What If This City...

A collective of artistic individuals in Durban Kwa-Zulu Natal have the appetite to grow Art in the Ethekwini Municipality.

What If This City is an initiative by masters of fine Arts student and specialist in paper cutting, Karla Nixon; George Holloway a Technician and Sculptor; Francesca Verga a curator and graffitist Dane Stops who is also a Masters Student lecturing and drawing. The project’s listed aims include forging a relevant contemporary discourse between artists, forming new audiences and broadening avenues of influence by way of showcasing diversity, artistic approach while building a community that uses the arts as a tool for inspiration.

What If This City purports to provoke thoughts about the possibilities that the city of Durban could be, artistically. The chief philosophy behind the initiative is a selfless approach to contributions made towards developing Art in Durban holistically. Durban is not trailing that far off from its counterparts, Cape Town and Johannesburg-which are arguably the hubs of creativity, but there is much room for improvement.

Weekly talks, seminars and discussion groups are some of the avenues that are the apex of the initiative’s grand design to augment the state of art. The focus is to allow the audience to be abreast with activities taking place in Durban. These will involve individuals from numerous fields. With assistance from Durban’s finest filmmakers, the initiative will provide sourced material that will engage the audience during Film screening sessions

“Aside from the public events, we are making short films on Durban artists. These can be used both as publicity for the artist involved and for debunking the myth that nothing happens in this city,” says Dane Stops. The apparent diversity of art forms that Durban embodies is uncanny, judging by the variety of artistic backgrounds that just the organizers of What If This City come from.

However, the objective of the initiative is to solicit unity and interaction amongst artists-“We hope that in bringing the different disciplines together it will spark cross pollination, interdisciplinary inspiration and collaboration,” reckon Stops. Although in its novelty, What If This City intends to be the impetus for artistic rubrics such as dance, music, graffiti, tattooing, illustration, fine art, film, performance and photography. The outcome of the talent involved and contributions made is to create a community of artists and appreciators of art.

This in turn could help alleviate the plight that artists commonly face, usually struggling to make ends meet, and earn a decent living through their work. “This can however grow audiences, which in turn will hopefully help with commerce. We hope that the exposure and publicity of the artists will have some spin offs.”

Seemingly, the progress of art in Durban is hindered by the tendency of artists to be reclusive. What If This City owes its existence to the observation that there is a serious lack of public platforms for art in Durban. Even though there is a respectable number of participants and enthusiasts there is still some kind of fortress mentality, the different kinds of art hardly co-exist. One is most likely to come across individuals who rather prefer working in their private studios as opposed to having their work on public display.

One can conclude that such an atmosphere is not conducive to growth as art is amongst the most effective means to make a statement, a non-verbal form of social commentary. In conclusion Stops says: “Art should serve as a point of contemplation. It should make you feel something, whether it’s awe or anger, it should incite. At the end of the day art is made by an individual, with opinions and experiences that will be similar to some and different from other, points of view”.

The What If This City kicked-off on the 9th of May 2014, at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Steve Biko Campus Art Gallery. For more information about the event email whatifthiscity@gmail.comor whatifthiscity.wordpress.com

*What If This City is supported by Bose Experience who provide sound equipment, Glenwood Village Music supplies backline, the Winston Pub provide a bar service, Dieketseng the barista with coffee and Liquitex supplying art materials.