unlimited global alchemy

Happy New year 2012

Happy New Year 2012!

2011 was an extraordinary year!

The London 2012 International Unlimited Commission awarded to me earlier in the year gave me the wonderful opportunity to meet and collaborate artistically with the Bambanani Group in Cape Town.

Nondumiso, Thobani, Zodwa, Bongiwe, Thozama and Noloyiso will forever be my friends, and the time we spent creating in the studio together in Cape Town has enriched my life tremendously.

The opportunity to collaborate with choreographer Athina Vahla and filmmakers Cliff Bestall and Deborah May has expanded my artistic vision in new directions, and I am so excited about what is to come.

None of this would have been possible without the terrific support of my co-producers Artadmin, and particularly Nikki Tomlinson and Gill Lloyd who have guided and supported me to make this wonderful International commission everything we hope it will be, and to Tim Hayton whose sensitive insight and never ending support makes everything possible for me.

Freedom to Create gave us the opportunity to share our vision on a Global stage in November in Cape Town, and that opportunity was, without doubt, a life changing experience for the Bambanani Group and I.

So as we look forward to 2012, and our involvement with the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival, we have much to be excited about. Our UGA exhibition will open at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge at the end of June, the Film and Performance are to be shown in Liverpool at the end of August, and we will be part of the South Bank celebrations to coincide with the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the end of Aug-Sept.Nondumiso, Bogiwe and Thobani will all be joining me in UK in 2012 to share the results of our commission. Jean September, Deputy Director British Council SA is supporting Bongiwe and Thobani’s trips to UK. Jean has been so generous in her support to me since I first wrote to her 18 months ago to share my ambitions of this project with her, and her guidance from the start gave me the courage to begin this creative journey and to enter the Unlimited Competition. Jean continues to be a wonderful mentor.

In 2013, Marlene Le Roux, Director Audience Education & Development, Artscape Theatre, Cape Town, has invited us back to South Africa to exhibit UGA as part of Artscape’s Women’s Festival, and we are currently looking into further International exhibiting opportunities for UGA with the support of the British Council beyond 2012. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the support of LOCOG, Art Council, and the British Council who are funding Unlimited Global Alchemy.

So as we welcome in the New Year, the Bambanani Group and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us this year to have the courage to achieve our creative personal bests.

In the next few weeks I will be sharing exciting developments regarding our proposed collaborative theatrical performance, and our timetable of events for 2012 will all be confirmed, so keep watching this space.

We wish each and every one of you a fabulous Happy New Year; we look forward to inviting all of you to see our exhibitions and performances in 2012, and in the meantime we will continue to keep you posted of the commission's developments through our ongoing UGA blog.

Posted by Rachel Gadsden, 11:12am 31/12/11