New Name: Art Pays

The Young Creatives Programme is being re-named. We have chosen the name Art Pays.

The concept of art paying is a positive one for artists and for consumers of the arts. Many people, artists especially, have an idea that in order to produce art you have to suffer in some way. ‘That you have to pay for your art.’ My idea is that art pats you. It pays you to make art and to have art.

People also believe that art is not a necessity and therefore it should be free. But every society needs the healing and building and social commentary that art provides. The positive impact of art cannot be underestimated, and that if we want to make art for society we need to make sure that art is treated as an investment. A personal, financial investment for a buyer, a social investment for a creator, or an investment in yourself as a creator.

Naming our collective Art Pays is a positive act. We are putting a positive concept out into the world and making ourselves and others think of art in a positive way.

A Name!

Shamila says we need a name, and I think she's right. (Do you?) So we need to vote, please tick the box in the right hand column for the name you want.

The options we came up with at the Brainstorm session are as follows:

1. Art Wave: Waves help cleans dead or dirtiness out of the See and that keeps the nature beautiful as ever. Wave is something that is found on air, those kind of Wave help us to be connected through, using some electronic stuff. Ocean waves helps to the clean the ocean, it is a source of inspiration to many sporting activities and it is majestic to look upon – natural art. Electronic /sound waves enables us to communicate across the globe – connecting us to one another regardless of physical locality.
2. Art Pays: The concept of art paying is a positive one for artists and for consumers of the arts. Many people, artists especially, have an idea that in order to produce art you have to suffer in some way. ‘That you have to pay for your art.’ My idea is that art pats you. It pays you to make art and to have art. People also believe that art is not a necessity and therefore it should be free. But every society needs the healing and building and social commentary that art provides. The positive impact of art cannot be underestimated, and that if we want to make art for society we need to make sure that art is treated as an investment. A personal, financial investment for a buyer, a social investment for a creator, or an investment in yourself as a creator. Naming our collective “Art Pays” would be a positive act. We would be putting a positive concept out into the world and making ourselves and others think of art in a positive way.
3. Ziyabila: Encompasses the “melting pot” concept, always on boiling point with creative ideas. It also is often used informally in Xhosa and Zulu to express/represent all things “happening” or moving forward…
4. Cape Young Creatives: Don't change the name, we like it the way it is!

hack this i.d.

morning guys. : ) here's my twist on the Cape Africa id.
later
*Kai*

Questionnaire (please fill out)

Kai Lossgott in "Print '08" at Bell Roberts

talking to the tree outside my window while I sleep. Kai Lossgott. 2008. Artist's Book. Laser engraving on plant leaves and pergamano paper, spruce and glass light table.

page through this translucent luminous book at > >
Print '08: Myth, memory and the archive, at the Bell-Roberts Gallery.
Ground Floor of Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
opens Wednesday, August 13, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
on weekdays 9:30 - 5 pm, until 22 September 2008

Daya Heller in SASOL New Signatures 2008

Daya Heller's New Sculpture

"WHOLE"
steel, plaster, cretestone, feathers
150 x 40 cm

to be exhibited at the Pretoria Art Museum from 20 Aug. - 21 Sept.
as part of the SASOL New Signatures 2008 award show

early Project / Theme ideas

• YOUTH MEDIA PROJECT

PR / mass communications
fashion accessories
comic book
tagging etc

• CAPE WEBSITE

• MAPPING PROJECT

• POSTCARDS / graphic design identity

Mary wants to know

Hey guys

Are you thinking about empowerment as it relates to youth? Because one of the most serious stumbling blocks for people in South Africa is the culture of entitlement, what does the group think about the relationship between empowerment and entitlement?

It looks like there are grand plans going on in Cape Town, man I can't wait to get back!

Bulelwa Basse performs at Poetry Delight Opening Evening

Bulelwa in action, performing A Woman's Journey at Channel O's Poetry Delight Opening Evening at Cafe Sophia in Rondebosch, 6 August 2008.
www.poetrydelight.com

2 August Brainstorming session

Here are some free-association ideas those who attended the session on 2 August came up with, based on Cape's newly defined audience of 75% local youth. Feel free to comment and post more ideas.

