Brenda Atkinson
For the past few months, Africus Institute of Contemporary Art director Bongi Dhlomo has had a favourite saying: The light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.
While the fate of the second Johannesburg Biennale has at times seemed uncertain due to distinctly anaemic local funding contributions, the past few weeks saw funding pick up speed, assisted by an additional contribution of R3,4-million from the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council.
Councils confirmed support of the Biennale means that this and future exhibitions will go on. Danie Malan, Strategic Executive Officer for Metropolitan Sports, Arts, Culture and Economic Development, describes the Biennale as part of a track record South Africa is creating for hosting events of this nature.
Future events that might see the materialisation of dreams of a fully functional cultural precinct in Newtown bring diverse cultural elements together.
These include the 1999 All Africa Games, and Ubuntu 2000 – an international cultural initiative administered in South Africa by current Biennale executive director Christopher Till.
Till describes Ubuntu as a cultural movement that will establish a matrix of information with a pan-African focus its about creating networks and initiating cultural and developmental programmes.
The international launch of Ubuntu in Johannesburg will, says Till, seek possible synergies with the All Africa Games, but sees Arts Alive and the Biennale as its principal local energies.
He adds that there is still a lot of consulting to do regarding with whom and around what partnerships will be developed. An elected steering committee of 10 people, including Till, Market Theatre director John Kani and the Rockefeller Foundations Dr Damien Pwono, is preparing a thorough concept document for the project.