Live art: Working Title Live Art Weekend at Masambe, ART MUST BE… July 2024

Following on the success of the 1^st Live Art Weekend in the Masambe at the Baxter, Working Title is presenting the 2^nd iteration from Thursday to Saturday – July 11-13, 2024 at 7pm. The theme is: ART MUST BE… There will be four performances and a visual arts exhibition in the foyer. One ticket provides access to the whole programme which is about 90 minutes. After the performances there will be short bathroom and refreshment breaks between performances. The programme on Thursday – July 11- will include a Q&A with the artists. Live Art Weekend is curated by Carin Bester, a multi-disciplinary creative, working in performance, theatre and visual art. Bester is known for activism and Live Art is another expression of the vital discourse she ignites through her work. The theme for the July Live Art weekend, provides a platform for artists to excavate what art may mean and constitute, and proposes alternative paths for perception and reception. Live Art Weekend ART MUST BE… has  been made possible by the National Arts Council. Read on for more:

Working Title, Live Art Weekend at Masambe Presents – ART MUST BE…

What is ART? 

Carin Bester, the curator of the Working Title’s Live Art weekend at the Baxter, reflects about ART MUST BE… “That age old question – What is ART?  We want to challenge the idea of art having to be beautiful or looking a certain way. Exploring different genres and showing that art comes in many different forms.

This theme gives artists an opportunity to express in their creative way; what art is to them, why they create, what their purpose is for creating?  The work presented will open the conversation on this question. By showing the viewer the expression of the artist, the application of their skill to create something which art may be 

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” – Stella That age old question – What is ART?  We want to challenge the idea of art having to be beautiful or looking a certain way. Exploring different genres and showing that art comes in many different forms.

This theme gives artists an opportunity to express in their creative way; what art is to them, why they create, what their purpose is for creating?  The work presented will open the conversation on this question. By showing the viewer the expression of the artist, the application of their skill to create something which art may be 

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” – Stella Adler

Featuring artists: Jeremeo Le Cordeur, Kelby Manuel, Sjaka S. Septembir, Xavier Parks and Vuyelwa Phota  

Jeremeo Le Cordeur – Artists Vision

In performance photography the artists’ vision is captured for eternity. An ensemble of artistic expressions, set, costume, lighting and the physical presence of the performer/s are translated by the photographer into a single static moment in time A new artistic expression. Performance photography gives the viewer of the photo the opportunity of being there without being there.

An artist’s view, of another artist’s vision.

As a performer himself, Jeremeo is naturally adept to capture the vulnerability of the performer/s while understanding the importance of the full production value. For this showing, Jeremeo worked closely with the curator to select a small group of diverse performance images showcasing not only the art of the photography itself but also that of the productions photographed.

Kelby Manuel – What the Dust Remembers

The Oxford dictionary describes art as, the use of the imagination to express ideas or feelings. So, for art to exist it must be made. But what happens if the artist does not create, when ideas are left to gather dust? When the body ceases to express the creative thoughts, when the words are no longer spoken, the images no longer created. What happens when the ideas and feelings become buried beneath the dust.

“What the Dust Remembers” is a work exploring what happens to those neglected, thrown out and ignored, creative thoughts and feelings.

Sjaka S. Septembir – Beendroogstaar

Beendroogstaar is ‘n visuele en spirituele reis wat die grense van die moderne samelewing en ons verhouding met die natuur ondersoek. Dit is ‘n oproep tot die herontdekking van rituele en die spirituele dimensie van die lewe. Deur hierdie opvoering se Sjaka hy wil verder gaan as die politieke en persoonlike, en die tydlose en die universele aanspreek.

Dit is ‘n viering van die samesmelting van kunst en boerdery, ‘n ritueel wat die stadsmens se siel oopmaak vir die natuur se diepte.

Die stuk is geïnspireer deur die symboliek van die perd in die storie van Equus, waar die perd as ‘n simbool van die mens se verbinding met die natuur en sy eie diepste self dien. In Beendroogstaar, verteenwoordig die perd se skedel hierdie verbinding en die soeke na spirituele vervulling te midde van ‘n verstedelikte innerlike landskap.

Vuyelwa Phota – What part is Art?

What happens when your frame of reference as a patron is veered through the fourth wall such that the ephemerality of the show uncoils? What Part is Art strips the idea of a culminative show apart to reveal how the performer grapples with infinite culminating points daily to meet the performance at the heightened artistic level they express on stage for audiences to experience. This deconstruction interrogates the definitions we hold for each point in the creative process and challenges the attention on the show to be rerouted to the many factors at play to see the show to fruition. Is the process only as good as its outcome? Is the artist only as good as her last performance?  Or are our unique nature as creative beings viscerally living through each part of the process a reason to hold regard for the many other parts of it that shape us into the very artist presented on that stage? Is there art in every part?

Xavier Parks – Hopeful Homeless

Hopeful Homeless is more than a performance art piece, it’s a social justice investigation, an artistic expression of an activists’ voice. Telling the story of the many homeless people living in the streets of South Africa, neglected by our government. The product of forced removals forgotten in the shadow cast of newly built luxury high-rise apartment blocks and the empty promises of low-income housing. A painful glare lights the way to abandoned buildings, often the only refuge of those most in need and left without basic services

In this performance Parks draws from the homeless community’s psychological framework to tell the story of hope. A reminder to all that every human deserves dignity and respect regardless of their physical appearance and financial status. Human rights are everyone’s right. 

✳ Sponsored content. Images supplied.