ella

yes, peet pienaar of The President is the sheeeet and he does this style really well but these prints done by another capetonian company SHINE SHINE are not too shabby and unlike PP’s works, these pieces of pretty don’t need a SNLV or PG warning.

what have we learned from todays lesson kiddies?

Shineshine or PP

capetonian caucasians commoditize africa like no other

visit www.shineshine.co.za

fabrics available in oilcloth, upholstery linen and cotton.

laters lovelies

BEAT IT. MOVE BISH GET OUT THE WAY. HIT THE ROAD JACK. BYE BYE BYE. GOODBYE SWEET DOLL WELL ITS TIME TO GO. LET’S JUST KISS AND SAY GOODBYE. I’LL BE GONE TILL NOVEMBER. JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, MAY. YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU BUT BOY I CAN’T STAY. LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF. SAYONARA. AU REVOIR. FAMBA MOYENI TSAKANE. SALA. SO THIS IS GOODBYE. CHEERS. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU  …THE DAY I SAY GOOD BYE BYE I WANT ALL MY PRECIOUS GOODIES PACKED IN A CASSI GO HOME BAG. HOW PRETTY PERFECT ARE THESE DUFFELS? ALL THE WAY FROM THE MANY MANY PLACES THE VERY SMART CREATIVE DOODIO EMEKA, HIS COLLECTIVE THE GOLD COAST TRADING LABEL OPERATES FROM. THIS IS OFFICIALLY NUMBER 2 ON MY X-MAS LIST. PRE-ORDER IT YESTERDAY.

 [ http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x267/powerfuzz_industries/02.jpg]

See the label’s other better than awesome stuff and thoughts at precious blog find of 2009

 http://www.livefromthecoast.com/blog/

www.twitter.com/GCTC

later lovelies

vuma is a 6 part documentary by norman maake an vincent moloi. it airs tonight at 9pm on sabc 1. watch it watch it watch it watch it. i’ll writ emore on it when i have some. my new life’s quite busy it seems. busy in a goooooooooooooood way.

laters lovelies

It’s a giant jungle gym space shuttle masquerading as an art gallery and If you live in Johannesburg you’ve surely noticed it. On the eve of its opening I went, cloaked in a vanishing coat, to see whether my suspicions that this could be the most exciting thing to be built in in my neighbourhood in ages were on the mark and they were.

Now in the global scheme of avant-garde architecture this structure might not stir something in you but in the Johannesburg landscape CIRCA the po-po-mo concrete egg of rock and rusted steel is light-years braver than any thing that’s currently being built. Outside of the ongoing national heritage site uniformed constructions and renovations like Maropeng- the cradle of mankind, the Red Location Museum in the eastern cape and Constitutional hill in Braamfontein, the state of architectural inventiveness is nil. If it’s not a bad attempt at a Italian/ Tuscan Villa, then it’s an atrociously bad try at a French Villa – So to see something unashamedly making a statement by being a statement is refreshing to say the least.

The building is a nowhere facing oval cylinder with 20 meter high shafts of steel that wrap around it like a set of [ironically appealing] vertical office blinds. It has an ascending spiral ramp and stairway that twirls around it. A curious steel frame attached to its south side looks like it’s holding the entire building upright but not likely. You’ll walk for what feels like forever and a second all at the same time, like you’re floating in a hazy light shaft cast from the receiving dock of an alien spacecraft to the top of floor which is a boudoir of sorts and there is where you’ll be flawed by the most exquisite view of the world’s largest man made forest – Johannesburg suburbia.

Last week when I walked, invisible of course, through Circa while an army of men were putting up the enormous stellar and cosmic works of Karen Nel and wordy canvases of Willem Boshoff- both twice my size and a million times more impressive. I later bumped into Jacques a friend’s friend and curator at the Everard Read, CIRCA’s mother gallery and one of South Africa’s most influential show spaces and seller’s stables and he told us that CIRCA was entirely self funded, entirely. Talk about impressive in the middle of a recession.

