UJ Arts & Culture is gearing up for its
tour to the National Arts Festival to showcase the depth of cultural engagement
facilitated by University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art, Design and
Architecture (FADA). It is a programme rich in talent and diverse in creative
discipline.
METAMORPHOSIS
Franz Kafka’s masterpiece Metamorphosis highlights the
interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of UJ Arts & Culture’s work.
Conceptualised by around 300 FADA students and performed by a stellar line-up
of professionals, Metamorphosis is
the story of a young man who transforms into a giant beetle-like insect
overnight, becomes an object of disgrace to his family and an outsider in his
own home.
One of the most widely read and influential
works of 20th-century fiction, Metamorphosis
startles the audience with the bizarre story of a quintessentially alienated
man. Kafka takes his audience on a harrowing – though absurdly comic –
meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation.
Working in multidisciplinary groups, FADA
students from across ten different departments in the faculty were challenged
to explore the ‘other-worldly’ interpretations that this play lends itself to.
The cast, featuring William Harding, Craig Morris, Khutjo Green, Ameera Patel
and Jack Mabokachaba are complemented by the collaborative design of sets, costumes
and animation.
“Having so many minds combined in the
creation of an abstract thought such as this play is a rarity,” says Head of UJ
Arts & Culture, Pieter Jacobs. “It is a force that entrenches the power of
true collaboration within the creative sectors as an agent of deep change and
innovation.”
Metamorphosis will be running from June 27 to 30 at the National Arts Festival at
the Gymnasium. The production will return to UJ Art Centre from July 11 to 20.
Tickets are now available at https://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/events/metamorphosis/
and https://arts.uj.ac.za/show/METAMORPH/
LORD OF THE FLIES
Testament to UJ Arts & Culture’s
commitment to the development and transfer of skills, Ayanda Bulose will make
his directorial debut with the classic allegory Lord of the Flies. After a number of years honing his skills as a
director, Bulose will head up a fierce team of UJ Arts & Culture's Arts
Academy students to bring this tale of fear and power to life. “It’s has been
an exhilarating experience breathing life into an epic classic such as Lord of the Flies,” says Bulose.
"It has been a wonderful journey
producing Lord of the Flies over the
past six months that I have been at UJ Arts & Culture. We have an
incredibly talented creative team comprising young award-winning designers.
This is Ayanda Bulose's debut as a director and he has not held back on his
creative input and seeing him grow into a young talented director has been
rewarding,” says UJ Arts & Culture Operations Manager Karabo Mtshali.
The Lord
of the Flies production team has partnered with the UJ Health & Safety
department to collect recycling material used to build the set, reflecting on
environmental issues that creates a theme running through Bulose’s
interpretation of the play.
Lord
of the Flies will be running from June 27 to 30 at
St Andrews Hall at the National Arts Festival. Johannesburg audiences can catch
it upon its return to the Con Cowan Theatre in September 2019 at the UJ Youth
Arts Festival. Tickets are now available at https://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/events/lord-of-the-flies/.
iNDUKU
Created in residence at UJ Arts &
Culture under the mentorship of award-winning Jade Bowers who also sits in the
director’s chair, iNDUKU is written
and performed by Ayabonga Makanya. In this one-hander, Makanya tells the story
of Thembalethu who was born in the rural Eastern Cape and raised by his Gogo
after his mother abandoned him. Growing up within the confines of culture and
religion, he is ill-prepared for the world. As he becomes a man he is faced
with doubts about the foundations of these customs.
“Working with Ayabonga has been interesting
for me, and I think for him as well, because it has been a process that has
started from scratch, working with the writing from a dramaturgy perspective as
well as the rehearsal process,” says Bowers.
iNDUKU will be running from June 28 to 30 at the St Andrews Hall at the
National Arts Festival. Johannesburg audiences can catch it upon its return to
POPArt in Johannesburg from July 11 to 14. Tickets are now available at
https://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/events/induku/.
CONTINUING CONVERSATIONS
This year’s fine art exhibition that UJ is
touring to the National Arts Festival is a continuation of the longstanding
partnership between the MTN Foundation and UJ Arts & Culture. Main
Programme exhibition Continuing
Conversations is a collection of portraits expertly drawn from the
extensive collections of both institutions.
With the vision and enthusiasm of joint
curators Niel Nortje, Manager of the MTN Art Collection and Annali Dempsey
Curator of University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Continuing Conversations brings the hidden treasures of both
collections into the public domain.
Dempsey and Nortje have selected portraits
that explore the concepts of power, the juxtaposition of power and
powerlessness, identity and body politics, perceptions of the other and the
exotic, memory, and the masks we wear.
About 40 works have been selected from
across the UJ collection, consisting of 1,500 artworks, and the MTN collection,
consisting of 1,400 artworks. Artists on show include Gerard Bhengu, Reshada
Crouse, Wilma Cruise, Phillemon Hlungwani, Maggie Laubser, Judith Mason, George
Pemba, Cecil Skotnes, Irma Stern and Edoardo Villa.
Continuing
Conversations will be exhibited from June 27 to July
7 at the Grahamstown Gallery – Albany Museum.
UJ Arts & Culture, a division of the
Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA) produces and presents
world-class student and professional arts programmes aligned to the UJ vision
of an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically
shaping the future. A robust range of arts platforms are offered on all four UJ
campuses for students, staff, alumni, and the general public, to experience and
engage with emerging and established Pan-African and international artists
drawn from the full spectrum of the arts.
In addition to UJ Arts & Culture, FADA
(www.uj.ac.za/fada) offers programmes in eight creative disciplines, in Art,
Design and Architecture, as well as playing home to the NRF SARChI Chair in
South African Art & Visual Culture, and the Visual Identities in Art &
Design Research Centre. The Faculty has a strong focus on sustainability and
relevance, and engages actively with the dynamism, creativity and diversity of
Johannesburg in imagining new approaches to art and design education.
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