead. The use of different rhythms is fluid. There’s almost an embarrassment about the more unique sounds coming from the country, like they aren’t ’sophisticated’ enough, or maybe because they are in Sotho or Xhosa so they, by definition, won’t travel. Did you discover any music (old or new) you’d recommend, and what did you like about it? We were listening to South African sounds from over a year ago, or longer. When we got to South Africa we discovered that some of these artists are either considered super-mainstream or hardly register in the country at all, particularly if, like Spoek Mathambo and Petite Noir, they no longer

live there. The best sounds came from the taxi rides, where crazy township rhythms spilled into religious programmes. We didn’t get any names… Mashaya and Zaki were both incredible live and it would be great to hear that particular energy recorded. Were there any differences in terms of the reception to your music between British and South African audiences? Yes! South Africa was open hearted in a way that UK audiences struggle with. In the UK, people often wait for the tick of approval before giving themselves to the group. In South Africa it felt like there was an affinity, immediately. That was really surprising and the best payment for making the trip. Your new album “White Men Are Black Men Too” is described as an “ask for it (equality) backed with the best music we’ve ever recorded”. Was there any resonance between your message and the people you encountered in South Africa? Absolutely. Both in Cape Town and Jo’burg, when we met media and other people there was an immediate interest in what we meant by the title. Identity seems so crucial to South Africa (inevitably, after its past) that it felt like there was a bubbling cauldron of questions and curiosity. I think we expected everyone to be weary of the subject, but it’s still hot and always just below the surface. It’s almost as if there is a huge, ugly boil that needs lancing, so all the bad shit can flow out and the country can begin to heal. But the inequality so apparent throughout will mean that this won’t happen for some time. What did you find yourself taking photos of during your trip? If there was one moment you would frame what was it? It was framed! But we were in it, at Soweto, after the mini show in the dusty car park, when we were surrounded by a small crowd of kids and adults; a moment of joy. But also a sad moment, because that was the only show we did in a township. It still seems crazy that we couldn’t get a proper gig in the biggest city in the country. That says a lot about how things are. But we know that doesn’t define the country. The photograph does that.

Young Fathers www.young-fathers.com

Play Riot

MONGIWEKHAYA THE STORYTELLER Inter view by Zena Edwards

I was raised by my Grandmother from birth. I spoke with her words and her tongue and walked the streets of Witbank Township. But one day my parents returned from their travels overseas, collected me and took me up into a silver bird, and we, my sisters and I, were laid on a new earth. No one spoke my grandmother’s tongue. The child that spoke with any and everyone found himself a ghost in a new place. He told himself little stories to remember himself. But eventually he told himself new stories. In English. And was reborn as someone new. Mongiwekhaya Writer, filmmaker and creative advisor Mongi Mthobeni – pen name, Mongiwekhaya – is a hard-wired storyteller, having been involved in South Africa’s theatre and film industry for ten years and having notched up experience in over 50 film and theatre productions. With solid credentials as a playwright, Mongiwekhaya is an ‘alumni’ of London’s Royal Court New Writing Programme – a year-long workshop that culminated, in 2014, with a series of readings based on lived and fictional experiences of post Apartheid South African life – but more on that project later. These days, Mongiwekhaya’s natural gift manifests itself through directing and visual storytelling. He has a short film project, Speed of Dark, which highlights his mentoring talents through his engagement with young South African artists. ‘Speed of Dark is adapted from a dance piece called Open Happiness’ Mongiwekhaya explains. The film essentially embraces the

wonder that South Africans felt about the construction of the country’s underground high-speed railway – the Gautrain. For the project, Mongiwekhaya started by introducing young movement artists to the prolific works of US singer-songwriter Tom Waits, an artist specifically picked for his rich style of storytelling. ‘I also introduced them to the theatrical form of the French buffoon and clowning’ says Mongiwekhaya, ‘and then the ritualistic, shamanic performance of repetition to compound the feeling of awe South Africans felt in a time of economic transition.’ An advocate of the value and power of arts across communities, Mongiwekhaya’s additional work in the remote village of Barrydale in South Africa’s Western Cape Province has generated a unique collaboration with the Handspring Puppet theatre in a project called Karoo See. This work takes the local residents on a mythical journey complete with a colourful parade, life sized puppets and local youth bands. ‘This project allowed the children and the young adults to just ‘be’ and to ‘play’ explains Mongiwekhaya. ‘My role was to be the motivator, assigning specific roles and powers to youth mentees, to trust them and make them accountable to each other and to encourage them to become leaders’. It’s clear that part of the ethos of Mongiwekhaya’s practice is to heal, while capturing and commenting on the undercurrent of political and social reparation in South Africa, through the arts. ‘Art in South Africa must be freed’ he states. ‘It must escape the tyranny of economic elitism. People are freeing themselves, and there

Play Riot

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The young need more support, resources and room for the natural creative process of failure to help them improveâ&#x20AC;?

