Public Art in Joburg

Orly Genger sculptures in Madison Square Park

New York was is a great city for Public Art, both temporary ...

Ryman Roses on Park Avenue

Breuning Clouds, Central Park South and 5th Avenue

Indiana LOVE on 6th Avenue

... and permanent.

Elíasson Waterfalls under the Broolyn Bridge

Public Art adds interest to the gritty environment in summer and ...

Christo Gates in Central Park

... and much-appreciated color in winter.

Tatzu Nishi's Discovering Columbus

And sometimes it takes the mundane - like the maintenance of Christopher Columbus's statue in Columbus Circle - and elevates it to art.

















Johannesburg is a city that is totally on board with Public Art. It is sometimes hard to keep up with all the commissioned pieces going up all over the city. During the recent Joburg Art Week, we stumbled upon one of the biggest proponents of Public Art in Joburg, the Johannesburg Development Agency. Embedded in the many goals and objectives of the JDA is the recognition of the role Public Art plays in the livability of a city.










They are the people behind some of the most iconic and recognizable works of Public Art in Joburg, like the art on the Rea Vaya - a public transportation initiative of the JDA - and The Eland in Braamfontein.

The Eland is my favorite piece of Public Art in Joburg. This massive 50-ton, 7,5m statue of an eland has transformed the gateway entrance to the inner city from Braamfontein. The statue, which stands at the intersection of Ameshoff and Bertha streets, was designed by Clive van den Berg, a well-known South African artist and exhibition designer from the company Trace. His imposing design was selected as the winner of a competition in 2005 organized by the Braamfontein Art Committee, through an initiative by the Johannesburg Development Agency and the Braamfontein Improvement District. The project was managed by the Trinity Session.

The artists were asked to consider various issues and histories particular to the site, with emphasis placed on permanence and durability. Van den Berg said of the winning brief:

“I started with a sense of what I did not want. Having worked in, studied and theorised about public space for some years, I knew that I did not want to make a heroic sculpture of the Mandela Square variety, nor a sculpture that would be too immediately located in time and place. Eland places a large representation of an Eland on a corner where it has long since disappeared. This majestic animal would, I imagined, bring beauty and grandeur to a busy place.

The Eland in situ

I hope it will also be an emblem that prompts reflection on our relationship to the past, and to the interconnectedness of environmental, cultural and spiritual destinies.

The corner is a busy connector of lateral geography, but what I am concerned with is the geography of memory and the spirit.”

The Public Art exhibit at the JDA was fascinating and extremely informative and filled in so many blanks for me about the various Public Art installations about town. And the JDA is located in a public work of architectural art itself.

The agency is housed in an old Bus Factory in Newtown surrounded by art studios and galleries. There you go, art is part and parcel of what they do.

Walking around Newtown the other day for my graffiti tour, I was once again reminded of Joburg's love for Public Art of which commissioned graffiti is just one of the many means of expression. And there are many other organizations besides the JDA as well as corporations and private individuals who commission Public Art in the city.

We started our graffiti tour in a skate park in Newtown where there are some of the 560 carved wooden heads dotted on plinths found throughout the Newtown precinct.  I do not know who actually commissioned them but they are very cool. 

The carved railroad ties are meant to reflect a sea of faces from Africa. The artists, Simon Guambe, Petrus Matsolo, Dan Guambe and Joe Matola, intended these heads to celebrate African diversity. And they symbolise how for the better part of the last century, Newtown was home to thousands of migrants from throughout Africa and the world. 

Sometimes I lament the fact that Joburg does not have the abundance of museums and galleries that New York has. But then I stumble upon yet another piece of Public Art and I am reminded that Joburg city itself is one big art gallery. And I feel better. Public Art can do that.

Rea Vaya

I am a big fan of mass transportation in cities. As much as I love to drive the open road in the country, I prefer to traverse the city underground on a subway or metro or above ground in a tram, trolley or bus. Cheaper, safer, harder to get lost in and in the case of the above ground options, you can relax and take in the sights as you travel.

Johannesburg is limited in its mass transportation options. The high-speed Gautrain comes from Pretoria or the airport, goes through Sandton and Rosebank and ends at Park station in the CBD. After that, it’s the bus. The Rea Vaya to be exact. One of the highlight of my recent Fashion District / Little Addis walking tour was the opportunity to try out the Rea Vaya with a trained professional, our JoburgPlaces tour guide Gerald Garner.

a Rea Vaya station

The Rea Vaya is Joburg's answer to a more extensive city wide mass transportation. After an exhaustive search of the transportation solutions of other large cities- NY, London, etc. - the planners finally settled on the bus system they saw used in Bogota and Pereira, Colombia. Rea Vaya means "we are going" in scamto. (Spoken usually only by the youth, scamto comprises a mix of many languages including Afrikaans, Sotho, Zulu, English and Xhosa.)

I needn't have been concerned about figuring out the Rea Vaya system; it is fairly simple actually. There are currently only a handful of routes so it is very hard to get lost. There is the T1, T2, T3, the C1, C2, the circular C3 route through the inner city, the C4 and C5. Then there are the feeder routes from the local neighborhoods.The future looks bright for the Rea Vaya too as there are many more routes planned.

You use a special plastic smartcard just like the Gautrain which you load up at the ATM or station to buy your rides and just like the Gautrain, you press the card face down onto the security screen to open the gate in and the gate out of the covered waiting area. The Rea Vaya drives through town on special “bus only” lanes so even during rush hour, you are assured of a quick ride.

Bottom line, will I be taking the Rea Vaya again? How do you say "absolutely" in scamto?

Picnic on the Top of Africa

kvas in Brighton

We have been on some quirky food-centric walking tours in cities before. An Urban Foraging Tour (literally) on the grounds of San Fran's Golden Gate Park, a Lower East Side Multi-ethnic Food Tour in NYC and a Russian Food Tour in the Brighton suburb of Boston.

foraging for stinging nettles in Golden Gate Park

We even did a Mural Tour in San Fran's Mission District which, though not strictly a foodie tour, did end up at a smoothie shop where I got a Vampira, a veggie and fruit smoothie made with blood red beet juice! Quirky and creepy at the same time.

On Sunday we continued this tradition when we went up to the top of the Carlton Centre with MainStreetWalks for a rooftop picnic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MainStreetWalks provided us each with a picnic basket (Vince and I shared!) containing some eating utensils, plates and glasses, and a blanket. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we were given some time to peruse the food hall at the Market on Main for some edibles to add to our basket.

Flat bread pizza? Methinks it's too hard to transport.

Dim sum delights! In the basket.












Then we all piled into a minivan and drove over to the Carlton Centre.














We took the lift up to the Top of Africa for our group picnic.

Next stop, the 50th floor!

Our MSW guide gave us a short but informative talk on the City and pointed out the key sites while we took in the 360 degree views of Joburg and the surrounding countryside from the tallest building in all of Africa!
 

The former Johannesburg Stock Exchange (Coca Cola triangular roofed building).

The De Beers Diamond building at the end of Diagonal Street.

(This is what the Diamond Building looks like from ground level).

Gandhi Square.

The low-slung red-roofed "brickfields city" on the left. Mandela Bridge on the right.

The Library in the center.

The old Park Station (green roof on the left in front of the brickfield city) and Mandela Bridge on the right.

Library Gardens in the center.

Rea Vaya bus red stripe.

The Standard Bank "hanging" building ("e" on top). White and yellow mine dumps in the back on the horizon.

Dam with lake.

Turffontein Racecourse

The large white-roofed Muthi market in front of the highway.

Someone bought this turquoise building. It is unclear what it will be when it grows up.

ABSA City tower tribute ...

... to Nelson Mandela.

He was buried today in Qunu. RIP.

We were so lucky we had a beautiful clear day.

The tall Ponte Tower building (red Vodacom top).

Maboneng, where we started our tour this morning.














The Hillbrow tower.

Great clouds.

Small Street, ironically the longest street in Joburg.

The hospital (3 identical towers) on Constitution Hill built right in the sight line of the Oppenheimer estate blocking Harry's view of the mountains. Burn.

Maboneng mural from above.

Nelson Mandela's legs are finished!

This building was built as an homage to the World Trade Center before 9/11.

The Red Bus down below on the move!

On the horizon to the right behind the Sentech tower is the largest mine dump still in existence. It is getting smaller every day as they are re-mining it and extracting more gold with better mining technology. Talk about recycle.













The Markham Building was once the tallest building in Joburg!


It's still pretty.










Time to eat! Vince and I almost bought one of these flat bread pizzas but did not know how to transport it. Clever method sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard! Let's see how well it worked.

It worked!

Great picnic companions!

With great minds who think alike. Both Ros and Mark and Frederick bought these same chocolate desserts, unbeknownst to each other!

Nice view! Nice place to picnic!

We are trying to convince MainStreetWalks to add a dusk sundowner picnic to their repertoire. But only if Mark and Frederick promise to join us!

Darn, I should have checked to see if they had a floaty pen!

MainStreetWalks offers a wide range of tours of the city. So does JoburgPlaces and Past Experiences. It is a great way to uncover the secret gems found in downtown Joburg and the surrounding suburbs. To book a walking tour of the city, visit their websites!