Africaphiles, rejoice: The African Arts Institute (AFAI) brings Capetonians a five-month series of events celebrating the continent’s cultural and artistic achievements entitled Learn Africa, Love Africa.
From July until September, monthly music parties, art talks, film nights, and book chats will take place throughout Cape Town. The events will be hosted by venerable Cape Town establishments – the Kimberley Hotel on Roeland, 6 Spin Street, the Labia on Orange, and The Book Lounge on Roeland.
AFAI aims to expose South African audiences to the creative triumphs of Africans at home and abroad. In an effort to grow local markets for their work, Learn Africa, Love Africa endeavours to promote the creative products of these contemporary musicians, filmmakers, artists and writers.
The series began on 29 July with the first monthly Music Party. DJ Jubu entertained the crowd with his uniquely African beats. Following this success, Putumayo’s Oliver Barnett played 26 August. On Friday 30 September Toby2shoes will take the stage, with Patrick Vee to follow on 28 October and Boeta G on 25 November. Doors open at 20h00 and music will start around 21h00. Admission is R30 at the door.
Art at 6 Spin Street
6 Spin Street will host a series of Tuesday Art Talks as part of the programme from August until December. A Spier winetasting will kick off the night at18h00, with presentations beginning at 18h30 in the lecture room of the Cape Town Democracy Centre.
The talks opened on 16 August with a presentation on Dak’Art, or the Dakar Biennale. Led by Marilyn Martin, one of the five African curators for Dak’Art 2010, the lecture provided an overview and history of Dak’Art, which was created in 1989 and has focused on visual arts since 1992.
Kathy Coates, arts educator at the Iziko South African National Gallery and former lecturer at UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art will present Influences on Contemporary Nigerian Artists on 20 September.
Next up, Zimbabwean artist Richard Mudariki will present The Visual Arts in Zimbabwe: Creators, Context and Contents on 18 October. Richard, who lives and works in Cape Town, was recently included in the exhibition Hope and Despair at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.
On 15 November, former Art South Africa editor Sean O’Toole will chat about his uniquely African experience at the 2011 Venice Biennale. Four African countries are represented at the current 54th Biennale, and not without controversy: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The talks will conclude on 6 December with a discussion by Mario Pissarra, managing director of Africa South Art Initiative. Mario, an honorary research associate in historical studies at the University of Cape Town, will present Decolonisation as a Theme in the Work of Contemporary African Artists, citing examples from Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Film at the Labia on Orange
AFAI began monthly Film Nights on 9 August at the Labia on Orange with a double screening from Ousmane Sembène, the father of African cinema. Ousmane’s first short film, Borom Sarret, and first feature, La Noir de …, played to a packed house. Leon van der Merwe, director of the Cape Winelands Film Festival, gave a pre-screening presentation.
Learn Africa, Love Africa Film Nights are presented in collaboration with M-Net’s African Film Library, and coincides with M-Net and DStv Online’s launch of the African Film Library video-on-demand (VOD) online service.
The second screening will take place during Creative Week, on Tuesday 13 September. The programme now returns to more recent, contemporary film titles with Nha Fala (My Voice), a musical by Flora Gomes from Guinea/France.
The rest of the programme: Ezra, a drama by Newton Aduaka from Nigeria on 11 October; Kini and Adams, filmed in Zimbabwe by Idrissa Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso on 8 November; and on 13 December the comedy À la Recherche du Mari de Ma Femme (Searching for my wife’s husband) by Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi from Morocco. All screenings start with a Spier win tasting and pre-screen discussion at 18h15 at the Labia Theatre on Orange Street.
“Africa has a wealth of creative talent and abundant natural and human resources,” maintains AFAI.
The African Arts Institute was established in 2009. The organisation’s mission is to advance the creative sector across the continent, funded in part by a grant from Spier. Learn Africa, Love Africa provides Capetonians with an exclusive opportunity to celebrate distinctly African creativity, culture, and ingenuity.
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Images: Caroline Jordan, AFAI and www.capetowndailyphoto.com