Previous page: Mongi Mthobeni. This page, top left to lower right: Simo Majola, Amy Jephta, Eliot Moleba, Genna Gardini, Nobantu Shabangu, Omphile Molusi and Tau Maserumule. Following page, left to right: Neil Coppen and Napo Masheane.

Play Riot

are some spaces but few and far between. The young need more support, resources and room for the natural creative process of failure to help them improve. Depending on your race or economic background, you may find that space hard to come by and your struggle to the stage monumental.’ Obviously he speaks from personal experience – something that’s evident in the writing he undertook during his involvement with the previously mentioned Royal Court New Writing Programme for British Council Connect ZA. One of six writers, who include Napo Masheane, Neil Coppen, Omphile Molusi, Amy Jephta and Simo Majola, Mongiwekhaya’s reflections on his London experience are positive – even endearing. ‘I heard about the Connect ZA exchange through a friend. I applied and amazingly I was accepted. I entered with a play called Brave. It’s about Ben, a young man, who ends up in the custody of a brutal cop named Buthelezi. Its about the youth born post-Apartheid, clashing with the adults who still carry the trauma and scars of South Africa’s struggle for democracy.’ Essentially an ‘African Noir with rays of a sunrise’, the story was based on intimate knowledge of such circumstances – something that proved to be cathartic for Mongiwekhaya to write. ‘Being resident at the Royal Court was a rare opportunity especially to just spend

time with other young writers focused on the craft of writing and to experience the type of support that can be offered to a new play,’ he says. ‘I’m more known as a physical theatre performer and I felt enormously out of my depth, so one of the most important benefits was the international creative affirmation. It was enlightening and an honour to meet and work with British playwrights Leo Butler and Winsome Pinnock. I even took a picture with Benedict Cumberbatch, which was terribly grainy and dark; no one will believe its him...!’ Future plans for the playwright are to continue working with a young puppet company called Ukwanda, a word that means ‘to emerge’ in Xhosa. With the Karoo Project spanning several years, the goal is to mentor the young leaders there so they can eventually run the event themselves, and therefore become the generators of the new South Africa. ‘As for myself’ says Mongiwekhaya, ‘post British Council Connect ZA at the Royal Court, I’ve finished a new play and I’m in post-production on my new short film, Metatron Cube. After spending two years in community arts, its also time to put myself out there.’ We look forward to it.

For further info visit www.playriot.weebly.com

Spoken Word

A POET'S BUSINESS Interview by Zena Edwards

At the heart of Johannesburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burgeoning spoken word scene is 33-year-old Thabiso Mohare, aka Afurakan. A dynamic, tenacious and entrepreneurial creative strategist, he has an expansive vision for the literary arts in South Africa and is not afraid to think big. As a fellow lyricist, writer Zena Edwards proudly claims him as clan. A scheduled 20-minute Skype call between the two, reportedly overran by an hour. Here is a snippet...

Spoken Word

Tell me about your journey into poetry and your involvement in the spoken word scene in South Africa. I started out as a rapper but fell in love with poetry around 2000. I worked what poetry circuit there was at the time as a writerperformer, building credibility. In 2007, the production side of the industry attracted me, so I started a PR agency with Qhakaza Mbali Mthembu, called ‘Word N Sound’, exploring communication for creative writers. For three years, we hosted a variety of events, mainly music, but saw an obvious gap in the literary market. So in 2011 we took the plunge to put on the first Word N Sound Poetry Festival to create an international youth poetry platform in Jo’Burg. Being an artist, writer, organiser and curator, you have a full overview of the industry’s challenges and you take all that experience to build a better industry that treats artists well. From videos I’ve watched online you are hailed as a street poet. What does that mean in the context of being from South Africa? It’s been misunderstood. It’s a safe term for those who don’t know what to do with a poet that’s not an academic. Let’s say it’s being a slam poet, or work that might have more elements of performance. We have a similar tension here in the UK - ‘page’ poets vs ‘performance’ poets. In South Africa and across the continent, we’ve had Orature before literature, storytelling and other performative forms like praise poetry, before coded language. Traditional academic routes push a global standard that marginalises anything outside of it. Spoken word is such an important medium for young people. It cuts across the generations, speaking to the parent and the child simultaneously. It creates platforms for dialogue between them, where some popular culture and much of the commercial world are selling dreams and aspirations causing separation by degrading women or having no real substance. So, young writers are now reclaiming and really owning the definition of a poet. Tell me a little more about Word N Sound as a visionary organisation. Right now it creates multi-genre presentations, mixing music, theatre, and dance. It’s thrown away the slam rules to see how far poetry can go, encouraging diverse content with big contemporary issues like race, gender, politics, power, and social economics. These new poets are talking about being young in South Africa and being global citizens. This inspires us. We

