ReRouting Arts Festival is a site-specific, public spaces, arts festival that aims to realise different art forms in alternate public spaces, while using the arts to build bridges and create dialogue between different socio-economic and cultural demographics.
This arts festival has no set premises. The goal is to explore new and interesting spaces where artists from all disciplines are able to find inspiration. Working in collaboration with established spaces and businesses we aim to expose audiences to new and exciting collaborations and performances.
The festival is a means of creating platforms for young local artists to perform while also exposing them to the work of visiting professionals, locally, nationally and from the rest of the continent.
The arts has the power to transform people and spaces and ultimately nurture communities. Through exchange, we hope to build relationships, share knowledge and develop both our audiences and artists.
Rerouting Arts Festival 2019
The inaugural Rerouting Arts Festival, was a spectacle of performances, workshops and sharing’s with local and international artists.
Audiences first encountered artistic interventions on Victoria Street surrounded by Hall’s Retail’s graffitied walls and dance performances with local KZN artists, led by Madagascan Julie Iarosoa.
Reactivating the city centre, we saw electroacoustic performances by Wayne Reddiar and Francis Mennigke with Corpusonic, Sifiso Khumalo presented The Passing along with Julie Iarisoa and Tshediso Kabulu, in The Unknown, with dance offerings in city parks and puppets extraordinaire in The Thing About Wolves by the Mahlkahlathini Theatre Company.
Visual artists, Brent Dodd, Muzi Ndlela, Stella Pretorius, Rory Klopper, Anda Dodo and Noxolo Ngidi, recreated themselves in coffee shops around the city, while musician Seb Goldswain performed in an underground car park. Rob Boyd took audiences on a Tom Waits journey down memory lane with Nighthawks at the Diner.
Rerouting Arts festival 2020 kicked off with a bang, with a gourmet dinner on a traffic circle, turning guests into unwitting performers while sharing the artistic culinary flair of Jackie Cameron, School of Food and Wine and students. Gcina Mhlophe enchanted learners with her storytelling, while people from the city walked Rory Kloppers’ red carpet down the middle of Church St. With diverse music inspirations and cultural backgrounds, Qadasi and Enovelle shared the stage at the Pietermaritzburg Railway Station, with the odd real train interruption for added excitement. Mhayise Prodouctions brought Abomhlaba(thi) to local audiences, and engaged with local schools through dance workshops and activations. Local artists, Siyabonga Sikosana, Megan Moore, Jono Hornby, Ryan Allan, Eloff Pretorius and Siyabonga Ngubane were challenged to give new life to five Pietermaritzburg bridges while using their work to engage people in discussions that are relevant, including pollution, city communities and environments.Rerouting Arts Festival 2020
