A spectacle of art installations, sculptures, digital artworks, outdoor pop-up exhibitions, performances and street art tours were the order of the day at the International Public Art Festival (Ipaf) held in the company’s gardens in the city centre this past weekend.
Back for its 7th edition, the Ipaf hosted by Baz-Art, saw international and local artists use their voices and hands to create thought-provoking public artworks under the theme of “what if”.
Alexandre Tilmans, the co-founder of Baz-Art and Ipaf, says: “We believe that art and public art triggers conversation or stories and if you approach any art piece with the question ‘what if’ in your mind, it will trigger some thoughts.”
Tilmans adds: “This year we have an installation with red penguins carrying water bottles. And this will trigger conversation around what if we have no water, what if the world was covered by plastic? This is the kind of engagement we want because art is there to engage with.”
The free-of-charge event started on Wednesday 1 March and ran until Sunday 5 March.
Ipaf sees a host of both local and international public artists coming together to commission and showcase site-specific public artworks that form part of Cape Town’s public community spaces.
Tilmans says 28 artists both nationally and internationally took part in the festival.
The festival consists of a carefully curated series of public artworks spread throughout the streets of Cape Town’s CBD, which festival goers could explore by following an art route map.
The festival art route started at the festival hub at Cape Town’s Company’s Garden.
Tilmans explains that for the past few years painting murals was the main attraction of the festival, but this year they added more art forms.
“We realised that there are lots of different forms of public arts, and we wanted to incorporate them. We wanted to incorporate sculpture installations, digital art, music, fashion. So, the fact that we are hosting the festival in the Company Garden is a beautiful platform to host different types of arts and expose the public to those forms of art.”
Cape Town-based artist Olivia Krok says this is her first year taking part in the festival.
“It feels great, I am presenting my business called LivCurious and an organisation called Post to Parliament, and we are happy to be able to be part of this festival as it gives exposure to the cause of gender-based violence (GBV).”
She explains that their art installation entitled Unjustified violence: a reflective exhibition for a free society sheds light on GBV.
“We have a washing line type string and people are encouraged to take a blank postcard and write their thoughts and feelings and the experiences around the topic of gender-based violence. When they are done, they are encouraged to add their post card to the line by using a peg. It was created by the people for the people. And it is about allowing people a chance to voice their feeling around the GBV.”
The City of Cape Town says it is thrilled to be continuing its partnership with Baz-Art which started in 2016.
JP Smith, Mayco member for safety and security, says more than 200 public murals have been commissioned and painted in various communities in Cape Town.
