artist / Coordinator/ THING-MAKER
artist / Coordinator/ THING-MAKER
We Can Be Heroes was an interdisciplinary public art project that found its debut at the Free State Art Festival, where it consisted of four large inflatables inspired by the Southern sky, imagined worlds and local mythologies. Locals in and around the city of Bloemfontein were invited to hold a giant balloon and to share their thoughts on what they think of when they look to the sky. The balloons came together on one site at the festival, forming a unit outlining the footprint of the city during the last two days of the festival. During these two days of the festival the collected thoughts of the locals were projected onto the surface of these inflatables.
We Can Be Heroes was presented as part of the Programme for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD), an initiative of the University of the Free State and the Vrystaat Arts Festival, generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with OSCA – Open Space Contemporary Arts (Australia). Conceived by Australian artist Paul Gazzola and designed by local artist Marius Jansen van Vuuren.
Some of our most notable projects (collaborating with Alex Rinsler) include the world’s largest straw squirrel in Kazakhstan, as well as significant works in China and the UK.
Collaborated with Alex Rinsler on the Giant Straw Fox in Shanghai, 2019
The Giant Piglet was a collaborated sculpture created for the city of Manchester as part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year in 2019, which was the year of the pig.
Collaborated with Alex Rinsler on the Giant Squirrel in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Collaborated with Alex Rinsler on the Urban Fox Hotel in Shanghai, 2016.
The Baby Giraffe was one of three large-scale public art installations that formed part of the It’s My City community project under guidance of British artist Alex Rinsler. The public added thousands of messages to the works, expressing their wishes for the future and for their loved ones. After a week the sculptures came to life with three community-led processions, meeting in a fourth location where they were set them on fire. It was the 2016 signature project of the Programme for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD) a partnership between the Vrystaat Arts Festival and the University of the Free State, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Africanis was a public art installation that formed part of the Public Art Project (PAP) during the Free State Arts Festival.
Six silhouettes of Africanis dogs were spread out in a hunting formation on Hoffman Square in Bloemfontein. Local artists were invited to continuously change the identity of the dogs for the duration of the week.
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