Infecting the City 2023
The longest-running public art festival in South Africa, Infecting the City (ITC) brings performance and visual art out of theatres and galleries, into the streets and public spaces of Cape Town. ITC reimagines public space as stages, showcasing an array of art forms, and creating a platform for artworks relevant to the people that populate these spaces. Going beyond light entertainment, the Festival challenges audiences and transgresses aesthetic and disciplinary boundaries while also shifting perspectives.
Infecting the City Public Art Festival took place from 15th to 25th November.
The call for the festival focused on political and social activism. Works straddled a multitude of themes, spanning questions of land, black masculinities, indigenous knowledge systems, migration, intimacy, healing practices and play.
A total of 90 proposals were received from artists and collectives, of which 33 were selected to participate in the 2023 ITC.
The selection committee included a team of 6 reviewers;
External reviewers:
- Xolani Rani
- Warona Seane
Curatorial Fellows:
- Maganthrie Pillay
- Themba Stewart
Internal reviewers:
- Jay Pather
- Nkgopoleng Moloi
External selection committee bios:
Maxwell Xolani Rani is the director and founder of Luphiwo African Dance Academy. He holds a Master’s (Mmus) degree in Dance and he is currently a PhD fellow from the University of Cape Town. He is the founder and the creator of the African dance technique called Intsika meaning the “pillar” or the “strengthen”. He is experienced in teaching and choreographing most levels of African dance technique and its contemporary works. He is a convener for the courses which encompasses practical and theoretical studies in African dance pedagogies. Rani has produced, choreographed works and taught in South Africa, Senegal, Mali, Namibia, Gambia, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, London, Brazil, Germany, United States, China, Jamaica, France and Canada to name a few.
Warona Seane is an actor, director, dramaturg, producer, and was the first Artistic Manager at Soweto Theatre between 2013-2015. In June of 2016 she was on a residency at Baltimore Center Stage and Blue Mountain Center to develop a new production with US collaborators. She was the 2017 convenor of the Theater programme for the National Arts Festival and holds an MA Dramaturgy from UCT, in collaboration with University of Amsterdam. Currently she is a lecturer at UCT’s Center for Theater, Dance and Performance Studies (CTDPS).
Participating Artists included;
Mandla Mbothwe, Moving Stories Theatre Organisation, Aphiwe Mpahleni, Mthunzikazi Mbungwana and Thiyane Duda, Anikaya Dance Company, Toby Ngomane, Kwanele Thusi, Msaki, Louise Westerhout, Sbo Ndaba Dance Company, Angelinah Maponya, Jody Wood, JazzArt Dance Theatre, Sello Pesa, Tim Zulauf, She Poems Collective, Wolff Architects, Ntsiki Anderson, Zayaan Khan, Nkosenathi Koela, Darion Adams, Crystal Finck, Keagan Damons & Toroga Denver, The Pussy Squad, Yaseen Manuel, Elvis Sibeko, The Nest Collective, Catol Texeira, Sex Workers Theatre Group, Clinton Osbourn, Raul Jorge Gourgel, Ab Fab Drag, Deidre Jantjies, Luke De Kock, Auriol Hays, Sboniso Thombeni and Manoko Francisca Tlhako, Russel Hlongwane, Tammy Langtry, Linda Makgabutlane, Gaby Saranouffi, Mthuthuzeli Zimba, and Thania Petersen.
Artworks were situated in and interacted with public space while engaging incidental audiences. These spaces included; Grand Parade , Golden Acre shopping centre, Cape Town Station Deck, Hiddingh Hall, UCT, South African Museum of Natural History, Huguenot Building Courtyard, Western Cape Legislature, Wave Theatre, District Six Homecoming Centre, Church Square, The Iziko South African National Gallery, Company's Garden, St George’s Cathedral, Rhodes Memorial, Slave Lodge, Krotoa Place, St George’s Mall, Greenmarket Square, The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Castle of Good Hope and Star Theatre.
The festival comprised 10 programmes that straddled choreographed dance works, theatre, installation, film screening, procession and music.