have contacts in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy… I’m talking with a producer in China. So we know what our peers are doing around the world and are feeding into each other. In 2017 we’re launching an artists based advertising agency for turning poets into copy writers for advertising, and to optimise their other creative skills as art directors, illustrators, graphic designers and digital media strategists by using all these skills in-house. We are learning how to support ourselves through owning the business and industry of it, so that 10, 15 years from now we are bigger stakeholders rather than those creatives who just produce work and sell it. How did you become a part of the British Council Connect ZA project? What role did/do you play? I was the Arts Projects Manager focusing on literature, music and theatre for British Council Connect ZA, but originally, I was working with the British Council to help reposition its brand. Part of that involved getting funding and creating a credible two-year project. From that programming the Royal Court New Writing Programme was conceived. We mentored 24 new playwrights – twelve from Zimbabwe and twelve from South Africa – over three phases. This included the six readings at the Royal Court in London, one of which was Brave by Mongiwekhaya Mthobile. (See Mongiwekhaya the Storyteller p.34) Why are international exchanges like British Council Connect ZA important? Because the aim is to connect arts organisations and artists between the UK and South Africa. British Council Connect ZA had multiple focuses – music, theatre, architecture, design and creative economy. To survive as an artist in South Africa, you have to be in the private and education sectors. There’s a lot to learn there, but getting yourself known internationally is really important. Any final words? What’s fresh for you? Jo’Burg is exciting. It’s a hub of new and experimental work that pushes boundaries, has a diverse range of voices and is competitive in an arts sense. There are artists who are hungry, that want to make a mark, who want to go abroad, and that drive is feeding into the work they’re producing and the quality of experimentation. I believe it’s inspiring the rest of the country. It’s building a network by connecting with other provinces that are taking their cue from Jo’Burg.

www.wordnsound.wordpress.com

Irini Papadimitriou

Curating Digital Interview by Nana Ocran

Curator and producer Irini Papadimitriou has a strong international sensibility running through her work. Based at two arts venues – London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Waterman’s Art Centre, which sits on the bank of the Thames in Brentford – she has worked with artists and collectives in the UK, Hong Kong, Spain and South Africa in ways that fuse her knowledge of visual arts and design with elements of science, engineering and technology.

Irini Papadimitriou

How do you balance your time and work between two venues? At the V&A my position is Digital Programmes Manager. We’re a small team of three people. My work there is more events based so it’s all about engaging audiences in discussions and hands on activities around art, design and technology. The work at Watermans came a bit later; it’s still about digital art but I have a gallery space there so I’m responsible for curating the exhibition programme, which again looks at new media and art. I also do an annual festival there called the Digital Performance Weekender. Can you tell me about the Market Hack you did in Johannesburg last year? Yes, it was part of my Waterman’s position. The British Council Connect ZA invited me to South Africa the year before to take part in the A-Maze games culture festival, just to observe and meet people. So, I proposed the Market Hack for the following year. The main idea behind it was to do something on the street to engage people who wouldn’t otherwise cross the barrier by going into a gallery, an auditorium or a conference space. What was the audience like? The Market Hack happened in Braamfontein, which is a very vibrant, very young area, with quite a few pop up galleries starting up. It was really good because it happened on a Saturday when the food market takes place. The idea was to set up an event that was about sharing creative projects around art and design, and getting people to take part in hands on activities with collectives like Bare Conductive, who use electric paint and touch boards. The culinary connection is a good one. It’s a nice idea having tech and maker activities in a dedicated food space. It’s like alchemy. Very magical. With cooking you start with different components and then you create something that is extraordinary at the end. In a similar way with electronics, you can select different ingredients and cook them to create something new. Are you planning more hacks? In Cape Town maybe? We’re doing another one this year in Johannesburg, with other activities including residencies, and of course there’s Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Festival, which is quite big. Where else have you been travelling? Hong Kong. It’s for a project where I’m involved both in my capacity with Watermans and the V&A. It’s still ongoing. I’ve been collaborating with a group of people who are looking at electronic waste recycling, so we’ve been doing work with factory workers and having discussions about the impact of e-waste in relation to cultural organisations. Is this something that you programmed? It’s led by an artist called Dani Ploeger, but I’ve been co-curating something with him at the V&A and Watermans. The final part of the e-waste workshop is getting everybody together in London and having an exhibition at Watermans. So I’ll be curating that.

