el ARTefFECT
CULTURE AND ART PLATFORM
innovatory SHOWCASES.
Creativity an act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas, but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.
carla kreuser
Cape Town-based illustrator Carla Kreuser spoke at Design Indaba Conference 2015 as a part of the Young Graduates panel. Kreuser had been working in the design world for nearly ten years when she decided to take a study sabbatical and pursue her master’s degree in illustration. The project, a book crafted by hand from cover to cover, celebrates the creative process of working entirely by hand. It was inspired by Katherine Kilalea's poem “The boy with the fire in his boots”, which is about a little boy who gets caught in a forest fire that breaks out in Tsitsikama.
Gaelen Pinnock
“South Africa has a history of spatial control,” says artist Gaelen Pinnock. “There are huge class divisions in our cities and those higher up the rungs feel at risk and are securing their spaces and their interests. This becomes hard to overcome over time.”
Since returning to Cape Town after a stint overseas, South African architect-turned-artist Gaelen Pinnock has created a body of work that is preoccupied with dystopian urban spaces.
Lukhanyo Mdingi
Lukhanyo Mdingi stays true to the minimalist aesthetic he showcased as an Emerging Creative with his latest ready-to-wear men’s collection.
The Cape Town-based fashion designer’s Macramé collection is named after its inspiration – the handcraft whereby string is knotted into patterns to make decorative objects. “I wanted to use fabric types and fabrications that embodied the same qualities of this ancient method,” explains Mdingi.
Mdingi used knitwear and carefully chosen upholstery fabric to create a strong sense of texture, which offsets his minimalist design approach.
Art at the Center: 75
In 2015, the Walker will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding as a public art center dedicated to presenting and collecting the art of our times. Curated by the Walker’s executive director Olga Viso and guest curator Joan Rothfuss, the exhibition looks at 75 years of collecting at the Walker—a history distinguished not only by bold and often risk-taking choices but also acquisitions that have consistently breached the boundaries of media or disciplines. The exhibition foregrounds many of these prescient choices.