November 21, 2007
By Millicent Kgowedi
JOBURG has a dose of festive season fever, with tinsel, bells and twinkling lights turning the city of gold into a Christmas tree forest.
For starters, the city centre's Main Street will be filled with colourful trees designed by local artists, lighting up the core of Joburg for two weeks.
For the past four years, Anglo American, the global mining and natural resources company, has been involved in a successful art initiative in which local artists are commissioned to create their versions of a Christmas tree, celebrating the regeneration of downtown Joburg.
"When most of Johannesburg's corporates moved out of the inner city into the northern suburbs, we decided to stay," said Theresa Gibbon, the publicist. "We believe in the future of the city centre - go to Paris, London or New York, and the city is where it all happens."
Anglo American could not allow the heart of Joburg, the financial centre of the southern hemisphere, to fall prey to crime and decay. "With this conviction comes the understanding that if the inner city is indeed to survive and thrive, it will have to become a place that people feel proud to call home, and where they feel safe," she said.
Artists participating in the project are Dave Rossouw, Gina Waldman, John Molteno, Thomas Kubai, Justin Stuart, Helmut Nikel, Tumelo Mokopakgosi, Velaphi Masondo and KEAG (Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group), a Cape Town organisation that makes sellable items and crafts out of waste found on the beaches and streets.
The commission requirements were that the artists create large-scale sculptures of three metres height or width, using any choice of weather-resistant material. They must indicate what the festive season means to each artist, expressing a variety of religions, cultural and traditional beliefs.
They are installed in the open, on Main Street. Each story was uniquely South African and would have some meaning to each passer-by, Gibbon said.
The trees
Rossouw's Symbolic Tree is made of rusted steel, with the reddish colour capturing the colours of the African earth. The tree is topped with an impala-drawn sled driven by an old man carrying a South African flag, representing democracy, made of stained glass.
Waldman completed her masters in fine arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2002. Her tree is called the Tree of Life. "The basis of kabbalah healing is light, therefore it is powerful for me to represent the tree of life. I [made] the 11 energy fields, which correspond to energy points on a human being," she said.
"These [are] then connected by luminous tubes of light joined together to create a dazzling sculpture of light which will bless the city."
Molteno's Aloe Christmas tree symbolises an aloe plant and is made from hand-beaten sheet metal welded with oxy-acetylene gas. The sculpture is made mostly of metal, and a combination of windmills and Christmas lights complement his design.
Life Tree by Kubai sums up the myths of the Venda people, linked to the religion and traditional life of the community. Kubai tells a tale about the feeding of his people through his sculpture - food that grows on trees feeds people and animals.
Stuart's creation is called the Festive Mobile and is built using a wide range of materials. Decorations consist of bead flowers, sand, buckets and spades and containers of seawater.
Nikel uses brass and copper in his creations, while Mokopakgosi and Masondo's sculpture is in the shape of a bulb tree, an African tree found in most tropical areas along the Mozambican current in the Indian Ocean. The Ndebele colours, geometric patterns and the general customary art of the tribe inspired the design.
The combination of the bulb tropical tree and Ndebele geometric designs points to the idea of celebrating African life, bringing coastal and inland elements together with strong cultural art, creating an African Christmas.
KEAG's design is the Post Office/Wish Pagoda made from welded metal, attached to a weighted base. It is covered with recycled plastics, lids, bottles and decorated mirrors. Recycled milk bottles are used as angels' wings, while the lighting is made of waterproof outdoor lights and fairy lights, to make the sculpture glow in the dark.
"The artists will [be paid] for their sculptures, [and will get] public recognition and exposure. They will also receive media coverage," Gibbon added.
The creations will be installed on 44 Main Street, where Anglo American's corporate offices have been since the 1930s. The street has been transformed into a pedestrian walkway, with trees, leafy ground covers and decorative paving as part of the inner city rejuvenation.
Festive carols will accompany the switching on of the lights on Wednesday, 5 December from sun down, and the public is invited to attend. "Families are invited to bring their blankets and picnic baskets for a good evening, with the kids having their faces painted."
The tree sculptures will be in place until Saturday, 5 January 2008, and there is safe parking around the Anglo American precinct.
Zoo Lake
Celebrations stretch from downtown Joburg to the Zoo Lake, and families are invited to bring their blankets and picnic baskets to the annual Carols by Candlelight on Wednesday, 28 November.
Sue Cock and the inVerse Youth Choir will lead the singing of all-time favourite carols. The Salvation Army band will add the music, using instruments like cornets, flugelhorns and tenor horns. Soweto Marimba Kids will also appear.
The Bowling Club restaurant will be open on the day, selling boerewors rolls and cold drinks. Children are encouraged to bring wrapped presents for Father Christmas, for the residents of the Avril Elizabeth Home, a home for the disabled.
Entrance is free and the celebrations start at 6pm on Wednesday, 28 November.
Nelson Mandela Square
Further north, Mandela Square will celebrate the festive season in style, turning the entire square into a Christmas spectacle, with beautiful and lots of entertainment from local musicians on Saturday, 1 December.
Expect performances by the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg, the Joburg Festival Orchestra, Claire Johnston, Mango Groove and Loyiso Bala.
Carol song sheets, candles, and Aids ribbons will be on sale and the profits will be donated to the Tomorrow Trust, an Aids charity.
The performance is on Saturday, 1 December at Mandela Square at 6pm.
Black Tie Ensemble
Black Tie Ensemble's annual Festive Concert, in collaboration with Unisa Music Foundation, will be hosted at the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein on Wednesday, 28 November.
Black Tie Ensemble's annual Festive Concert is at the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein
Solo and ensemble works will be performed and the Black Tie Ensemble Opera Chorus will put in an appearance, as will the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa conducted by Christopher Dowdeswell. The programme will cater for the whole family, featuring much-loved traditional and sacred songs.
The concert starts at 8pm, ticket prices range from R50 to R110, and there is a 10 percent discount on block bookings of 10 or more. Pensioners, kids and learners are R50. Bookings can be made at Computicket.
For more information, contact Merle on 011 482 4310 or visit the Jozikids website.
Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden
Christmas carols like
Sing to the Lord,
O came let us adore Him and
The king is born will be sung at the garden's Carols by Candlelight celebrations, on 8 and 9 December.
The singing will be led by the Welsh Male Voice Choir of South Africa, and children are encourage to bring along old toys, clothing and canned food for charity.
Entrance for adults is R30, learners are R15 and children under six years are free. The celebrations start at 5pm. For more information call 011 958 1750.
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