Another year – and another amazing round of projects that are in prep for this year’s event! The call for Creative Grant applications went live on Sept 6th 2017, and all submissions were evaluated by our ArtComms members and a long list of previous Grant recipients, who collectively scored the projects anonymously in order to make the decision on which projects would ultimately receive funding. In this round, 58 projects applied for a Creative Grant this year, and R800 000 was distributed to the successful applicants. If your project wasn’t a successful applicant, don’t lose hope: our team can offer support in many ways, so feel free to mail them on [email protected] to find out how they can assist with suggestion on where to obtain recycled materials, or share logistical elements like power, transport and so on.
And here they are: another batch of very impressive concepts which we’re all looking forward to seeing on the dusty plain of Tankwa Town. To everyone involved in these creations, congratulations – and all the best with your builds!
SKOP 4
Collective: SKOP (Sutherland Kuns Opvoeding Projek)
An arched domed timber structure creating an interior space with a central sphere. This project is being built in Sutherland, and the build includes a significant social development and skillshare component. This is then same team that built the San Clan effigy in 2015, and Project O in 2016, also in Sutherland.
RESET
Collective: Reset (Peru)
RESET is an experimental pavilion that rebukes the tendency for automatisation of the human body and creates an environment to challenge reaction towards the awareness of corporal movement and a conscious cognitive process.
Facebook page
Fundraiser
OASIS
Collective: 2Cool
A structure that serves as a hangout for people to meet and make meaningful interactions. This project has been selected to take on the role of the 2018 Temple.
Facebook page
Support this project via its Fundraiser page.
MANKALA
Collective: Mankala (Ekurhuleni)
Mankala is going to use indigenous Afrikan culture, specifically the ancient rhythms from the San, amaZulu, BaSotho and Senegalese nations to share some of the many mystical stories and deep wisdom of Africa through song, dance and spoken word performances, traditional instrument workshops, participatory drum and percussion workshops, discussions and whole hearted interaction with elders and experts in Afrikan culture and its many creative expressions.
Facebook page
THE DUNG BEETLE
Collective: The Dung Beetle (Polokwane)
The Dung Beetle is a moveable year-round art and environmental education platform creatively crafted like an African Dung Beetle, built by African artists for an Afrika Burn 2018 debut in association with Colorado-based not-for-profit Alliance Earth.This exciting moveable art stage is based on a heavy-duty 1 ton 2-axle trailer, and can be pulled by any pickup truck with a trailer hitch. It is built from recycled metal and resembles the iconic African Dung Beetle, pushing its big ball of up-cycled poop across the desert floor.
Fundraiser page
Facebook group
PROMETHEUS
Collective: Nest of Magical Creatures (Cape Town)
A giant butterfly built on a scissorlift. it can articulate it’s wings, and rise 15m in to the air. The scissorlift will be entirely hidden by the carapace. The wings will be made of shiny perforated fabric so it doesn’t blow away in the wind. At night, the wings come alive, because the entire skin of the wings will be covered in LEDs and controlled with a sequencer. This thing is big. Really, really big.
Facebook page
Fundraising page
NON-DELIVERANCE
Collective: Deliverance (Cape Town)
A life size elephant on wheels/trolley, with moving legs, head, trunks and ears. Constructed from wooden frame on a wooden trolley, supporting layered shutter ply limbs and formed in wicker work, light steel & fabric.
LIGHTBRIDGE
Collective: non_DU (Johannesburg)
The structure takes the form of a lightweight timber frame, a linear element in the landscape extending around 14,5m long and is 2,4m Wide. It is constructed through a series of repeated timber frames constructed with an intricate system of joinery. A material (cloth/cotton) sheet is suspended from the timber frames, forming an organic tunnel through the structure. Through the centre of this tunnel of ‘light runs a slightly elevated deck, lifting you from the playa floor and directing your vision toward the
opening on either side. Overall the structure does not have a very high material mass but extends over a large area.
Facebook page
Fundraiser event page
SLEEPY HEAD II
Collective: The Mighty Mighties (Cape Town)
A woman lying down on her side, kind of resting, kind of hugging the desert floor. It will be made out of wood in laminations 250mm wide, ultimately 17.5 m long, 2.8m high at its highest point. You will be able walk through her. Standing up straight in the hip and shoulder areas but probably have to crouch down though her neck and waist.
WEATHERVANE III
Collective: Chip Snaddon (Cape Town)
Scuplture made of sisal trunks and tumbleweeds.
Artist page
URGE
Collective: A Different Kind Of Ecstasy (Japan)
At Afrikaburn our crew will be creating a space that encourages intimacy and accelerates the depth of human encounter. It will explore and celebrate natural highs using Kinabuku or traditional Japanese rope bondage techniques. We will build a rope installation that centers around an elevated resting point but has many paths that could be taken in order to get there. On the way you will find many intimate nooks and crevices. For those who do make it to the center they will find a relaxing space that opens up to the sky and feels isolated and safe from the rest of the Playa. It will be a cocoon from the chaos and people will find themselves spending more time then they expected when they first entered. In this safe space our crew will host performances of rope bondage as well as offer visitors the chance to be tied if they like. We will also host rope bondage performances over the course of the event.
