Creative Exchange 2021

As part of the BA Honours Degree in Visual Communication, students participate in a Creative Exchange where they engage in a short-term collaboration with other young creatives from a different city. The intention of the project is to enable creative networking and cross-disciplinary collaboration as part of the creative process and to link our students and institution to other creative hubs, workshops and educational programmes in the region. Collaboration is often presented as a seamless and fun creative process. The Creative Exchanges enable students to have real experience of a deadline driven collaboration with someone they have never worked with before. Over the years students have found the learnings and insights gained from this experience both enriching and rewarding.

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Previous exchanges have taken place in Harare (Zimbabwe) and Maputo (Mozambique). This year the group travelled to Durban and worked closely with a cohort of young creatives based at ArtLab who were in the final weeks of a three-month incubator programme. As part of the outcomes of the Creative Exchange, students need to present tangible creative outputs to an audience in the host city and on their return to the Academy. The projects range across disciplines and can be experimental in nature. The Creative Exchange provides students with a space to play and produce work collaboratively outside of the classroom.

You can see some of the outputs from our students below. Here’s to more collaboration and more creativity!

Aidan Murgatroyd

Isabella George

Nina Formanek

Nike – For Once, Don’t Do It

Many brands have spoken out about the racial injustice and police brutality we’ve seen in America (and across the world) and many have done really amazing work. Today, we’re sharing this one from Nike, which makes a really strong point purely from its restraint. Using nothing but a black background, text and a great track they make a really hard-hitting piece of communication.

And we agree. For Once, Don’t Do It.

Heinz – Ketchup Puzzle

We all know how puzzles have suddenly taken on much more importance in our live since the corona virus hit. This work by Rethink Canada for Heinz takes it to the next level with a fiendishly difficult puzzle that is entirely red. Just like Heinz Ketchup. The perfect way to spend a good few hours during lockdown!

Check out the case video below.

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adidas – Futurecraft

This is the kind of thinking we need more of in the design and fashion space. Adidas is leading the charge by designing and prototyping the world’s first 100% recyclable shoe. They’ve just completed the first round of testing and are now on the second iteration of the process, with the aim of having a consumer-ready model in the next year or two.

Not only is this thinking incredibly inspiring, it’s a great site too, bringing a whole lot of swagger and street cred to a subject that can be a little staid and boring if its not treated well.

Please, please, please – let’s see more of this thinking! No more fast fashion!

You can view the site here.

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Stellenbosch Triennale 2020

We are so proud to be involved in the Stellenbosch Triennale 2020, which runs from 11 February to 30 April next year! It centres around the theme: Tomorrow there will be more of us and features multiple artists and exhibitions across Stellenbosch. We’ll be involved in a number of ways and we are very excited to tell you more as we get closer to the event.

For now, you can learn more about the Triennale at their website here, or their official release here.

Alon Bonder – Art

Alon Bonder is an artist and graphic designer who lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel. His intricate designs and illustrations are inspired by a number of sources, with a strong push from shamanism, ancient cultures and hallucinogenic plants. We love the mix of modern, clean vector illustration with more organic forms. Amazing!

You can visit Bonder’s website to see more of his work here.

Katherine Glenday Ceramics – Visit

Recently, our Second and Third Year students were invited to visit the celebrated ceramicist, Katherine Glenday, at her studio in Kalk Bay. Glenday specialises in porcelain; creating fragile, beautiful vessels that resonate with a quiet stillness. She went on to explain how she uses moulds to make her vessels as well as working on the wheel – creating objects which are so fine they are almost translucent in appearance. She went on to explain how different glazing techniques work and how important play and experimentation are to her creative process.

This was followed by a trip to the Kalk Bay Modern gallery, which sells her incredible work, amongst other gorgeous pieces.

Check out the pics from our visit below!

Nike – Game of Go

To launch their new trainer, the Nike React, Nike enlisted the help of Wieden+Kennedy and Media Monks to create an installation / activation in LA like no other! With custom built treadmills and a virtual reality rig, they made a real-world game where people were motion tracked as they played a game on the screens in front of them.

Sound complicated? That’s because it is!

This video below explains it so well. What better way to launch a new shoe, but showing people exactly what it can do!

2018 Soccer World Cup Ads

When a Soccer World Cup or the Olympics comes around we can always rely on the big brands to do really impressive film ads. We’ve selected three of our favourites from this round from Beats, adidas and Nike respectively.

Have a watch and let us know your favourite one!

 

The Diver

One of our Multimedia lecturers, Daniela de Lange, recently collaborated on the following short film, The Diver – for Batch TV.

Official Description:

The Diver: A short story about an insecure young woman who is self-conscious about her passion for diving.

For the diver, what she does and what she loves are two separate things. What she does comes at the cost of what she loves. She loves diving. This love demands an uncomfortable amount of self belief, perseverance and emotional investment. Insecure as she is, she does what she loves in isolation. In this way, the diver represents the things we truly love, but rarely get to, because we are so consumed by what we do.

B E H A N C E
C R E D I T S
Written & Directed – We Are Batch Tv
Illustration – Fran Labuschagne
Animation – Daniéla de Lange
Sound – Mount Wave Music