Ars Electronica Garden Johannesburg

CONVERSATION WITH THE MAKERS OF VIRTUAL BLACK OUT: EXPERIMENTS IN THE FUTURE OF FORM Exhibition

Panel with the artists of the Virtual Black Out: Experiments in the Future of Form that took place at the National Arts Festival and includes discussion on the outcomes and collaborative procedures

Pan African Telematic Art Project

The Pan-African Telematic Art Project (PATAP) is a new initiative of the Vrystaat Arts Festival through the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE), in partnership with the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, Ars Electronica, and the University of the Free State’s Program for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD), funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Pretoria and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Two projects were selected to receive funding to experiment with new, interactive media arts projects, dealing with issues relevant to the continent.

Fak’ugesi Digital Art Curators

Over the years of growing the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival we have experienced a huge hole in our African digital arts ecosystem, essentially the lack of curators, producers and general advocators of digital arts in Africa, and specifically those from the continent. The field itself is not necessarily new, but the hurdles to accessing resources and markets brings a number of challenges for the African digital art ecosystem.

We Come From Our Stories I and II

Platfontein is the residence of the !Xun and Khwe people, first-nation inhabits from Southern Africa. FSAH, under the direction of the former Programme Manager MC Roodt, initiated a youth print-project, in partnership with the William Humphreys Arts Gallery and the Isibindi Youth Centre. Fourteen young artists translated traditional narratives into linocut editions during April of 2017. The print portfolio was titled Ons Kom Vanaf Ons Stories (We Come From Our Stories). All proceeds from sales were funnelled back to the Platfontein artists to support their continued growth as voices from the next generation.

Virtual Black Out: Experiments in the Future of Form

Virtual Black Out takes a step into digital “space” making. Engaging African scenographers and digital artists to rethink space, location and time for new digital theatre making. Five pieces developed in lockdown over two weeks.