What’s the attraction of working internationally for you? It’s so inspiring. I know London isn’t typical of the UK, but sometimes when you’re just in one place, you end up seeing very similar patterns. Working abroad, you meet other people and exchange ideas, so it’s great. I’ve been running a project at the V&A, which is basically a meet-up called Digital Futures. It’s a networking event where I bring people together every month and we discuss different ideas and show a range of work. It’s been happening here for a long time, but then I’ve done a few events outside London, like Scotland and also in Barcelona. There’ll probably be one in Mexico as well. It’s really amazing to see how it changes your views. So in Johannesburg, would you say that the making and problem-solving skills and ideas felt particularly South African? Maybe. But at the same time, when I was growing up, I thought actually, I’ve lost skills. I don’t know how to do basic things. I think it’s good to not only to know how to fix things, or how to change a bulb just for the sake of it, but to also understand broader things about the environment, climate change, energy and waste. Although people might be living in different countries, in the end we’ll all be facing similar problems in the future. So through this, we learn from each other. That makes me think of a long ago trip to Cuba when I was impressed by the fact that with minimal resources, there were so many vintage cars on the road. Exactly. In fact, Cuba is one of the places that for me would be really interesting to see because they have a DIY culture. Is there a contemporary making culture or community over there? Yes, but it’s not part of the international consciousness. I thought about this in South Africa as well. There are these communities who have amazing making and problemsolving skills that they use out of necessity. They are sustainable as well, so it would be amazing to connect with people like that. I would like to find out more about different communities that have these schemes. They make things and they design things, but we don’t know about that because they are not officially called designers or makers. Has the fusion of art and technology always been part of your passion, or is this the natural way that things are going? My background is in museum studies and conservation, but I think my previous work with photography and moving image has led to more work with new media art. What fascinates me about this area is how many different disciplines and skills come together. That was exactly what I really wanted from working in the arts. Having worked with scientists, artists, designers, biologists and engineers, it’s really interesting to look at all this and to think that right now there’s more and more interest in these types of creative crossovers.

Joburg Photo Umbrella

IMAGES FROM ABROAD

Interview by Nana Ocran

A Return to Elsewhere was a photographic collaboration between artists Kalpesh Lathigra and Thabiso Sekgala. By focusing on the lives of specific Indian communities in South Africa and the UK, an important friendship was forged, and for Lathigra, a step taken in a new creative direction.

Joburg Photo Umbrella

Celia Davies Photoworks and Brighton Photo Umbrella, UK ‘I first started to think about the Return to Elsewhere project back in 2011, a year ahead of the Brighton Photo Biennial of 2012. The genesis of the idea came with the BPB’s theme of Community, Collectives and Collaboration. From the beginning we were interested in getting two artists to work together across two countries. The decision to work with Kalpesh and Thabiso came about because I’m always interested in how a commissioning project can be a gear changer for artists and photographers. With Kalpesh I could see how his experience and approach could be developed here, and equally how he could challenge the commissioning process and assumptions. With Thabiso, who was introduced to us by the Market Photo Workshop, I could see a different approach; a slower, more personal body of work that had emerged to date. What they both had, however, was an openness to collaborate, which was essential for the project to work – and a rarer quality than you might imagine. The overriding memory of the collaborations for me is about making: making work, making plans, making new friends, new connections, communities and partnerships. Everyone on the project – commissioners and photographers – I think experienced those things.’

John Fleetwood Market Photo Workshop and JoBurg Photo Umbrella, South Africa ‘I think our collaboration with Thabiso and Kalpesh was both, at once and as it developed, really rewarding. There was a moment after the first show in Brighton, where we all looked back at the work as something that was not ours anymore, but became a document, an object of the world. In Johannesburg, the exhibition ran outdoors, at Mary Fitzgerald Square. As part of the Apartheid-era, public spaces were often eradicated or prevented, and with urban-mall culture, public interaction remains contested. We were fortunate that we were able to activate some spaces that we hope in future will enable other possibilities. It was a key motivation for the JoBurg Photo Umbrella to rethink public spaces and how to present photography. I think photography plays a critical part in the arts in South Africa. Through social media, it has grown considerably. At the Market Photo Workshop our average student has become younger and younger, and today most students that study here do this directly after school. There are no confirmed plans to tour A Return to Elsewhere, but we hope we can show the work in Cape Town, and in particular Durban.

www.elsewhere.thespace.org www.photoworks.org.uk

www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za www.joburgphotoumbrella.tumblr.com

See interview with Kalpesh Lathigra p.14

Mandela Day Shorts

THIS IS PLANET EARTH Kent Andreasen, Auntie Flo, Lebohang Kganye, Konx- om-Pax, Spoek Mathambo and Esa Williams

To celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18th, The online platform, The Space, and British Council Connect ZA co-commissioned three new moving image artworks from six emerging South African and British artists, animators and musicians. The World is Flat, Pied Piperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Voyage and Vividism were the filmic outcomes of the project.

Mandela Day Shorts

Visual flat lining: Still images from Kent Andreasen’s short film ‘The World is Flat’ featuring music by Esa Williams and Auntie Flo.

Mandela Day Shorts

Art illustrated: Stills of the film Vividism, a collaboration between animator Konx-om-Pax (UK) and musician Spoek Mathambo (SA).

For further info visit www.thespace.org/artwork/ view/mandelavividism

Mandela Day Shorts

Follow the leader: Still images from Lebohang Kganyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s short film Pied Piperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Voyage, featuring music by Esa Williams and Auntie Flo.

International Fashion Showcase

INTERNATIONAL FASHION SHOWCASE

The Futraspective fashion show saw South Africa looking back to go forward in an international showcase from new designers displaying a riot of textures and influences, from bold prints to beadwork and folded metal.

