Clever creatives will get you dancing

A creativity overload will be happening next week at the 25th Design Indaba conference, the theme of which is Think Tank, Do Tank. If you’re lucky enough to have booked your tickets already, you’ll get even more on the programme than you bargained for. The Design Indaba (DI) team have added a few surprises to the line-up.

• The rock stars at Rhizomatics are already big in Japan — next week, they’re bringing their experimental collaborations to the stage at DI’s jubilee. They use programming code, lasers, drones, robotics and augmented reality as the tools of their theatrical trade. The creatives call themselves “transmedia artists” and their goal is to interpret what it means to be human by manipulating technology. 

• DJ and programmer Daito Manabe, their leader and founder, formed the group with art director Seiichi Saito and web developer Hidenori Chiba. Manabe is no flash-in-the-pan purveyor of gimmick — he graduated in dynamic sensory programming (DSP) from the International Academy of Media Studies and Sciences and holds a degree in mathematics from the Tokyo University of Science. In their performances, dancers, drones and artificial intelligence interact in a delicate, choreographed performance.

• Also new on the line-up is Led By Donkeys, which started as an anonymous night-time guerrilla poster campaign by four friends determined to  expose the lies, lunacy and hypocrisy of Brexit. It has since become the biggest entirely crowdfunded political campaign in British history. They’ve put up hundreds of billboards, crowd banners and giant messages in fields and on beaches.

• Also on the programme of speakers are Design Indaba’s global graduates who come to share their stories from the top design schools in the world. Each of these next-generation designers will have eight to 10 minutes on the stage. Bio-based designer and architectural technologist Kathryn Larsen thatches with seaweed, doing her bit to green the building industry. 

• Mazabahul Islam worked with Nobel laureate Professor Mohammed Yunas to help emerging communities in Bangladesh create brand identities and business strategies. These are just three of the 12 great young minds who will be sharing their projects with the audience. 

To book, call +27 82 524 5789 or e-mail leeanns@telkomsa.net.

The Design Indaba takes place at the Artscape Theatre from February 26 to 28 2020.

This is just a taste of what the DI will be bringing to Cape Town and via its simulcast service to Potchefstroom, Nairobi, Durban, Johannesburg and Namibia.

This article was paid for by Design Indaba.