The Cape Town Partnership is a lead partner on the East City Design Initiative together with a range of stakeholders which include Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Faculty of Informatics and Design. The Cape Town Partnership recently presented the East City Design Initiative and World Design Capital to the Cape Town City Council (7 October 2009) and received the support of Council and the Mayor. Alderman Felicity Purchase, the Mayco Member for Economic Development & Tourism, said that the two initiatives were “in line with the City’s vision for … Cape Town as a creative hub and capital.”
We will showcase regularly new events and projects in the East City.
This month we can advise you to go check out Carbonage ; an innovative one month exhibition at 4th floor Harrington House, 37 Barrack Street. Carbonage’ is an attempt to make sense of a fragmented, contradictory, media saturated world. The exhibition is designed to overwhelm the viewer creating a feeling of shock and awe. The title ‘Carbonage’ refers to the fusion of carbon based life forms with the world of Coca-Cola and their kin. The exhibition is a temporary space, and is a one person show by Richard Mason who has studied graphic design at Wits-Tech in JHB and Fine Art at Michaelis, UCT. Its open till 12 November between 1-6pm on weekdays. The website for the show has some great images.
Newly opened in the East City is the Open innovation Studio on 27 Buitenkant Street . It was formed to “foster and support socially relevant innovation”. Its core product is “flexible membership in an inspirational and well resourced habitat in Cape Town where innovators can work, share, learn, and change the world”. Aimed specifically at “smaller organisations and solo-flying change agents… Open Innovation Studio is a physical environment that combines the attributes of a shared office, a classroom, a coffee shop and a gallery. It also brings together elements of a business incubator, innovation agency, dynamic public space and members club.” Get a virtual tour of the facilities by the director and founder Dirk Visser on You Tube and download its brochure.
Also in the East City area, Creative Cape recently stumbled onto a large 4 storey building on 25 Commercial Street owned by Spier, which houses the African Arts Institute and Arterial Network (see the story on Pan African Cape Town), a film studio, PR Company, a crafts training facility and a cataloguing space for Spier’s art collection amongst others. This is a great facility supporting the development of the arts scene in the city and Africa.