International Fashion Showcase

Hang â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em high: (Top and also p.50 & 51) Designs by Cape Town collaborative art and fashion creatives Adriaan Kuiters & Jody Paulsen. Heritage designs: MaXhosa by Laduma knitwear (right and bottom) from the Buyelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;mbo collection by designer Laduma Ngxokolo.

South Africa is asserting a new identity through fashion. 52

International Fashion Showcase

Classic lines: Bright prints and simple silhouettes from designers Adriaan Kuiters & Jody Paulsen.

Creative Futures

CREATIVE FUTURES Interviews by Nana Ocran

Creative Futures

For three days in September last year, 16 creatives from across the globe gathered in the heart of Johannesburg to share stories, exchange ideas, party, talk and explore. The Pan-African mix of artists was strong, with Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria well represented by filmmakers, visual artists, designers, illustrators and also a dynamic food jammer. We pinned down four participants representing the global mix, to get their thoughts on the Joburg experience, their work, their city and what it means to be creative.

Gareth Owen Lloyd, 29, London How would you describe yourself? An artist, working as a curator and facilitator of artist and designer led projects. What is your strongest memory about your experience during Creative Futures? Meeting creatives from across Africa, locals, and the UK to explore the city. We cooked, debated and socialised together and shared an intense three days deconstructing what it means to be a creative. Did your creative discipline find you, or have you always wanted to do it? I am constantly trying to work out what my discipline is - I have studied 7 years as an artist but my jobs and practice intersect the art and design worlds - I make things but also work as a curator and a tutor. What’s the best (or worst) thing about the creative scene in your city? The best thing about London is that it is big enough to sustain multiple creative scenes, which means you can create connections between different practices. The worst thing is the space available for the creative scenes is being squeezed – spaces that were once studios and galleries are being turned into flats. If you could choose a country to make it big (or bigger) where would it be? Creative Futures introduced me to a group of individuals with global perspectives identifying with multiple cities. I would love to be able to do the same and have connections and creative partnerships across the world. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an exciting, upcoming city, building creative partnerships and making and curating events and exhibitions.

Creativity is…? Big question! My old tutor told me that creativity was like the fisherman making a net. He spends his time choosing the thread, the size of the holes, then based on the weather, decides when to set sail. The fish brought to shore is the artwork – not made but caught. So for me creativity is a network of people, places and luck. It’s also a language that takes ages to learn!

Jade De Waal, 24, Cape Town How would you describe yourself? A food jammer. What is your strongest memory about your experience during Creative Futures? Open conversations with Dillion, Malose, Amirah, Sionne, Jamal, Gareth … Did your creative discipline find you, or have you always wanted to do it? I grew up in a family who communicate via food, but food jamming started whilst I was studying jazz. What’s the best (or worst) thing about the creative scene in your city? Hunger. If you could choose a country to make it big (or bigger) where would it be? South Africa. Where do you see yourself in five years? Traveling with a group of people who share their knowledge in their respective arts to schools across the country. Creativity is…? Problem solving.

Creative Futures

Davina Jogi, 32, Harare and Perth How would you describe yourself? A photographer and writer. What is your strongest memory about your experience during Creative Futures? Hands down the Food Jam, although wandering around on the roof of an old factory turned artists’ residence somewhere near Ellis Park was pretty cool too. Really it didn’t matter what we were doing, just getting to share some time with an eclectic bunch of like-minded creatives was just what I needed. Did your creative discipline find you, or have you always wanted to do it? Ever since I was a little kid I have always been artistic but I only got into photography after reading ‘The Bang Bang Club’ in high school. Cheesy, but true. What’s the best (or worst) thing about the creative scene in your city? Um, creative scene? I have definitely described Harare as a ‘black hole’ of creativity when it comes to the visual arts but the best thing about that is trying to fill the hole! If you could choose a country to make it big (or bigger) where would it be? I guess I’d choose Australia, though it isn’t much of a choice because I’m married to one of its citizens. Australia will do for now, but really anywhere that has a market to buy photography would be fine by me…even just one image…please? Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopping back and forth across the Indian Ocean, funding extensive photography trips at home by freelancing in Australia, exhibiting my images in actual galleries, and maybe paying a bill here and there with the proceeds. Creativity is…? The freedom and ability to express yourself in a way you find useful and enjoyable, and which hopefully, other people value.

