Seeds of success: Cooling the capital

20 July 2016 - 10:16 By Graham Wood

The South African Pavilion at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale is showcasing the results of an urban art experiment on the southern tip of Africa - one that was originally sparked by the Italian city in 2012.The journey to the Cool Capital Biennale of 2014 began when architect Pieter Mathews exhibited work at the 2012 biennale in Venice."The theme for that year was Common Ground," he says. One poster, capturing the potential of shared urban space and the power it has to bring citizens together, inspired him."The discussion continued beyond Venice and I thought: let's take the idea home, because we need a creative outlet without gatekeepers and curators and red tape."And so he launched "the world's first, uncurated, DIY, guerrilla biennale". According to the Cool Capital website, the event is intended to allow the citizens of Pretoria to contemplate and express why they love their city, and how it can be improved. The idea is to encourage spontaneous street art and design interventions, inspire urban renewal and create social cohesion.The theme of this year's Venice Biennale - Reporting from the Front - focusing on reportage rather than theory, offered the perfect opportunity to showcase Cool Capital 2014's explosive success.GONE: The stolen BrickMathews and his team had only eight-and-a-half weeks to prepare the South African pavilion in Venice, but the concept of guerrilla art that Cool Capital pioneered, has gained attention worldwide.Mathews's office has had calls from organisations around the world asking for advice about planning their own guerrilla biennales, especially in Europe's highly regulated environment.The strict regulations at the Venice Biennale didn't stop Mathews and his team from getting up to a little mischief in the waterlogged city - including launching the flagship project for Cool Capital 2016, which will run from late September to the end of October."One of the projects we've got this year is called Saadjies," said Mathews. Artists have been invited to make small sculptures no bigger than 180mm³, document themin certain urban environments and post the pictures on Instagram with the hashtags #saadjies and #coolcapital2016." Almost 100 people are already involved.Mathews and co began by sculpture-bombing Venice and Amsterdam, and already there are examples of these mini artworks in Pretoria.Three saadjies were included in the exhibition at the South African Pavilion, but one, a brick made from materials that make a city - glass, aluminium, tarmac, concrete, clay - was stolen.The artist, Sybrand Wiechers, was flattered, said Mathews. "I hope we'll see it again one day on Instagram."Another example of the mini-sculpture was brought out from South Africa "and this time we glued it to the stand", Mathews said.For more information and to get involved go to coolcapital.co.za..

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