ella

I am alive. In love, with it all and working like a fiend

The idea is to return as soon as I have reversioned and repurposed this space

Buffering

colour wheel

buffering

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

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

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

SOCIETY. my sister’s TV show will premier tonight. it’s the second season and i can’t wait. making the first season damn near drove her insane. i think she hung in there well this time . i’m very very proud of her. family punt.done.

TONIGHT

SABC 1

20.30

we love her. we’ve loved her since since purple hibiscus’s first words.

i love her. isn’t she beautiful. for ted she talks about the single story

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

channel’s O’s new nice looking magazine is headed up by prolific and straight up loon genius Peet Pienaar and funnily enough Manuel Franzini [together http://www.thepresident.co.za/], former marketing executive at MTV Latin America. i’m looking forward to flipping through it, i’ll do it hopefully soon. with mysterious Peet on board it’s without a doubt going to be a design orgy of awesomery, lovely to touch, laced with pretty foiling and hidden phallic mono prints. nothing in the press releases says someone wordsy on the job to make the content and editorial razor so i wonder how it’ll read.

“…A sex-segmented magazine, Coco Joe will launch on 18 September 2009 to complement the music channel TV show, Channel O. Half the print run appeals to females (Coco) and the other half to males (Joe) with an iconic brand logo crafted by design and publishing consultancy The President….”

The magazine is packaged in a VIP lucky packet style format and the first issue features posters of some of South Africa’s entertainment industry celebraties including DJ Sbu, Pro, DJ Waxxy, Khanyi Mbau, Lira and Kelly Khumalo. The quarterly magazine, with an initial print run of 5000, will be distributed at selected Musica stores at R39.95…”

peet pienaaar’s work deserves a post all for itself but here’s a sneak peek at the madness

http://www.thepresident.co.za/

our beautiful married friends at DOKTER AND MISSES have new stuff. last week they had a party to show it all off so if you missed it make a plan to peek all the pretty things they’ve made for this spring.

“…Adriaan Hugo [industrial designer] and Katy Taplin [information designer/print artist] founded the DOKTER AND MISSES label and opened a store by the same name at 44 Stanley Avenue in Johannesburg. The store celebrated it’s first birthday after opening in 2007 with their new collaborative range with Givan Lötz, called Easy Now. The store acts as a base for Adriaan Hugo and DOKTER AND MISSES products. Along with a collection of local publications the store also stocks Joe Paine’s garden range of planters and furniture.”

http://dokterandmisses.withtank.com/what-we-do/

KATY – 0829527798

Email:

info@dokterandmisses.com

last month i shot my tv ad for the year like a good ad person should. we fought for 5 months to get the script ready and approved. we fought so hard to get this ad done that the friday before the shoot weekend me, my art director, the agency md and executive creative director drunkenly prostituted ourselves to the newly appointed and very difficult woman-loathing ceo of cell c and his skivvy to get a final go ahead. all worth it though. I had the chance to work with kim geldenhuys, one of the best commercials directors in south africa and maybe the world, learned a lot and had fun in cape town doing it. below are the boards and reference stills for the commercial. now that its on air  i’ll post the actual ad. i’m 93.5% satisfied with it. it feels amazing to see something you doodled and scribbled come alive but the whole experience has made me realise how rare true creative satisfaction is. i am not a perfectionist but i do like this to be perfect. and this ad for me is pretty alomost not quite but a lot-ish close. it also marks my ad exit. more on that when i actually make the leap.

me and my two art director beetchez made a commercial this weekend . this is the man who shot it – Kim Geldenhuys.

and this was his last ad

stay tuned for our final cut

laters lovers