Working Title’s Live Art Weekend – The Soil Remembers – October 1, 2 and 3, 2026 in the Baxter Masambe, Cape Town.

In this pop up interview: Siphesihle Nkantini talks about his piece, The line is dead (Calling the soil), performed at Live Art Weekend – The Soil Remembers. Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DjxL2XEuf/ and https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dd97y_0onyD/ Watch an extract from the performance here: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSbmgApas/

Siphesihle Nkantini is 25. He has used old’ style corded rotary phones for his performance which is deep and yet fun. It is a waiting game – which riffs off the past – and Winnie Mandela’s testimony at the TRC – land – the wait for land.


It also taps into phone culture – as we wait and wait for someone to pick up: “Please remain on the line. We value your call…” See https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSbmgApas/

There is audience participation. I wish that he had more phones. This is a playful piece. It is also theatrical and dramatic.

He trained at Magnet Theatre and he brings Magnet’s signature physical theatre idiom to this piece. Loved it!

Thoroughly enjoyed Live Art Weekend. Immersive experience with wonderful, creative people. Warm and welcoming. Four performances are outside – using spaces around the Masambe. The pieces are site responsive – dealing into the surrounds. For example, Kopano Mashike’s Before the City, I Was Home is performed on the narrow ledge of the Baxter Masambe. It is a viewing deck as we gather to experience this iteration of her body of work, City of Shacks. The body is the primary agent and medium in this piece in which the deck is scrubbed, with an audience of watchers. Meanwhile the city noise in the background, provides a soundtrack of taxis and busses; commuters heading home or for a night out. See TheCapeRobyn for more: about the artist: “City of Shacks has always been about stories of home, displacement, survival and the lived realities of people navigating the city. This piece allows me to explore those questions through my own body and experience.” https://thecaperobyn.co.za/interview-live-art-weekend-the-soil-remembers-insights/

On the note of site responsive, at the Q&A at the opening event on October 1, Carin Bester, of Working Title, Curator of Live Art, told us that when she sends out an open call for applications, she includes photographs of available sites at the Baxter and specs. So artists have that in mind and are asked to request two possible spaces. During previous iterations of Live Art Weekend, outdoor space was limited because of construction work. For this iteration, additional spaces opened up which happened to tie into the theme of land, soil, as per the theme. When setting up, the works fitted with the spaces. And yes, I had a sense of the pieces being grounded and rooted, intimately site responsive. Live Art is an audience responsive happening and this was evidenced from this iteration.


Here is to Working Title’s Live Art Weekend 2027

✳ Siphesihle Nkantini’s The line is dead (Calling the soil), performed at Live Art Weekend – The Soil Remembers. This performance – Oct 1, 2026. Pic: Robyn Cohen/TheCapeRobyn. Siphesihle Nkantini talks about his piece, Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DjxL2XEuf/ and https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dd97y_0onyD/ Watch an extract from the performance here: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSbmgApas/