The Africa Centre, in collaboration with the British Council and other sponsors, is hosting an outdoor performance festival in Cape Town this February.  The art works explore the theme of “Home Affairs” – migration and exclusion.

Capetonians will see something new from 21 to 27 February as Infecting the City, previously known as the Spier Performing Arts Festival, brings the arts to public urban spaces.

Most of the events will be free. The aim of this festival is to encourage people to walk through the city during the day, moving from performance to performance and exploring the place as well as ideas. Some shows will cost R30.

Infecting the City, curated this year by award-winning writer and director Brett Bailey, is all about pushing boundaries and addressing issues that society isn’t willing to deal with, such as xenophobia.

Some of the works – Limbo, Amakwerekwere and Exile – are based on collaboration between South African, other African and European artists. Bailey created teams containing artists from different countries and different disciplines.  These teams spent time experiencing life as refugees in South Africa, guided by actual refugees – including seeing what it is like to apply for papers at the Department of Home Affairs.   

According to the British Council’s Jean September, the British Council is supporting a British artist, Michael Lister, to participate in a collaborative team. Lister is the artistic director of a UK outdoor performance company, Avanti Display.

Site-specific theatre – putting on plays in venues other than theatres – is quite common in Europe but still fresh to the South African public.  It has the advantage of being accessible to people who might not normally go to the theatre at all.

Another aspect of the festival is Take a Child to Art, a campaign to raise funds so that young people can experience arts and culture. Corporate sponsors and members of the public can make a donation to get local children to the festival.

Cape Town has been labelled the Europe of Africa, but Infecting the City aims to share the rich African heritage of the city. The main organiser, the Africa Centre, is a section 21 arts and culture company aimed at promoting the heritage of Africa and showcasing Africa’s contribution to democracy.

To find out more about this festival visit this page. To read related stories, click here. To read more about British Council events and programmes, please visit this page. Read our latest news here: News in Africa section.