Kai

WHO?

• young people moving in and out of the city
• kids on school buses
• teenagers in clubs
• young adults in shopping malls
• anyone who is interested in our message
• soccer / football fans
• gangsters
• hs kids
• teachers

WHEN?

• at lunchtime
• after school
• in the evenings when people go out
• on weekends
• randomly
• holidays
• 6 x before Cape
• rush hour
• monthly
• recess

KEYWORD

• assertive, transgressive, fun, growth, knowledge, express, discover

SITE? WHERE?

• everywhere (street parade?) mobile interventions, live performances
• heritage sites, monuments
• school lunch room, street corner
• clubs, shebeens, public places, Greenmarket Square, St Georges Mall, Company Gardens, Thibault Square, train station, taxi rank
• nature's unexplored territories
• places of contraditions (man like animal)
• places of high expectation and importance (turned on its head)
• robot intersections, train station, taxi rank, bus stops
• street
• trees (on, under)

QUESTIONS

• Where does the power of the youth lie?
• What do we mean by YOUTH? What categorises the different sectors within this definition? Should we position ourselves where different age group interests overlap - in technology, public transport, educational institutions, entertainment venues?
• What concerns do young people have besides the cliches of AIDS and violence in their communities? How can we address these vital issues in new, inventive ways?
• Where do 'youth' hang out? How can we interrupt the lives of 'youth'? How can we intervene? Where do we have to be? Who do we have to be?
  
• How do young people move through the city, and what are their desires?
• How do they move through the city based on their prime needs and wants?
• What are y'all doing to change the situation?
• What is cool?
• Can we turn our most prized possession into an art piece? (tangible/intangible)
• What do we mean when we say 'the city'? How far does it reach? Who lives there?
• What separates us humans from animals? To be human supreme
• Why y'all so angry?
• Whose responsibility is it?
• different kinda fun

GOAL? WHY?

• spread the word
• win the Pulitzer
• wake y'all up
• to stimulate the imagination of better lives
• hear what they want to say
• get y'all thinking
• change your way of thinking
• generate revenue
• to express and experience the relationship between knowledge and power = freedom
• young people to hear from each other

ISSUES

• life
• history
• globalisation
• Africa
• relationships
• politics
• purpose
• fitting it
• sex
• money
• hiv / aids
• domestic violence
• child abuse
• relationships, parenthood, drugs, alcohol, celebrity
• identity
• jobs, drop out, passing matric
• selfishness of knowledge = power
• language, cellphones, tv, music
• humanity vs animal, discovering more about your culture and who you want to be

MATERIAL

• found street objects, lights at night
• tagging, performance intervention (live bodies), flashmob, making the private public
• natural habitat and its boundaries
• paper wars (walls?)
• what we consider private, thoughts, all all posessions tangible and intangible

OBJECT

• simultaneous events, party
• lunchboxes, shoelaces, pencils, "DOGS"
• notepads, change purse, bracelets
• matchboxes, postcards, murals, playing cards
• pins, pendants
• zine, comic book
• gate crash
• put questions on blog, to post answers
• building front, inside shop window displays, print on sweet wrappers

MEDIA

• webcams
• stickers
• SMS messaging
• poetry, music
• film
• radio sound bites
• billboards
• freeways, banners, buildings, windows, roofs
• flyers, posters
• t-shirts, fashion, murals, design, storefronts, pavements
• stuff people want to keep, trasure: removable tattoos, stickers, postcards, bookmarks
• Bush radio, facebook, LED banner
• temporary tattoos
• signs on top of robots
• stalls next to bus shelters targeting unanswered questions, discussions of choice while you wait
• Cape Town community television
• News Media insert

HOW?

• catch-phrase, slang, new trend
• scandal, controversy, spectacle
• re-enactment of human vs animal
• public enactments - how to turn your possessions into art, like playing your favourite song at a bus stop
• poetry pin ups installations and bus shelters
• fashion, trend, clothing accessories