ZWAI Mgijima is not afraid of complex content. He takes it and makes it cannon fodder for deep and dark societal analysis. Sure, there are light moments – in the unbearable lightness of being kind of way – but mostly his plays focus on the visceral and raw.

 The Veil is no different. In it Mgijima peeks behind the pale gossamer that separates African from African, South African from Somalian. He transports us beyond the liminal space that separates customer and shop-keeper as he journeys with Ali (Anele Penny), a Somalian émigré seeking refuge in South Africa.

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WHEN Brent Meistre asked me to open this exhibition, I was dubious about my ability to introduce what he does to the general public, as the material, while visually accessible, carries the weight of a very particular philosophy and approach to landscape which is less easily explained. I am thankful that, for most of us, the experience of standing alone in landscape is relatively easy to do as we live close to the kinds of landscape which he has photographed. To be physically in landscape in this country is a primal sensation – it is literally where we’re grounded – where we develop a sense of place and belonging - and it is the space in which we conduct our lives and where we are buried.  

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ACCOMPLISHED Eastern Cape photographer and painter, Marc Pradervand, presents his first solo art exhibition in Port Elizabeth entitled “Assume Relaxed Position”, at the Athenaeum from 15 – 25 April 2014.  Pradervand’s latest body of work, comprising 14 large format paintings, presents cheeky political, social, psychological and sexual content which may leave sensitive adult viewers quite the opposite of relaxed.

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AN OPEN competition for the design of two new Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) buildings has yielded “outstanding results”, according to the Port Elizabeth architecture industry, after an exhibition of the top five designs opened last week at the Athenaeum Gallery.

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NUMB City Productions, operators of the Athenaeum Complex, have appointed a new, dynamic team to manage and transform the building into a creative hub servicing the emerging creative sector in Nelson Mandela Bay. 

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ARCHITECTURE and education have long had a comfortable relationship – combining philosophy with process, art with practical design and presentation with realisation. So it comes as no surprise when the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and the Eastern Cape Institute of Architects (ECIA) come together to host an exhibition that highlights how the two interface.

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IN A first for Port Elizabeth, the Market Theatre will host a two-day search for talented theatre groups to perform at the annual Zwakala Theatre Festival later this year. 

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Looking for you! Numb City Project/Productions, enabled by Africalia of Belgium and the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA), invites applications for a 12 month internship position, starting 1 April 2014.

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Athenaeum hosts acclaimed New Brighton artists’ first solo in 15 years

DOLLA Sapeta is having a mid-life crisis and it is all about colour. It is not his fault, he maintains, that the monochrome of township life led him to pop art.

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THE debate on whether traditional craft can be considered art is nullified by a unique exhibition showcased over the 2013 National Arts Festival and officially opened this month – becoming a permanent exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery in Port Elizabeth.

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