Amirah Tajdin, 28, Nairobi and Dubai How would you describe yourself? I would say an artist who is currently making films, since all things visual and image or imagination based form the crux of how I like to think and see the world. What is your strongest memory about your experience during Creative Futures? The late night conversations with the fellow creatives that were honest, laid back and just genuine. Something that’s rare in this industry. Did your creative discipline find you, or have you always wanted to do it? Right now I’m focusing on my filmmaking and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was fourteen. But being an artist first – my earliest memories of creating were during kindergarten when I had to trace Mickey and friends since I used to get dropped off early. It meant I went to art school and majored in photography in order to further develop how to merge conceptual thinking with writing. I guess in a way it was always in me, story telling, but I learnt how to carve it out gradually. What’s the best (or worst) thing about the creative scene in your city? The best thing is the raw energy in both cities. There’s a drive and a want to see things differently and bring different life experiences to the forefront. The worst is that this sometimes means being taken advantage of because the creative industry isn’t respected entirely, yet. If you could choose a country to make it big (or bigger) where would it be? Not too sure about country, but perhaps a city could be a good starting point. But if I were to choose a country – THE INTERNET. Where do you see yourself in five years? On set for my third feature film with an amazing budget and lots of horses. Creativity is…? Humility.

British Council Creative Futures is part of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Festival.

Creative Futures

Amirah Tajdin

Gareth Owen Lloyd

Jade De Waal

Davina Jogi

Travel

TRavel DiariEs

Greatest places, favourite smells, big inspirations and best sights or sounds... Four creatives recall their memories of travelling from the UK to South Africa.

Travel

DennA Rodger

Natalia Palombo

Date of Journey: July 2014.

Date of Journey: May 2014.

Where did you go: London to Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Where did you go: Glasgow to Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Who did you go with: Talking Doorsteps

Who did you go with: Pidgin Perfect.

Favourite food you ate: I think I talk for Pip as well - meat, salsa and pap in Soweto with the Word N Sound crew after a superb tour from Booysie.

Most inspiring person you met: Yohh, I can’t answer that! The Power of ZA documented over 20 creative practitioners in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and for me, it was a month of being constantly creatively indulged and inspired on a daily basis. We had incredible project partners too, and I think we wouldn’t have accessed such exceptional work if it wasn’t for Lavendhri Arumugam (curator/artist/genius) and Sims Phakisi (filmmaker, DJ, promoter at WeHeartBeat).

Poet and Co Founder of Chill Pill www.deannarodger.co.uk

Most inspiring person you met: For the reason of why leaving my own country and hearing about home for other people in a variety of ways – Noncedo a member of the InkCredibles collective from Kayamande taught me how to see myself as love. Greatest place you saw: Too many to tell and many were in poems and one was the most amazing music venue I have seen in Soweto - we saw Jean Grae (!) and Pharoahe Monch so much fun! However There was one tree in particular that caught my eye - it was in a park in Stellenbosch and it was HUUUGE and had been chopped but even in the chopping it still towered over us like a SUPER GIGANTIC steadfast truly MASSIVE boss! Smells like: Heat. Feels like: Steel. Sounds like: Horns.

Arts Producer www.nataliapalombo.co.uk

Greatest place you saw: Fell madly in love with Johannesburg in general. It reminded me of Glasgow in so much that it’s not conventionally beautiful and there’s no one place that sits in your heart; the journey through the city isn’t hypnotic in the way that Edinburgh or Cape Town may be, but through conversations and experiences, the streets begin to animate and the architecture starts to speak to you. Johannesburg was like this for me too. And again, like Glasgow, the same processes, structures and journeys that trouble me about the city are the same things that inspire me. It’s a city to create in, so I’m coming back to create some more next month. Smells like: Whisky and dust. Feels like: Going home when you’ve just done something you shouldn’t have. Looks like: Something is always just about to happen.

Travel

Kazim Rashid (aka kazim kazim kazim) Warp Records, RULE OF THREE & somethinksounds / The Love Below. Date of Journey: September 2014. Where did you go: London to Johannesburg. Who did you go with: Creative Futures. Highlights: Generally, Johannesburg itself. I was completely unaware as to how cool it is, and was completely blown away and taken by surprise. The mix of culture and arts, history and social context makes for a very intoxicating city. Favourite food you ate: I don’t think I ate anything which blew my mind. Most inspiring person you met: So so so many. Part of what made the trip so memorable for me was the amount of inspiring people I met. Too many to mention, but ultimately what really inspired me was how socially driven and politically concerned the youth were - whether their discipline was music or art or social welfare. Best thing you heard: Well, it would have to be Township Funk courtesy of a certain DJ Spoko. Greatest place you saw: The entire city was a remarkable sight. The mix of high and lowbrow, the street culture in the city, the history in the suburbs.

Fi ScOtt

Founder/ Design Director at Make Works www.makeworks.co.uk Date of Journey: February 2015. Where did you go: Glasgow to Johannesburg and Cape Town. Who did you go with: Maker Library Network. Highlights: Exploring a diamond mine and visiting a South African tannery. Favourite food you ate: Boerewors! Most inspiring person you met: Machines Room and ThingKing. Best thing you heard: “it is easier to ship the recipe than cakes and biscuits” - in a discussion about John Maynard Keynes and distributed manufacturing. Greatest place you saw: It has been said a thousand times, but Table Mountain was pretty excellent! Sounds like: Movement. Feels like: Making. Tastes like: Sea salt.