Programme Outline
PROGRAMME 1 WED & THUR 15 & 16 NOV 13:00 - 15:30
Grand Parade Arch
MANDLA MBOTHWE
Ngolwimi nobu Xhaka-xhaka
Golden Acre Main Piazza
MOVING STORIES THEATRE & APHIWE MPHAHLENI
Untitle it
Cape Town Station Deck
Golden Acre Pedestrian Bridge
MTHUNZIKAZI MBUNGWANA & THIYANE DUDA
Ekapa Bakhona Abantu
PROGRAMME 2 WED & THUR 15 & 16 NOV 18:00 - 22:00
Hiddingh Hall, UCT
ANIKAYA DANCE COMPANY
Conference of the Birds
Amphitheatre
South African Museum of Natural History
TOBY NGOMANE
Azure Orange
Huguenot Building Courtyard
52 Queen Victoria Street
KWANELE THUSI
Biko
Western Cape Legislature
15 Wale St
MSAKI
Blood Guns and Revolutions: Izenzo (Acts)
PROGRAMME 3 FRI 17 NOV 13:00 - 15:00 SAT 18 NOV 11:00 - 13:00
Wave Theatre
44 Long Street
LOUISE WESTERHOUT
Unclear
Golden Acre Main Piazza
SBONDABA DANCE COMPANY
Amandla Okubambisana
Tafel
Homecoming Centre
ANGELINAH MAPONYA
Ties
Church Square
JODY WOOD
Social Pharmacy
PROGRAMME 4 FRI & SAT 17 & 18 NOV 18:00 - 22:00
The Iziko South African National Gallery
Company's Garden
JAZZART DANCE THEATRE
Limitless
St George’s Cathedral Big Hall
Queen Victoria Street
SELLO PESA/NTSOANA & TIM ZULAUF/KUMPRODUKTIONEN
Converting Eviction
Parking Lot
Commercial Street
MULTIPLE ARTISTS
She Poems
Church Square
WOLFF ARCHITECTS
hophuis
PROGRAMME 5 SUN 19 NOV 17:00 - 18:00
Rhodes Memorial
MULTIPLE ARTISTS
The Spirit. The Land. Her Soul
PROGRAMME 6 WED & THUR 22 & 23 NOV 13:00 - 15:00
Slave Lodge
MULTIPLE ARTISTS
'ǁIs ge sada ge, sada ge ǁis (She is us and we are her)
Slave Lodge
JESSICA FOLI, AWANDE DUBE & LIKHONA MPEPO
The Pussy Squad
Krotoa Place
St George’s Mall
YASEEN MANUEL
Breaking Borders
Thibault Square
ELVIS SIBEKO
Madoda
PROGRAMME 7 WED & THUR 22 & 23 NOV 17:00 - 21:00
Hiddingh Campus, UCT
THE NEST COLLECTIVE
The Feminine & The Foreign
Hiddingh Hall, UCT
CATOL TEXEIRA
Clashes Licking
Keerom Street
SEX WORKERS THEATRE GROUP
Get Free
Greenmarket Square
RAUL JORGE GOURGEL
And then she adorned my neck
Church Square
DIRECTED BY BASIL APPOLIS
Ab Fab Drag
PROGRAMME 8 FRI 24 NOV 13:00 - 15:00 SAT 25 NOV 11:00 - 13:00
The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation
Buitenkant St
DEIDRE JANTJIES
Stories in die Wind
Castle of Good Hope
LUKE DE KOCK
Camissa Heritage Tour
Krotoa Place
St George’s Mall
AURIOL HAYS
Come make music with me
Thibault Square
SBONISO THOMBENI MANOKO FRANCISCA TLHAKO
Wan tHo Wan tHo
PROGRAMME 9 FRI & SAT 24 & 25 NOV 17:30 - 22:00
Hiddingh Hall, UCT
RUSSEL HLONGWANE & TAMMY LANGTRY
uMqombothi UBhokweni neJuba
Huguenot Building Courtyard
52 Queen Victoria Street
LINDA MAKGABUTLANE
Shacks and Yoga Mats
Star Theatre (formerly Fugard Theatre)
GABY SARANOUFFI RANAVALONA
III
Church Square
MTHUTHUZELI ZIMBA
Ndijongiwe I’m being looked at
PROGRAMME 10 ONGOING INSTALLATION
City-wide Installation THANIA PETERSEN
The performance programme was accompanied by series of public lectures, dialogues and conversations structured around an exchange of ideas explored in the Festival.
The following talks took place;
- Thursday 16th November at 10.30 am
Collaboration and the Commons In Dance by Wendy Jehlen.
Dancing in the network society, opportunities and challenges from collaboration networks by Joaquin Pereira.