This week and every week for forever the public are permitted to visit the building and view the art…no vanishing cloak required. Go soon and take a friend with you so you can have someone to gasp ooo aaah and smile with.

Corner Jellicoe and Jan smuts, Johannesburg South Africa

old blog post about its construction

http://ella.gustoprojects.co.za/?p=1049

more on
Karen Nel by Kathryn Smith ARTTHROB

http://www.artthrob.co.za/99oct/artbio.html

Willem Boshoff by Sue Williamson _ ARTTHROB

http://www.artthrob.co.za/01aug/artbio.html

CIRCA and the Everard Read Gallery
http://www.everard-read.co.za

This is my old office

this was my view

bye bye old office

my boy friends khaya and kudzi are showing again tonight. come ! if you’re in johannesburg. yes tonight.

i watched zina saro wiwa’s film this is my Africa at first wednesdays club at Atlas studios johannesburg last month and enjoyed it.lots.  it’s a pop, fast Polaroid shot of africa through the eyes of a group of really cool people especially yinka shonibare . track it down and watch it if you can.

“This Is My Africa is an award-winning documentary film. Directed and produced by Zina Saro-Wiwa, this film is a unique journey into an Africa that many may not know about. This Is My Africa was created to improve the way the world sees Africa by weaving together the personal memories, tastes and experiences of 20 London-based Africans and Africaphiles, the film has been described as a 50-minute crash course in African culture. The film features: artist, Yinka Shonibare MBE; actor, Colin Firth; filmmaker, John Akomfrah OBE; Channel 4 news anchor, Jon Snow; actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor; singer, Mpho Skeef; author, Biyi Bandele; travel writer, Noo Saro-Wiwa; opera singer, Josephine Amankwah; fashion designer, Bayo Oduwole; playwright, Dipo Agboluaje; writer, Mazzi Binaisa; DJ, Duncan Brooker; High Commissioner, Paul Boateng; restaurateur, Mourad Mazouz; marketeer, Boko Inyundo; cultural historian, Nana O. Ayim; publishers of Let Them Eat Cake magazine, Njide and Nneka Ugboma and DJ/Producer, Tony Nwachukwu.”

http://www.thisismyafrica.com/about.html

lovely

i found the original body beat song. listen >> Hit That Perfect Beat by bronski beat. random and nostalgic and totally what the fuck !good morning south africa and the 10 minute workout with these spastics that broadcast everyday through out my childhood must have been part of the apartheid brainwashing strategy. gaad what ridiculousness!

FYI

“Hit That Perfect Beat” is a single from the British synth pop trio the Bronski Beat and appeared on their 1986 album Truthdare Doubledare. It became a popular dance hit and reached number three in the UK charts in January 1986 and reached the top ten in many European countries and across the wider world. The song is a well known gay anthem. The video for the song featured frontman and vocalist John Foster alongside the other two band members playing at a Liverpool club called “The State” as well as scenes of the British town of Kirkby. The song also featured in the 1985 British film Letter to Brezhnev.” WIKI

and here’s the original vid

ed from grizzly bear posted this. so so lovely. the bears of a certain leather flock together. http://grizzly-bear.net/blog/2451/new-bear-in-heaven-is-so-wonderful/

Soccer city the flagship 2010 world cup stadium and the home of next year’s Fifa world cup Africa tournament is now open. I drive to Soweto every now and then and for the past 2 years I’ve always made sure to take the Booysens offramp so that I can get a glimpse of the construction and its been worth the detour every time.

The stadium is called the calabash and it’s pretty impressive. Camouflaged in and amongst sandstone coloured egoli mine dumps and the reddest soil you’ll ever see. A spaceship about to lift off, a sophisticated goosebump-inducing dome shaped shack with rust coloured panels. just awesome. My sister, bought the whole family tickets for some games next year and I hope one of the matches we go to will be at the calabash.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24062795@N07/

via LD, thanks