This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2014. / This thesis explores theories of escapism and applies them to the Johannesburg precinct in the form of a socially interactive public space. Our day to day banal realities do not satisfy our innermost desires, as a result; we choose to disconnect from our realties. We often become passive consumers in a world dominated by production, fuelled by retail advertising and marketing media, and in turn we frequently overlook the shaping of our own social existence and choosing healthy forms of flight. I feel that our city does not provide opportunities for escape in the form of urban rituals and therefore a sense of belonging is inadequately specified. I aim to provide a positive form of escape which supports urban rituals, and thereby define a place within Johannesburg. A public space enables social interaction and individual exploration and is therefore a temporary from of escape. Our city is often perceived as dangerous and unaccommodating, but there is vast opportunity within the precinct due to the many existing connections and vibrant pedestrian life. My chosen site is an existing heritage building and the active node, Gandhi Square, currently existing divided by a sprawl of busses through which pedestrians are forced to navigate through. Through the redesign of this space, I intend to encourage a pedestrian dominant city, and a civic space that enhances public life and further facilitates urban renewal. My intervention involves 3 elements; an outdoor theatre, the redesign of the Metro Bus facility and a public space to promote a harmonious transition zone between the two. The contemporary theatre I am proposing forms space without physical walls, as light and sound evolve to stage events. The theatre functions within the reshaping of an existing heritage building located on site. It is a flexible space where intense sensory events can occur and carve the avenues into a socially interactive city. This engaging atmosphere caters for the collective as well as the everyday encounter, transforming to the needs of Johannesburg. My intervention will define a place where the celebration of community is lacking and in turn seek to change the perceptions of our city. Through the experience of the whole, my design facilitates chance interactions in which mystical moments can be manifested within a public space devoted to civic escape.

M.Tech. (Fine Art) / The focus of this research is an exploration of aspects of liminality and how it manifests in selected unsanctioned public art interventions in ‘urban places’, specifically, the Johannesburg Central Business District. Liminality informs my own art work and to contextualise my practice I investigate Steven Cohen’s performance/intervention entitled Chandelier (2001-2002), and Alison Kearney’s The Portable Hawkers Museum (2003). I argue that unsanctioned public art maintains a liminal identity, a fluidity of ‘repurposing a space’ that is in constant shift between different dimensions of liminality. Such works create a zone between physical and conceptual space, challenging the relationships between people and places, the artist and the audience. Liminal spaces (such as the underside of bridges for example) provide the platform for new mediation to happen outside of the normal social structures. Homi Bhabha (1994:54) refers to this as a “third space” where transformation may occur, and it is this transformation of space and experience that I aim to explore in my work. In my practical component I present a body of unsanctioned public art interventions consisting of ceramic sculptures placed in urban liminal spaces in Johannesburg. I populate the chosen spaces with imaginative objects that playfully reflect my own cultural hybridity, and resultant liminal existence, in a post-colonial urban society. My practical work thus draws on analyses of the liminal aspects of Cohen and Kearney’s works as well as on aspects of my hybrid existence arising from my status as an immigrant in Johannesburg. Through my art works I attempt to engage with the local inhabitants without the restrictions of institutionalised arenas, allowing for a new experience of both the space and the artwork. Finally I record my own interventions in detail and compile an annotated photographic catalogue to document the sculptures in situ and the ephemeral life span of these unsanctioned public art interventions.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The social and spatial dimensions of any settlement are widely recognised in the international literature as having been shaped notably by art in some of the so-called cities of art or culture, such as Florence, Venice and other, smaller cultural nodes around the world. Arts resources have an impact on the socio-spatial dimension of a locale in a multitude of ways, and an understanding thereof can be hugely beneficial to a town‟s development and success. When developed, utilised and protected correctly, the full positive effects of such resources can be achieved to stimulate an inclusive and diverse art town setting. The Western Cape town of Stellenbosch is reputed for its rich arts and cultural heritage, yet there has not been extensive academic research concerning the incidence and effects thereof. Hence, Stellenbosch provides a platform from which to study the socio-spatial influence that visual art brings about in the interplay between art, people and space. Enhanced planning and decision making can then be undertaken for the current and future protection and management of art resources, equipping Stellenbosch to be part of a world that is both a competitive global market and diverse sphere of social constructs and discourses. The exploration of notions such as commoditisation, the places and spaces of art, formal and informal public art, artwork defacement, and the sense of place brought about by the art in Stellenbosch to obtain an overarching impression of the nature and extent of the influences of art on the socio-spatial dimension was the primary aim of this study. A descriptive overview of the socio-spatialities brought about by art in the so-called art town of Stellenbosch is provided by utilising in-depth interviews in combination with a minor GIS component. This enables an overall view of the public perception of art in Stellenbosch, as well as a visual overview of the distribution of the available art resources, hence providing new attribute and spatial data that can inform future initiatives in the town. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die internasionale literatuur word die sosiale en ruimtelike dimensies van ‟n nedersetting wyd erken as deur kuns gevorm te wees in sommige sogenaamde stede van kuns of kultuur, soos Florence of Venesië, en ander, kleiner kulturele nodes regoor die wêreld. Kunsbronne het op ‟n magdom van maniere ‟n impak op die sosio-ruimtelike dimensie van ‟n land, en ‟n begrip daarvan is uiters voordelig vir ‟n dorp se ontwikkeling en sukses. Wanneer dié bronne toepaslik ontwikkel, benut en beskerm word, kan die volle positiewe uitwerking daarvan bereik word om ‟n inklusiewe en diverse kunsdorpomgewing te stimuleer. Die Wes-Kaapse dorp Stellenbosch is bekend vir sy ryk kuns- en kulturele erfenis, maar uitgebreide akademiese navorsing oor die voorkoms en gevolge daarvan is nog nie onderneem nie. Stellenbosch bied dus ‟n platform waarop die sosio-ruimtelike invloed van visuele kuns in die wisselwerking tussen kuns, mense en die ruimte bestudeer kan word. Verbeterde beplanning en besluitneming kan dan gedoen word vir die huidige en toekomstige beskerming en bestuur van kunsbronne, wat Stellenbosch sal toerus vir ‟n wêreld wat beide ‟n kompeterende globale mark en diverse terrein van sosiale konstrukte en diskoerse is. Die ondersoek van begrippe soos kommodifikasie, die plekke en ruimtes van kuns, formele en informele openbare kuns, kunswerkskending, en sin van plek wat deur die kuns in Stellenbosch teweeg gebring word, verskaf ‟n oorkoepelende indruk van die aard en omvang van die invloede van kuns op die sosio-ruimtelike dimensie, wat die primêre doel van hierdie studie was. ‟n Beskrywende oorsig van die sosio-ruimtelikheid wat deur kuns in die sogenaamde kunsdorp Stellenbosch teweeg gebring word, is verskaf deur gebruik te maak van in-diepte onderhoude in kombinasie met ‟n kleiner GIS-komponent. Dit lewer ‟n geheelbeeld van die openbare persepsie van kuns op Stellenbosch, sowel as ‟n visuele oorsig van die verspreiding van die kunsbronne wat beskikbaar is, wat dus nuwe attribuut- en ruimtelike data verskaf wat toekomstige inisiatiewe op die dorp kan inlig.

