Performers from within the Western Cape addressed issues regarding the socio-economic inequality prevalent in their lives through a multidisciplinary performance held at the Stellenbosch University (SU) Museum on 6 April.
Elephants in the Room was a multidisciplinary performance held in the Stellenbosch University Museum on 6 April, and sought to address socio-economic inequality. This is according to Sylvia Vollenhoven, organiser and facilitator of the Krotoa is Present Project (KIP). PHOTO: Abigail Baard
The performance, titled Elephants in the Room, was hosted by the Committee for the Institutional Response to the Commission’s Recommendations (CIRCoRe), and focused on inequality within the context of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) changing institutional culture.
This was according to Sylvia Vollenhoven, organiser and facilitator of the Krotoa is Present Project (KIP), a multidisciplinary arts project which started at SU Woordfees 2022.
Sylvia Vollenhoven, speaking at Elephants in the Room, a multidisciplinary performance aimed at addressing socioeconomic inequality, which was held on 6 April. The performance sported a diverse range of performers, according to Sylvia Vollenhoven, organiser and facilitator of the Krotoa is Present Project. PHOTO: Abigail Baard
Elephants in the Room concluded the KIP. The performance consisted mainly of music, visual art, and theatrical performance, said Vollenhoven.
‘The university wants to change its culture’
CIRCoRe is aimed at responding to the Khampepe racism enquiry of 2022, according to Dr Kopano Ratele, a member of the commission responsible for the workstream focused on the transformation of SU institutional culture.
“The university wants to change its culture,” said Ratele. SU is part of different communities which have something to say about the university, and the university has a duty to talk to and listen to these communities, Ratele added.
SU is part of different communities, which have something to say about the university, and the university must talk with and listen to these communities, said Dr Kopano Ratele, a member of the Committee for the Institutional Response to the Commission’s Recommendations (CIRCoRE). PHOTO: Abigail Baard
Facilitating important conversations
In the event’s theatrical performance, Freedom, participants staged a taxi scene, to symbolise the challenges of travelling from townships to “the so-called privileged places”, according to Awathi Dywiu, a performer from Khayelitsha. “That is apartheid on its own […] our transport system, it’s part of the segregation,” Dywiu added.
A facilitated public forum discussion was held that involved audience members, performers, and facilitators. Performer Irma Titus pointed out that in order to be able to participate in the conversation of discrimination within the context of Stellenbosch, people have to get “out of their heads”, and she urged fellow participants to stop intellectualising the conversation around racial discrimination.
The voices of the youth and underprivileged are often excluded from important dialogues, said Vollenhoven. Those from different backgrounds and ages can be included through visual arts, music, and performance – they can speak just as eloquently as any professor on a university forum, added Vollenhoven.
“I am happy that this happened, since there must be [these] conversations,” said Jeffrey Oarasib Hotagob Hartzenberg, a participant from Klapmuts.