Sounds like: Bacardi House. Shangaan Electro. Feels like: Falling in love. Tastes like: You want more!

Travel

Onedotzero

BeyOnd zeRO InspirtiOn Interview by Nana Ocran

Gemma Carr is the Production Assistant at the leading cultural organisation onedotzero, where curating and producing memorable events and exhibitions all come under the venueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s umbrella. As the main co-ordinator of large outreach and educational programmes, she is key to the smooth running of Cascade, an international education project that brings artists and creative students together. Cascade ZA hit South Africa for the first time last year. Gemma lets us in on some of the background.

Onedotzero

brilliant showcase of projects that they have supported recently from all over the world You had 20 students involved in the cascade workshop in Johannesburg. How were they chosen? There was an open call to anyone in Johannesburg. They had to send in their CVs and answer two questions: Why should you be chosen and what do you hope to get out of onedotzero_casacde ZA? If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be and why? We then selected the best answers and focused on creating a diverse and interesting mix of people who weren’t necessarily the most experienced but had something that we felt would add to the group dynamics and would really benefit from being part of the workshop.

When was the cascade programme first launched? The workshop started in 2008 as an educational element of our ‘adventures in motion’ festival at the British Film Institute (BFI). Since then cascade has been hosted internationally and with partners such as Kin, Hellicar + Lewis, Quayola, John Nussey and Squint/Opera. A particular highlight was being able to take the workshop to Beijing and work with the China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts (CMoDA) as part of their launch in December 2011. cascade za 2014 was the first workshop in Johannesburg. We had so much fun with all the students that we really hope to take it back again this year. You were also part of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Festival in Johannesburg. How did that happen? We proposed the cascade workshop and the residency as part of the British Council Connect ZA’s input into the festival and Innovation Month. Our partnership with them and Fak’ugesi sprung from our interest in the brilliant creative programmes that the British Council has, and our previous relationships with them. In South Africa you worked with sound artist Yuri Suzuki as well as creative technologist Nathan Gates, musician Neo Mahlasela and artist Bogosi Sekhukhuni. What was behind that selection? We chose Yuri Suzuki, as we had always been a huge fan of his work and the way that he uses music and sound in such a playful and interesting way; something that fitted really well with our 2014 theme of ‘PLAY’. Johannesburg and South Africa have a really interesting music scene that we wanted to tap into as part of the residency and Yuri is an artist who could really tap into that. Originally the residency was between Bogosi and Yuri but as we developed ideas and were introduced to Neo and Nathan we realised that a larger collaboration would be fantastic. This worked brilliantly with all four of them lending a particular skill to the work; Bogosi with his film direction and the interesting style that drew us to him in the first place; Nathan with his technical coding skills and Neo with his musical talents. This is collaboration as it should be – fluid and wide reaching.

You ended the workshop by throwing a Tetrafix party. How did that go down? It was a night curated by Matthew Dean, co-director of the Kalashnikovv Gallery in Braamfontein. It was mainly a music night and a closing party for Innovation Month in Jo’burg. Matthew kindly let us loose on the event to create an extra programming element that brought some playful interactions. The venue was amazing and it was a fantastic opportunity for the cascade participants to get creative with space, people, colour and light and particularly to have a public platform for their work. Were there any stand-out projects on the night? I couldn’t choose a favourite! They were all so different. When you work and mentor in a workshop like cascade you get so close to all of the projects, you see every groups’ ups and downs and all their different processes and so at the end what comes out is always fantastic. Regardless of the physical end outcome we’re really proud of the progress everyone made. It sounds a bit cheesy but it’s the way that they got to the end and what they learned along the way that’s important not the destination – although in this case all the destinations were amazing! There was a theme of ‘play’ running through the workshop experience in Johannesburg. What’s your personal definition of the word? I think play is a state of mind, letting go of rules and a kind of freedom from what’s expected. Everybody has a different definition of what makes them feel playful. For me personally it is being in direct contact with lots of people, face to face interaction and being present in the physical world. What we wanted to do with our cascade theme was give the participants permission to use that feeling as a creative force, something to inspire and improve their work and creative relationships.

Has there been any off-shoot programming as a result of the collaboration? As of yet there haven’t been any plans for extra programming. The project was shown in the British Council’s ‘Blurring the Lines’ exhibition, which was a

For further info visit www.onedotzerocascade.com

Future Connections

cOntributOrs

Nana ocran

TeO ConnOr

Loren Platt

Nana Ocran is a London-based writer, editor

Graphic designer and art director Teo Connor

Loren is a creative producer based in East

and lecturer. She was the Managing Editor for

was co-director of No Days Off before setting

London. Co-founder of Work It, The W Project

the Time Out Group’s series of guides to Lagos

up her own eponymous studio in East London.