BAHAN
Collective: Uhlu (Cape Town)
Bahan is a series of 3 human figures standing at 4m in height and facing one another in a circle. The positioning of the figures creates a central space where people may pass through, pause or congregate. The piece will have elements of repetition in the visual language whilst allowing 3 different personalities to be expressed through details such as the facial features and headpieces. By night the figures will be lit from the inside, creating a landmark on the Binnekring landscape.
CELEBRATION OF JON GONG
Collective: Anvil (Cape Town)
Fire performance with a radical twist in celebration of Jon Gong.It includes the Pendulum, Fire in the Sky, Gong Performance, Smoke Rings, Anvil Blowing and BANGS. Lots of BANGS.
THE REGGAE PAVILION
Collective: The Reggae Pavilion (Cape Town)
The Reggae Pavilion is a small pavilion where Burners can come and watch the 6 x Airdancers jiving to reggae, and join in if they like. It is a reggae performance piece.
Facebook page
EARTHSTAR
Collective: Earthstar (Cape Town)
EarthStar is woven ball made of 6 interlocking inflated tubes which are internally illuminated. The structure will stand 5 meters tall and will be lit by 1000 watts of individually addressable LEDs controlled by custom software. Several pre-programmed LED displays will be created. Burners can also interact with the artwork using provided motion sensing controllers, their mobile phones and their own body movement and sound.
WET DREAM AQUARIUM
Collective: Memnoc (Johannesburg)
Wet Dream Aquarium is both a space and a series of performances, bringing fantastical, moist, underwater wonders to the dry, dusty desert. From basecamp (The ‘Piscoteque’) a walking, swimming, flying procession of masked creatures and puppets including mer-people, divers, sailors, fishermen, jellyfish, fantabulous fish and other aqua-sapiens slink through the suburbs and spill into the Binnekring . Accompanied by musicians, the soggy procession glides forwards, pulling crowds along with them in their colourful slipstream. The crowd is engaged through interaction with and use of aquatic puppets, undersea songs and playful encounters with masked performers. Once in the Binnekring, an aquamarine dream unfolds. Each performance will vary in mood: a kitsch and sparkly fish tank, a murky green watering hole, a great beautiful reef, a
bottomless spring filled with flowing seaweed and underwater caves and castles to be explored…
March 3 fundraiser event can be found here.
SKELETON LEAF OF CHANGE
Collective: Kiara Watermeyer (Cape Town)
The ‘Skeleton Leaf of Change’ is a collaboration between two young female artists Yasmin Ezzideen & Kiara Watermeyer. The structure will be a 3 metres in height and is made from steel, wattle, and natural materials. The wattle, mphepu, organic chord and string (hemp) will be used to weave skeleton leaf veins and leaf matter. All materials to be burnt will be made solely of environmentally friendly materials.
Facebook page
PYTHON WANTS TO PLAY
Collective: Jungle Python (Cape Town)
The 4-meter python puppet will be performed by 4 adult puppeteers on rods above head height as well as by two puppeteers with handles between the ground and head height. The puppeteers will improvise the python’s movement exploring emotions and inter actions responding to different music and explore the possibilities of the puppet. They will move around into different spaces exploring possibilities. These discoveries will be used to develop further theatre works beyond the burn.
POLY –
Collective: (C2H4)10 (Cape Town)
Our artwork is a 3 x 4,7 x 4 metre cuboid ‘shell’ structure made from steel and covered with large pieces of colourful crocheted plastic bags. Essentially, the structure is like a big room (or small building) in which people can go and sit; relax in the shade made by the crochet covering. There are two passageway entrances into the centre of the ‘room’ which we designed to create a feeling of ‘flow’ through the space (as opposed to one entrance and exit).
MANTIS RISING
Collective: Kite Chain (Cape Town)
Large Mantis inflatable lifted by kite.
THE VERY HUNGRY CATERBURNER
Collective: The Hungry Caterburner (Germany)
Our hungry caterpillar would love to temporarily interact with other artists and their art pieces, camps, installations and performances. Such interaction will be based on previous communication with other groups. It is important to us that this interaction questions others’ as well as our own understanding of burns to facilitate an act of co-creation. Our Very Hungry Caterburner (Der kleine Burner Nimmersatt) will travel day and night as a visitor together with other art pieces through all present burners’ week-long journeys. To create the illusion of our Caterburner eating its way through art pieces, the structure will be modular, allowing us to split it in two and attach it at opposite ends of the designated art projects. Each night our caterpillar will be lit in varying colors and appear to eat its way through different art pieces.
Facebook group
COMMUNITY CONNECTION
Collective: Community Connection (Cape Town)
This project is about building lightweight and movable structures that promote public participation while emulating qualities of landscape space making. Mutual benefit is the key driver of the triangular objects being put together. The resulting form can grow in scale, creating a horizontal landscape artwork, that doubles as a shade providing structure.
KITE CHAIN
Collective: Kite Team (Cape Town)
A kite train or arch with a length of 500m containing 500 Eddy kites with tails of 1.5m and reflective strips for night visibility.
Congrats to all artists & Collective members involved in these projects!
If you’d like to read up about the Creative Grant assessment process, you can find that info here.
