The cold passageways and hidden smoking corners of the Monument building in Makhanda will come alive this weekend as 11 performance artists reclaim and transform the sunken brick ship into a vivid arts experience.
The Live Art Arcade has been setting up shop in the Monument (formerly the 1820s Settlers National Monument) as it prepares a constellation of performance art pieces for its latest offering, Arcade2023, on March 24.
Each artist will bring their own cyclical work to run over the six-hour period, without the conventional beginning-middle-end structure of a conventional theatre show, and audiences can walk through as they please.
Plus, it’s free.
Supported by the National Arts Council of SA, the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme and the department of sports, arts & culture, Arcade2023 will be awash with artists taking found materials and transforming them into art.
Gavin Krastin, artist, curator and lecturer at Rhodes University, established the Live Art Arcade in 2018 as a space for young artists to showcase their work in a professional exhibition.
The nomadic exhibition has planted itself into various spaces since its inception, including the Black Power Station in Makhanda and the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg.
Dwelling in different sites, spaces and places, our aim is to produce immersive assemblages of experimental body-based live art performance
“Dwelling in different sites, spaces and places, our aim is to produce immersive assemblages of experimental body-based live art performances: an arcade of itinerant and cyclical live art, where all encounters happen simultaneously, and audiences can engage with the performances at their own discretion and structure their journeys as they wish,” Krastin said.
Artist Luke Rudman, 23, from Gqeberha, whose exploration of performance art started in 2018, will be painting himself into his work as part of “Eden and Luke” at the exhibition.
“Right now I am interested in the intersection between performance art, drag and traditional painting, and use photography to capture those elements,” Rudman said.
Now in his honours year studying fine art at Nelson Mandela University, Rudman uses materials and acrylic paint to transform himself into a living sculpture, often adorned in a spectacular headdress and with a matching background.
“I’ve never done anything quite like this before. There is not a wealth of these types of things happening, so I’m incredibly excited,” Rudman said.
Usually the end goal is the creation of a still image, but it’s one of the first times I’ll be doing this live
“Usually the end goal is the creation of a still image, but it’s one of the first times I’ll be doing this live.
“I’m hoping to exhibit a variety of transformations in those six hours, not only as me, the artist — changing what I wear and using makeup, but working on a big mural as well on the walls around me.”
The painter became blurred with the painting, disrupting the binary between artist and artwork, he said.
This is an opportunity for artists to share work in a way that is not censored for the sake of palatability, and for audiences it is an opportunity to be exposed to new ways of performance.
“It’s a unique festival and that’s why it’s had so many wonderful names involved in the past. ”
- Participating artists include Axl Forder, Carbon, Christelle Futshane, Lethabo Makweya, Luke Rudman, Martinique Kotze, Obusitswe “Birdking” Seage, Qondiswa James, Rafé Luke Green, Teresa Willoughby and Thabile “Terry” Rala-Rala. Curated by Gavin Krastin, with dramaturgical support by Alan Parker and technical support by the National Arts Festival.
Live Art Arcade 2023 takes place on March 24 at the Makhanda Monument from 2pm to 8pm. Entrance is free and the event is recommended for those aged 16 and older.
For more information, visit https://liveartarcade.co.za/.
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