The research is based on the belief that the Earth's survival is reliant on an understanding of the interconnectedness between people and the planet. The premise that creative expression is an inherent need in human beings and a powerful agent for social change is at the core of this study. The arts permeate all aspects of life and can play a positive pro-active role in economic and social upliftment. The study therefore explored a contemporary public context in which artists intervene in society to provide practical and functional social spaces but also, with the ecological crisis of the planet, to create an awareness of the interconnectedness of life. Place-making was of specific concern and one of the aims was to examine ways of re-shaping the appearance and meaning of public spaces. An equally important issue was the role and responsibility of both the artist and the commissioning process in a social context and the relevance of individual expression as modes of addressing social concerns and as a tool of public empowerment within a new democratic South Africa that can have a genuine impact on community well-being and social inclusion. The research therefore exists in between the arts, social sciences and the ecology of place: that is, the understanding of the role of creative intervention within social spaces. The study provides a historical context and development of new trends in public and collaborative community arts, contextualises the notion of public and argues for a repositioning of assessment criteria for the arts within a social public domain and in the interest of the people. It is based on a critical survey of international collaborative arts and its potential as a guide to alternative solutions and implementation within a South African context for creative interventions and regeneration of public spaces and empowerment and capacity building of its citizens. The research discusses the relevance and the position of the arts and craft industry as a means of poverty alleviation, job creation and empowerment in South Africa. Rebuilding community demands both the rejuvenation of social spaces and the restoration of community esteem together with mutual and self-respect. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil (Art History)

The research is based on the belief that the Earth's survival is reliant on an understanding of the interconnectedness between people and the planet. The premise that creative expression is an inherent need in human beings and a powerful agent for social change is at the core of this study. The arts permeate all aspects of life and can play a positive pro-active role in economic and social upliftment. The study therefore explored a contemporary public context in which artists intervene in society to provide practical and functional social spaces but also, with the ecological crisis of the planet, to create an awareness of the interconnectedness of life. Place-making was of specific concern and one of the aims was to examine ways of re-shaping the appearance and meaning of public spaces. An equally important issue was the role and responsibility of both the artist and the commissioning process in a social context and the relevance of individual expression as modes of addressing social concerns and as a tool of public empowerment within a new democratic South Africa that can have a genuine impact on community well-being and social inclusion. The research therefore exists in between the arts, social sciences and the ecology of place: that is, the understanding of the role of creative intervention within social spaces. The study provides a historical context and development of new trends in public and collaborative community arts, contextualises the notion of public and argues for a repositioning of assessment criteria for the arts within a social public domain and in the interest of the people. It is based on a critical survey of international collaborative arts and its potential as a guide to alternative solutions and implementation within a South African context for creative interventions and regeneration of public spaces and empowerment and capacity building of its citizens. The research discusses the relevance and the position of the arts and craft industry as a means of poverty alleviation, job creation and empowerment in South Africa. Rebuilding community demands both the rejuvenation of social spaces and the restoration of community esteem together with mutual and self-respect. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil (Art History)