- Thursday 16th November at 4 pm
Ukusuka egoqweni ukuyakutsho ebuhlanti: claiming space for isiXhosa by Mandla Mbothwe, Thiyane Duda, Mthunzikazi Mbungwana
- Friday 17th November at 11.15 am
Dance as a sociopolitical practice by Toby Ngomane, Kwanele Thusi, Elvis Sibeko
Biographies
Joaquín Pereira is a Uruguayan economist and contemporary dancer currently based in France. His focus lies on collaborative, cross-sectional work involving dance and governance, human rights, territorial presence, education, health, labour, and productive development. He is the co-designer and co-manager of Uruguay’s first National Dance Plan, a board member of Uruguay’s Dance Union, and an active collaborator of the Ibero-American Dance Platform. His practice seeks to build bridges between science and the arts.
Wendy Jehlen is a choreographer. Her unique approach to choreography incorporates elements of Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu, West African dance, Butoh, and a wide range of Contemporary movement forms. She has performed in the US, Canada, Italy, India, Japan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Mali and Turkey, with collaborative projects in Benin, Japan, India, Brazil and Turkey. Her works include Entangling (2015), a duet with Burkinabe choreographer Lacina Coulibaly inspired by Quantum Entanglement; The Deep (2015), a work for 25 dancers created in São Paulo, Brazil, Lilith (2013), The Knocking Within (2012), Forest (2010), and He Who Burns (2006) among others.
Mandla Mbothwe is a playwright, researcher, director, art teacher and theatre practitioner for the past twenty-one years. He has created and presented numerous award-winning theatre productions of high quality, nationally and internationally. He has presented his work at Infecting the City, Out of the Box (Cape Town), National Arts Festival and Afrovibes in the Netherlands amongst many other festivals. He is Founder and Artistic Director at Mud and Fire Parables; Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Cape Town, co-artistic director at Magnet Theatre, and co-artistic director at Mbothwe and Doni Collectives. He has served as Creative Manager of ARTSCAPE Theatre Centre and the Biko Foundation’s artistic director.
Thiyane Duda is a researcher at the Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) based in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on traditional governance and living customary law. Thiyane is also a reader of isiXhosa literature and a founder of Indyebo kaNtu, a live platform that curates African languages literature and music. He also reads isiXhosa literature with Mthunzikazi Mbungwana on Instagram live every Sunday evening at 20h00 on their profile @uncwadi_nobugcisa.
Mthunzikazi A. Mbungwana is a poet, writer, and translator whose interests in isiXhosa literature are about illuminating the multidisciplinary ways of growing the isiXhosa language using popular culture, creative works, and queer language of love, intimacy, and sex. A lecturer in African Languages at Rhodes University, she holds a Master's Degree in Creative Writing in isiXhosa and is the author of two poetry collections, Umnikelo (2015) and Unam Wena (2021).
Toby Mpendulo Ngomane is a Heart Warrior who has enjoyed choreographing, acting, production management and various forms of design. A visual chronographer, his practice is centred on the body. He is also an endurance athlete whose focus is on ultra-distance mountain running — an extension of his study of the body and the body in space.
Kwanele Finch Thusi is a curator/choreographer, coordinator, and artist. His work reveals stories that are left untold and narratives that have not yet been spoken. Thusi is the recipient of the Thami Mnyele Foundation Award for 2022 and under his wings is a solo project called PINA and a new work titled BIKO (MBIKO).
Elvis Sibeko is an internationally acclaimed theatre director, choreographer, dancer, fitness instructor and festival curator. Sibeko trained as a dancer at Tribhangi Dance Theatre in Midrand, Johannesburg, and then at Jazzart Dance Theatre in Cape Town under the Artistic director of Alfred Hinkel. He completed his two-year Higher Education and Training Certificate in Community Development Practice in 2011. His work has been staged locally and internationally for more than ten years, where he has been working with several of South Africa’s and international dance and theatre luminaries such as Mynie Grove, Cassper Nyovest, Camillo Camillo Robert Lombard, Terry Fortune, Dizu Plaatjies, Pops Mohamed, Brett Bailey, Mandla Mbothwe, Mzo Gasa, Jay Pather, Sbonakaliso Ndaba, Alfred Hinkel, Mamela, Nyamaza, Gregory Maqoma, David April and Didi Moses.
~ 1 December 2023 ~