An insider’s guide to the HEAT Winter Arts Festival

Everyone said it was a no-brainer. Why hadn’t it been done before? A winter arts festival.

Cape Town needed a major cultural event during winter that would drive people into art galleries and attract out-of-towners to Cape Town during its seemingly least desirable season. Hotels have low occupancy rates, restaurants experience up to a 70% reduction in revenue, and art galleries, performers and venues are quieter than they would like.

Now in its third year, HEAT Winter Arts Festival is gaining momentum in Cape Town’s cultural scene. Supported by city-centre galleries and museums, including Iziko Museums, Zeitz MOCAA, Mission for Inner City Cape Town and the City of Cape Town, the festival grew attendance by 70% last year.

The ethos driving our programme is simple: every work must meet a high standard, even as our focus remains firmly on emerging artists, theatre-makers, performers and singers.

With a group of opinionated critics at the helm of the festival – myself, Nkgopoleng Moloi and Voni Baloyi – this was always going to be central to our approach. We also work with specialists.

Quiet Life co-curated our incredible music programmed, headlined by Internet Athi. Opera UCT’s director Jeremy Silver assembled the opera programme. Moloi, who is one of the judges for the Cape Town Theatre Awards, curates our theatre programme.

Over nine days from August 6 to 15, there are more than 16 art exhibitions to visit and over 50 events, from opera to music, musical theatre, dance, digital art, theatre, workshops, talks, curator-led walkabouts and special museum events.

Choosing my top five is admittedly difficult because I love all the events we’ve curated with our partners. But here is my list.

Opening night: 6 August, 6pm

Our opening night is always the most anticipated event. It is an explosion of art with more than 15 art exhibitions to attend.

What sets it apart from a First Thursdays is that the exhibitions are all curated to speak to the theme we set this year: Ctrl + Z. Borrowed from the familiar keyboard shortcut for “undo”, the theme reflects a collective desire to reverse actions in a world shaped by historical, political, environmental and economic damage.

It is interesting to use this theme as a lens through which to engage with the art. Injecting a bit of the HEAT flavour, where we mix art and music, will be Amici de Lumine, a local choir that will lead a trail through some of the venues, finally concluding at the Iziko Old Townhouse Museum.

Participating galleries include Aspire Art, AVA Gallery, Christopher Moller Art Gallery, Eclectica Contemporary, Everard Read, House Union Block/Spier Arts Trust, Nel Gallery, WORLDART, Untitled Art, Berman Contemporary, 33BREE, Strauss & Co. at Alliance Française du Cap, Peffers Fine Art, THK Gallery and Thomarts Gallery.

It is free to attend, but if you want to enjoy the climax at the museum, tickets are R80. Rounding out the music and art journey is the extraordinary rising jazz singer Giuliette Price, who will perform on opening night along with Karla von Solms at the Bree Street Community Hall (Clarke’s).

Yazuke

When I first saw Yazuke during its first run at the Observatory Community Hall, I immediately knew I wanted it for the festival.

The distinctive choreography and the quality of the dancing by the acclaimed Baba Yaya company gave me goosebumps. The last time I recall being this excited about contemporary dance was in the early days of the now defunct Dance Umbrella when Gregory Maqoma set a new standard.

Since Yazuke’s first iteration, Baba Yaya, under the directorship of Benjamin Nivison and Mandla Mbothwe, other layers have been added to the work, live music and song, and the performance for HEAT will be unique because it is a response to the venue; they will be drawing on the atmospheric and ideological qualities of the Central Methodist Mission Church.

Synthetic by Nature

In an effort to celebrate and grow the immersive and digital art scene, we introduced a digital arts programme last year.

I’m passionate about this sector, and in an effort to up the ante from our well-attended programme last year, I spent months seeking out some of the most cutting-edge immersive films for our programme at the Iziko Planetarium’s digital dome, where immersive art is best enjoyed (outside of a VR headset).

I’ve rounded up three incredible works from around the world: Entangled Structures, by Austrian artist Marian Essl; South Korean artist Jiha Jeon’s Fixing the Rare: Breeder A; and Lydia Yakonowsky’s (from Canada) La méthode des moments.

All three have quite different aesthetic languages but collectively present an interesting exploration of the relationship between technology and nature, mapping the invisible or controlling it. This is a chance to see these works in a dome setting.

Double-Bill Ghoema & Gauteng (for Ebenhazaer)

Moloi has high standards, so you can trust her selections, but if you look at the line-up of this double bill you can see it’s going to be a goodie.

There’s MNIX, a respected jazz singer who is exploring her history through sound in Ghoema: Rediscovering The Journey Of Me. Think of it as a biography narrated through musical genres.

Gauteng (for Ebenhazaer) features some of Cape Town’s most prominent theatre (Qondisa James) and music talents in one room, fashioning a narrative in which SA’s cities and suburbs are anthropomorphised with Gauteng and Kaapstad cast as estranged lovers, who leave behind their “children”: Hillbrow, Yeoville, Maboneng, Sandton and Msawawa.

Essay on Dying

I had long admired Boris Nitikin’s works, so I was excited to hear this renowned Swiss theatre maker was going to be in the country around the time of the HEAT Festival.

Nitikin creates truly original theatre works, as he always engages with and disrupts the form. What makes Essay on Dying so compelling, aside from the narrative about his father’s demise and his coming out, is its resistance to theatrical illusion.

Rather than asking the audience to enter a makebelieve world, Nikitin strips the form back to an actor, a script, and the risk of being truly vulnerable. The result is an intimate meditation on what authenticity means, both for an artist and for a human being. DM

Visit www.heatfestival.org or Quicket to buy tickets.