Camouflaged bodies Infect the City

Published Mar 12, 2014

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Zolan Kanno-Youngs

FROM human bodies camouflaged in the city’s streets to listening to music blindfolded in a large room.

These were just some of the art works that caught the attention of passers-by in the city yesterday as the artistic event Infecting the City took hold in the CBD for a second day.

Francisco López’s Live Solo Sound Performance was the first highlighted project yesterday.

The artist mixed sounds from rainforests, deserts, factories and city streets from all around the world for blindfolded listeners sitting in the Centre for the Book.

“I’m trying to create a blank territory of experience for different people so different people, listeners, will fill in the experience according to what their experience is,” López said.

While he hopes people are moved by the experience, he doesn’t have a specific goal for the meaning they find in the art.

“My intention is transformational and I understand sound and music as a transformative force,” López said.

“I’m not interested in just beautiful or interesting music; I want to do something that transforms myself and others.”

The crowd was then ushered to the Company’s Garden to witness Glaciology, a choreographic creation of constantly shifting bodies.

The dancers, from the Canadian Anandam Dancetheatre, tangled their bodies together while wearing white and blue to symbolise the environmental impact of moving glaciers.

A couple of metres away, people passing in Wale Street witnessed an intense tango from the Bovim Ballet, called Table Duet & Who Wants to Live Forever.

As they continued on their artistic tour, the audience noticed painted human bodies blending in with trees, buildings, benches and even streets.

There were more than 20 drama students from the CityVarsity Art Department camouflaged for the Bodyspectra in the City project.

“It creates an awareness of the different kinds of art we have in the city and a lot of the time you don’t really see full body paint out in the street so it’s great for us to get our work out here,” said third-year CityVarsity art student Kaylee Pererira, a body painter for the project.

The students started working on their models as early as 7am and finished at about noon.

“We got in this morning and they said, ‘Okay, here’s the picture you’re doing, here’s your model, get started,’ so we had no say in what we were doing,” Pererira said. “It’s a really great experience.”

Another CityVarsity student, Phillip Masemola, 18, said: “It’s more than I expected. I expected a pretty boring, artsy vibe, but I’ve enjoyed it. It’s pretty cool.”

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