and F A M, she thrives on ideas and bringing

and Abuja (2007-2013) and has consulted on and

She has more than a decade’s experience in the

them to life. With a background in visual

established publications on West African culture

design industry working with a broad range of

communication, her interests and skills are

for the Danish Film Institute, the Arts Council

clients from fashion and lifestyle brands to arts

diverse as she naturally explores many

England and the Institute of International Visual

organizations and record labels. She is a keen

disciplines through her work. Collaboration is

Arts. She was the curatorial advisor for the Afro-

collaborator with other groups and individuals

at the core of what she does – her vast creative

future programme at La Rinascente during Milan

and is regularly involved with mentoring aspiring

network allows her the ability to organically pull

Design Week 2013, and is a regular writer for

young creatives from all over London. She is also

together dynamic teams to execute any project.

publications including the quarterly Wings inflight

co-founder of The W Project which celebrates

Most recently working with BBC 1xtra, Columbia

magazine for Arik Airlines (Nigeria), Selamta (Ethi-

women in the creative industries, recently taking

Records, Nike and Boiler Room.

opia) and Virgin Atlantic (worldwide).

over NTS Radio for International Women’s Day.

www.lorenplatt.com

TWITTER: @NanaOcran

www.teoconnor.com

Amelia Ideh

Josephine Chime

Zena Edwards

Amelia Ideh is founder and co-director of Put Me

Josephine moves in between the worlds of

Raised in Tottenham, North London, Zena is a

On It (PMOI), an artist management company.

art and design from developing her art practice

unique voice in performance poetry and has

Known as a tastemaker and events producer,

to designing awards for music shows.

been involved in writing and performance for 20

she has a passion for emerging and independent

An artist who is happy to spend days drawing

years after graduating from Middlesex Univer-

music. Her events include PMOI Live London,

whilst gaining repetitive strain injury including

sity. As a project developer and educator, she

CMJ NYC, and Soundwave Festival Croatia. As

entwining her mind with other progressive

regularly engages with Youth Arts and Activism projects and empowerment through creativity

a communications consultant her clients have

creatives and thinkers with the aim to

included Matthew Herbert’s Accidental Records,

produce pure visual goodness.

in schools and alternative education. Zena is

Gabriel Prokofiev’s Nonclassical, Ninja Tune, War-

www.adachinonye.com

Creative Director of ‘Verse In Dialog’, an umbrella

ner UK, Benji B’s Deviation, Tobago Jazz Festival,

company focused on cross art collaboration

Vision Sound Music Festival, Jazz & Experimental

for positive social change.

Music From Poland, and Eye Magazine.

www.goodnewzee.wordpress.com

www.putmeonit.com

Editor: Nana Ocran Designers: Teo Connor and Loren Platt Commissioner: Sarah Mann Project Manager: Owen Martin British Council Connect ZA: Lois Anguria, Phola Gumede, Levinia Jones, Jarryn Katia, Sarah Mann, Owen Martin, Thabiso Mohare, Sibongile Musundwa, Lisa Phasha, Tom Porter, Ayanda Sithole, Ntombenhle Shezi, Emily Wilcox Sloan and Melanie Spencer Contributing Writers: Zena Edwards and Amelia Ideh Illustrations: Josephine Chime Photography: Kalpesh Lathigra and Thabiso Sekgala (cover), Stephen Hobbs (p 4 – upper), Colin Davison for ISIS Arts (p 4 - lower), Janine Johnston (p 7 – upper + middle right), GRAS (p 7 – lower left), Mike Massro (p 8 + 9), Stuart Whipps (p 11), Moss Morwahla Moeng (p 12 – upper + lower), Auto Italia South East (p 12 – middle), Stuart Whipps (p 13), Kalpesh Lathigra (p 15), Kalpesh Lathigra and Thabiso Sekgala (p 16, 17, 18 + 19), Owen Martin (p 20), Gemma Carr (p 21), Dan Reid (p 22), Stephen Hall (p 25), Chris Saunders (p 27-31), Word n Sound (p 40), Kutlwano Moagi (p 44), Madoda Mkhobeni (p 45 – upper), Kutlwano Moagi (p 45 – lower), Kent Andreasen (p 46-47), Konx-om-Pax (p 48), Lebohang Kganye (p 49), Nico Krijno (p 50), Agnese Sanvito (p 51), Agnese Sanvito (p 52 – upper + middle), Ulrich Knoblauch (p 52 – lower), Nico Krijno (p 53), Live Mag SA (p 54 + 57), Gareth Owen (p 58 + 61 – second row right), Natalia Palombo (p 61 – upper + lower left + third row right), Fi Scott (p 61 – upper + lower right + third row left), Gemma Carr (p 62 + 63).

British Council Connect ZA would like to thank all of the talented artists, musicians, playwrights, poets, designers, filmmakers, creative entrepreneurs, curators and institutions who have made this programme possible. You are integral to the programme! We’d also like thank our many talented and insightful colleagues at the British Council, both in South Africa and the UK, who have continually believed, advised and supported us. A full list of credits is available here: www.connectza.tumblr.com/about