Geographical and cultural roots explored in the National Arts Festival Grahamstown’s 2013 Dance offering. Choreographer, teacher and dancer, Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance Fana Tshabalala’s engagement with cleansing ceremonies led him to explore the possibilities in which rites of passage can create new beginnings and purify minds and bodies from the negativities that haunt us. His new work titled Indumba – a hut used as a place for cleansing rituals in most African countries – aims to … [Read more...] about Diverse dance at the National Arts Festival
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New artists announced for 55th La Biennale di Venezia
The Department of Arts and Culture and the National Arts Festival recently announced the initial line-up of artists for La Biennale di Venezia which opens at the end of May in Venice. There have been some additional artists that have been added to the impressive original list that will now form part of the 2013 South African Pavilion at the 55th La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition is entitled Imaginary Fact – Contemporary South African Art and the Archive. Gerhard Marx, Maja Marx and … [Read more...] about New artists announced for 55th La Biennale di Venezia
Gearing up for Grahamstown Festival?
On the eve of the National Arts Festival’s 40th anniversary, the Festival programme continues to push boundaries, and presents a thought-provoking line-up in Grahamstown, from the 27 June to 7 July 2013. As always, the backbone of the main programme is comprised of the work of the Standard Bank Young Artists. The first ever Young Artist for Performance Art, Anthea Moys, presents a series of contests entitled Anthea Moys vs the City of Grahamstown. Young Artist for Dance Fana Tshabalala’s … [Read more...] about Gearing up for Grahamstown Festival?
Local Artists to benefit from NAF and MBDA Partnership
A new partnership between the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and the Mandela Bay Development Agency brings benefits to artists from Port Elizabeth and surrounds. Artists from Port Elizabeth and its surrounding areas are set to walk under a bigger spotlight at this year’s National Arts Festival, the result of an exciting partnership that has been brokered between the Festival and the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), an entity of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM). … [Read more...] about Local Artists to benefit from NAF and MBDA Partnership
Arts Festival to Experience a ‘PE Takeover’
The Cacadu District of the Eastern Cape is the soil from which no fewer than 42 National Arts Festival 2012 Fringe productions have grown this year. Productions from Grahamstown, Paterson, Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth will represent the Cacadu district's rich cultural heritage on the Festival stages. Port Elizabeth's Centrestage are bringing five productions to the Festival. Big Band to Hollywood - Buble takes Centrestage, Centrestage's Nuvo Retro Topsy Turvy Music Show, Gino Fabbri and … [Read more...] about Arts Festival to Experience a ‘PE Takeover’
Tokoloshe – I am Expecting to see Artworks on Bricks
Finding Kaggen, an exhibition planned for the National Arts Festival Fringe event art artEC in Port Elizabeth this year, seeks to excavate meaning and widen the national aesthetic discourse by making the invisible visible. Opinion is radically divided on the subject of the Thikoloshe (tokolos or thokolose) throughout Southern Africa. Popularly dismissed during apartheid as "Bantu superstition" the Thikoloshe has in recent years reappeared as a firm favourite in the tabloid press. But … [Read more...] about Tokoloshe – I am Expecting to see Artworks on Bricks
Experience The National Arts Festival Fringe Programme From TODAY
Port Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela Bay, will host 9 major exhibitions at specific Galleries in the city as part of Visual Art fringe programme of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. Entry to the Port Elizabeth venues is free of charge, and open to all. Open Now: Ernest Cole Photographic Exhibition: International award winning photographer Earnest Cole is the first exhibition to be housed in the Art Gallery of the Red Location Cultural Precinct. Opening today 15 June: "SKIN" at the … [Read more...] about Experience The National Arts Festival Fringe Programme From TODAY
