Shutterspeed: reflection/deflection

Shutterspeed: reflection/deflection is curated by independent arts organisation Flying House, to showcase a snapshot of South African design, from costume and textile to design for dance, solo performance art, theatre, and public art. We chose designs that were innovative and resourceful, created outside of the mainstream, big-budget institutions.

Thando Lobese’s designs for Chant conjure a dystopian world.

Illka Louw’s scenic devices in Bruising perform as part of the choreography.

Jemma Kahn’s The Borrow Pit pushes new innovations in her signature use of the Kamishibai form.

Leigh Bishop’s sculpted garments in Slowly explore the possessed and adorned female body across time periods and cultures.

Jade Bowers & Erica Luttich & the Boitumelo Project collaborate in Jungfrau to create a textured textile world.

Naomi van Niekerk’s sand animations form a backdrop for puppetry and music in The Alchemy of Words.

In Gavin Krastin’s Yet to Be Determined, the audience becomes complicit in transgressions of representation.

In Vehicle, Gerhard Marx gives voice to inanimate objects by grafting classical string instruments onto car parts.

Mantala Nkoatse and Zivanai Matangai’s performative place-making piece I dreamed I was sleeping challenges commuters to interact with public space differently.

Prompted by the notions of framing, exposing, and capturing, the curators imagined an installation comprised of the reflective panels that photographers use to enhance or modify lighting conditions. The metaphor this material offers us is that of reflecting and deflecting light in order to capture a moment. Each designer is given a reflector screen on which to create a signature work. Is this a portrait or an encounter? Did we say what we meant to say?

Like photography, theatre design is about trying to impose a frame on multiple possibilities. What is left out when the shutter snaps, when we make the choices we do for performance? How do we view each other, and how do those views act as filters, mirrors, or windows? Do these reflectors help us see better, or do they help us to look away?

Country/Region South Africa

Presenting Organization Flying House

Curator Jenni-lee Crewe and Tamara Schulz

Partners Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town, Business Arts South Africa, Flying House