{"id":4322,"date":"2020-09-22T16:43:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T15:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4322"},"modified":"2020-09-22T16:43:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T15:43:20","slug":"res4res-arts-against-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4322","title":{"rendered":"Res4Res: Arts against the machine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nincreasing corporatisation of universities in which the focus is on\nthe financial bottom line, rather than the less tangible but more\nrewarding project of developing and refining critical thinking, is\npoisoning the humanities which are the lifeblood that feed ethics,\nempathy, and imagination in all spheres of endeavour.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As capitalism tightens its polarising grip, pressure is being put on humanities and arts faculties to push out graduates who can take their place in the industrial machine which is the global economy. It\u2019s all about \u2018tangible outcomes\u2019 and \u2018real world skills\u2019. The bureaucrats are happy if they can count all the visual arts students who get jobs in advertising or graphic design companies, performing arts graduates who can slot into television production, English students who become wage slaves writing copy for energy drink labels. These graduates can be named, numbered, filed and presented to motivate institutional funding. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same goes for sociology, anthropology, geography,\nphilosophy. Academics are pressured to shift their courses to suit\nthe new god: the omnipresent, omnipotent, faceless entity named The\nMarket.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why UCT\u2019s <\/strong>annual student\nresidence Res4Res drama festival is, <\/strong>although a\nrelatively obscure campus affair, to be celebrated and supported. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a celebration of the arts in which students from all\ndisciplines are invited to participate, and participate they do. From\nthe B.Com student who actually desires the stage rather than\nstatistics, or the science student who is as enamoured with the way\nwords create sentences as the way atoms create molecules. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the festival does \u2013 whether wittingly or not \u2013 is\nplace \u2018the arts\u2019 and the critical thinking and imagination that\nunderpin it, back into the academic institution on the students\u2019\nown terms. It is a step against the drive to feed the machine. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond discovering gems, there’s also an interesting panel discussion on 24 September at 7pm. You can find it <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is where the Critter ends the prelude. What\nfollows is the unadulterated press release as written by Res4Res\ncreative director Kanya Viljoen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>The Res4Res Festival invited students to submit artistic expressions around the theme, Your Silence Will Not Protect You,<\/em> in three categories, namely visual, video and written work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Held in the fourth quarter, Res4Res is\none of the highlights of the residence calendar. In the past, student\nplaywrights, directors and actors have strutted their stuff in front\nof a live audience, usually in the plush Baxter Theatre complex. Each\nyear, residences are given a theme to shape their drama around. The\nplays usually run over several days and tickets are sold to entice\nstudents to come along and support their residences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, due to the global pandemic Res4Res\nhas shifted into a virtual space this year, taking place across\nplatforms like Vula, the online data-free site UCT students use,\nFacebook and Instragram. Students have been invited to submit\nartistic expressions in the following categories: Visual, Video and\nWritten, all responding to the theme, Your Silence Will Not\nProtect You.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students received some guidance by\nindustry professionals including Kanya Viljoen, Rosa-Karoo Loewe,\nTiisetso Mashifane Wa Noni, Ameera Conrad, Tailyn Ramsamy, Kim\nAdonis, Larissa Mwanyama, and Jemma Kahn. Conrad, Ramsamy, and\nMwanyama were also this year\u2019s judges who decided on the works that\nwould be featured further on social media platforms that Res4Res had\npartnered with. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commitment of Res4Res remains to\nprovide a platform for res students to share and engage in artistic\nways around the themes and realities that are part of students\u2019\nlives in South Africa, as well as creating a space where students can\ncontinue to express and explore through artistic expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel discussion will be held\nbetween Viljoen, the judges, and students that have participated in\nthe virtual festival. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 25 SEPTEMBER; IN THE MEANTIME, FOUND OUT MORE: HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The increasing corporatisation of universities in which the focus is on the financial bottom line, rather than the less tangible but more rewarding project of developing and refining critical thinking, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4322"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4325,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4322\/revisions\/4325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}