The Scheryn Art Collection was proud to support the 2018 Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Festival
The Scheryn Art Collection was proud to support the 2018 Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Festival. The festival took place from 1 to 16 September 2018 in various venues across Cap Town. The festival sought to explore new forms, break boundaries, flout aesthetic conventions, tackle controversies, confront audiences and experiment with perceptions[i].
The 2018 edition of the festival comprised 43 productions throughout this city and was co-curated by Jay Pather, Nomusa Makhubu, James MacDonald and Nkule Mabaso. The festival did not have a set theme but rather the performances were staged across four “platforms.” Jay Pather, the Director of the ICA, elaborated further by explaining that, “The first, entitled Trajectories, focuses on the development and histories of live art, comprising productions that emerge from different lineages. A second platform considers Live Art In the time of the Anthropocene, the age when the impact of humans on the planet becomes unnervingly clear. A third platform is Intimacies and Biography. Many of the works here considers intimacy and personal performative portraiture in the time of decolonization. Finally, in recognizing the roots of Live Art in disruption, interruption and protest, the fourth platform, titled Actions and Activism”.
For the festival, Scheryn commissioned Nastio Mosquito’s Respectable Thief, which took place during the evening of Saturday 15 September at Zeitz MOCAA. The work looks at the good and the bad of our entitlement, appropriation, and the evolution of our collective Robin Hood syndrome.[ii] Nastio’s piece, which was originally commissioned by MoMA in 2016, has travelled across the United States of America, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.
The evening was also the official opening of the Scheryn Collection Arena at Zeitz MOCAA. The Scheryn Collection Arena, situated to the right of the main atrium on the ground floor of Zeitz MoCAA, is home to the Centre for Performative Practise, a dedicated exhibition space devoted to performance art.
“The Scheryn Art Collection was extremely enthusiastic about the opportunity to support the 2018 ICA Live Performance Festival. We believe strongly in the power of live art and the incredible platform that the ICA is providing for this artistic medium. It is also a great to be involved in bringing the first artwork that has been shown at MoMA to Zeitz MOCAA, I hope this will be the first of many prominent events to take place in the Scheryn Collection Arena” said Herman Steyn, director of the Scheryn Art Collection.
The Scheryn Art Collection looks forward to continuing its support of international and local projects and initiatives that the Directors identify with and which provide a platform for African Art.
[i]UCT, 2018. ICA’s celebration of live art, [Online]. Available: https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2018-08-27-icas-celebration-of-live-art
[ii] ICA Live Art Festival 2018, 2018. Nástio Mosquito Respectable Thief, [Online]. Available: