Cascade

Following the success in 2014, The British Council invited onedotzero back to Johannesburg in 2015 to deliver their educational programme cascade ZA as part of their Connect ZA Innovation Month and the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival.

Key objectives:

To create a cohesive link between Connect ZA Innovation Month and Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival

To stretch Connect ZA Innovation Month’s audience reach to those outside of those in the Johannesburg arts and technology scenes

To be as inclusive as possible and to create diverse groups and audiences wherever possible

To deliver activities that teach creative skills, introduce people to new technologies and techniques

To create a programme that fits within and builds upon Connect ZA Innovation Month’s main theme of ‘women and tech’ and Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival’s main theme of ‘performance and the body’

Participants:

The 2015 group was made up of creatives who came from different disciplines as well as cultural backgrounds - but it was heartening to see all these supposed differences broken down after a day when the groups were put together and everyone starting working as creative equals.

16 participants [10 male / 6 female]
4 artist mentors [3 female / 1 male]
3 ex-cascader mentors [3 male]

Mentors:

Di Mainstone http://dimainstone.com/

UK-based artist and movician, Di Mainstone creates sonic sculptures that extend from the body and trigger sound via movement. Di Mainstone is artist in residence at Queen Mary University London where she collaborates with researchers from the Centre for Digital Music and Media Arts & Technology group, to develop new musical instruments that are inspired by the body, transforming physical movement into sound via digital technology. The term “Movician” describes the player of these instruments – a hybrid artist who explores and composes sound through movement.

Ling Tan www.lingql.com

Ling Tan is a designer, maker and coder interested in how people interact with the built environment and wearable technology. Trained as an architect, she enjoys building physical machines and prototypes to explore different modes of interaction between people and their surrounding spaces. She currently works at Umbrellium in London, looking into social wearables through community participation.

Jepchumba www.africandigitalart.com | www.futurelabafrica.org

Jepchumba has been listed by Forbes as one of the 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa 2012 and in the Guardian Africa’s Top 25 Women Achievers. A cultural ambassador, Jepchumba is the Founder and Creative Director of African Digital Art, a collective and creative space. As an African digital artist she is passionate about creating unique digital experiences. She loves experimenting with motion, sound and various digital effects and techniques, and has an extensive background in digital art, web design and development, audio/visual production, and user interface and user experience design.

Ray Whitcher http://www.raywhitcher.daportfolio.com/

Lecturer in Interactive Design and Comic Book Illustration at Greenside College of Design. In-between teaching, Ray has illustrated and animated for clients ranging from Bioplus to Kellogg's to Clover and even AARTO. He is also working on a personal comic book project and co-owns and runs the creative forum LegionInk [www.legionink.com] in which all creative people of South Africa have a forum to share their work and express themselves.

“This workshop really had a hugely positive effect on my work ethic and drive. It taught me skill sets that have already helped in not only my process, but when I work with others too. Its pushed me beyond my exceptions.”

Lauren Mulligan, cascade ZA 2015 participant

Mentors from Cascade 2014:

Sandile Radebe http://walkinthecity.withtank.com/

A sculptor and architect who has had much success since participating in cascade last year. October 2014 saw the launch of his inaugural exhibition ‘A Walk in the City’, and he’s since gone on to exhibit at other festivals. Participating in cascade 2014 has directly influenced Sandile’s solo work, as he continues to adopt methods and materials discovered during his time in the programme. He’s been dubbed one of “South Africa’s leading artists”.

Cukia Kimani http://cukiamakesgames.com/

A coder and game designer whose time in cascade led her to begin a postgraduate degree in Digital Arts, having originally come from a background in Computer Science.

Thato Nhaplo http://waymagazine.co.za/art-and-design/thato-nhlapo/1264

A painter and 2014 recipient of the Reinhold Cassier art award at the Bag Factory. After his three-month residency at Bag Factory’s studios, he was a part of a joint exhibition titled ‘A Great Perhaps’.

Outcomes:

“The cascade_ZA workshop was a real blast, and seemed, to my eyes, even more successful and diverse than the first outing in 2014. I was blown away by the way that the students developed during the workshop and really impressed by the collaborative creations which they showcased at the closing party on Saturday.”

Professor Christo Doherty, Co-founder / Director of Fak’ugesi and Head of Digital Arts at Wits University

Group 1: Deadly Serious V2.0

Deadly Serious V2.0 built a one-on-one immersive experience that piped sound and visuals into a custom headset built out of readily sourced materials from the markets of Johannesburg. Once strapped in to the headset, users were led around the party., creating a discombobulated experience that had them journeying through Johannesburg while simultaneously journeying through the party. The sound and visuals were gathered around Johannesburg during the cascade workshop, with amazing footage of the streets, skies and rooftops of Johannesburg.
https://vimeo.com/138982386

Group 2: PAC

PAC presented a playful take on the social prominence of the 'self' and a parody of celebrity culture. Their intervention into the party revolved around a disruptive activity that thrusted party guests into a 5 minute immersive experience that was shot and then later edited into a film that was screened at the party around midnight.
https://vimeo.com/138979825

Group 3: Humans etc

Humans etc took party guests on a scavenger hunt through the Alex Theatre to #FindtheInventor. With the help of a DIY zine and dual narrative film [all written, produced and edited during the workshop] guests made their way up to the Champagne Bar where they were finally led into a small space to #MeettheInventor.

“The experience was life changing. Brought me out of my comfort zone and made me more aware of different characters and concepts of thinking. It opened my eyes to different forms of Art and made me grow as an artist myself. Thank you very much”

Dikgang Mollo, cascade ZA 2015 participant