News
Halala Joburg Awards: The JDA opens nominations for 2010
 The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) is an agency of the City of Johannesburg which stimulates and supports area-based development initiatives throughout the Johannesburg Metropolitan area in support of the City’s Growth and Development Strategy.
The Halala Joburg Awards is an annual awards programme established by the JDA in 2008. The awards recognise private sector investors who are redeveloping and building Inner City properties. The awards programme also honours people strive to improve the quality of life in the Inner City of Johannesburg.
Photo: The Halala Awards recognise those who uplift Joburg
City pays for squatters' rent
 This article was written by Kim Hawkey for the Sunday Times
A landmark court judgment could see ratepayers footing rental bills for squatters.
In the ruling by the High Court in Johannesburg - set to pave the way for other landlords whose properties have been invaded by illegal occupants - the City of Johannesburg has been ordered to pay rent to a property owner whose building has been occupied by squatters.
And, unless the council finds the 88 people alternative accommodation, it will have to pay each household head R850 a month for rent, plus a deposit if required.
Photo: A landmark ruling could mean that municipalities must pay rent for squatters who are evicted. It's good news for landlords, but can the municipalities sustain this?
New life on Main Street
This article was written by Media Man - thanks to JHB LIve for the lead
 Main Street Life, situated on the east side of Johannesburg’s CBD, will breathe more art and life into this fast-developing, vibrant part of town.
The building will house a boutique hotel – with each of the 12 rooms done out to reflect a different decade of Joburg’s history – as well as penthouse suites, shops, restaurants, and an independent cinema.
Photo: Russell Grant is the marketing force behind Main Street Life
Open days to discuss improvements
The City of Johannesburg's Development Planning and Urban Management department will host a number of Planning Open Days in all seven regions.
This initiative is aimed at promoting an open and transparent dialogue between City officials and residents.
Councillors get training
 South Africa is experiencing critical skills shortages, both in the public and private sectors. This has contributed to the mounting pressure on government to deliver on election promises, prompting Wits Enterprise to play a vital role in accelerating community development through specialised training.
More than 20 Johannesburg City Councillors are currently receiving training from Wits Enterprise in specialised project management – a much-needed skill in our public service.
Photo: City councillors receive training from Wits Enterprise
Gautrain updates - Wolmarans Street open again
.jpg) Reinstatement of Wolmarans Street is complete and this was opened to traffic on 16 January. Preparations for the reinstatement of utilities and roadworks at Smit Street have commenced.
All tunnel excavation – a total length of approximately 15.5 kilometers from Park Station to Marlboro Portal – was completed in September 2009.
Civil works and track-laying within the tunnels between the Portal and Sandton Station are complete and installation of associated electrical and mechanical infrastructure is well advanced.
Photo: Park Station creeps ever closer to completion
Congestion is the key word
 This is to alert you about a few points that may affect you regarding this year's 2010 Soccer World Cup. For more details, visit www.gameplan2010.com – for all information regarding transport, security, logistics and more.
- Schools will be closed for almost over four weeks during the World Cup. Think about what you're going do with your kids.
- Air tickets will cost a fortune. There will not be parking available at airports, so arrange drop-offs.
- Flights will operate 24 hours. Expect noise and traffic around airports at all hours.
- Traffic will increase by about 30% at the times of the games as fans go to the grounds or Fan Parks (games start at 1.30, 4 and 8.30pm).
- Road areas around stadiums will be closed off; it is expected that 550 000 people will be travelling to/from matches and 100 000 per match day...expect considerable delays on match days;
- "Fan Parks" will be a huge attraction and traffic to/from those areas will be extremely congested.
- Do not travel during these periods unless it is critical to travel. Tickets over this period will be extremely difficult to procure and very expensive.
Photo: There may be a fair amount of excitement during the World Cup ...
What's on at JAG
 - The Johannesburg Art Gallery, in association with Jacana Media, invites members of the public to a Catalogue Launch by Thami Mnyele and Medu Retrospective.
- Schneider at JAG: The Johannesburg Art Gallery cordially invites you to a Project Room exhibition by Claudia Schneider entitled Showmaster. Closes on Sunday 28 March 2010.
- Ancestral wisdom sought: The Johannesburg Art Gallery is hosting a special exhibition, Gae Lebowa by George Mahashe. Gae Lebowa translates to ‘Home North’ – George begins his travels north to seek the wisdom of his ancestry.
For more info on these exhibitions, phone Khwezi Gule on 011 725 3130 or write to khwezig@joburg.org.za
JAG is at King George Street, between Wolmarans and Noord Streets, Joubert Park. Secure parking is available.
Photo: George Mahashe returns to his roots with his exhibition Gae Lebowa
Ibrahim displays new orchestra
 South African jazz took a giant step forward when internationally-renowned pianist, composer and band leader, Abdullah Ibrahim, performed with the newly created New South African Orchestra (NSAO) along with several very special guests.
The event took place on Saturday 27 February at the Johannesburg City Hall, marking the first time in many years that this venue in the heart of the city came alive to the sounds of world-class music, and only the second time Ibrahim has played within its walls.
Cleave Guyton, Belden Bullock and George Gray – a trio of New York City-based musicians who regularly perform with Ibrahim as part of Ekaya – were among the special musical guests along with highly-regarded South African players, Khaya Mahlangu, Feya Faku and Barney Rachabane.
Ibrahim oversaw the birth of the New South African Orchestra in 2009, with the support of the Department of Arts and Culture. With Ibrahim as the NSAO’s convener, the musicians who took the stage on 27 February were discovered during auditions held in Johannesburg in October 2009.
Photo: Jazz giant Abdullah Ibrahim recently performed with his new orchestra at the Johannesburg City Hall
Radical act!
 The Radicals Reggae Band will skank the night away at Bela Vista Lounge, 2 Carnavon Street, Troyeville, on Saturday 13 March.
Don’t miss this dread act from OB Prductions! The Bela Vista, one of Joburg's hottest nightclubs, has the best view in Joburg ... phone 078 573 1530 or 083 248 1207 for more details. You can also find Bela Vista on Facebook.
Photo: The Radicals will keep you boppin at Bela Vista Lounge in Troyeville
Ponte's roller-coaster ride smooths out
 Story derived from www.joburg.org.za , www.mg.co.za and Media Man
In November 2007 notorious Joburg icon the Ponte was marketed everywhere in the media – there was a four-page spread in the SA Property Review, for instance – as a building which was to be revamped and reborn as an upmarket, chic place for the upper-middle class.
Unfortunately this vision never came to fruition, and it looked like Ponte, which has undergone several roller-coaster transitions since it was built, was once again a lost cause. But all is not lost; refurbishing is once again taking place, and flats are once more be for hire in one of Joburg’s most controversial buildings.
Photo: Flats at The Ponte, one of Africa's tallest buildings, are once again available for rent
Anstey's: back on the map
.jpg) “This view is my beach; it’s where I relax,” says architect Thomas Moldovanos. “Cape Town has the coast and mountain, but Joburg? Well, it’s got people ... and this view.”
He’s partners with Brian McKechnie in a venture called Space at Anstey’s, an exclusive penthouse 16 storeys up in the Joburg skyline. You really could run out of adjectives – Stunning? Fab? Mind-blowing? - to describe the 180-degree view which can be taken in from the flat’s two bay windows and balcony.
These two enthusiastic young architects have restored the one-bedroomed flat and put it out for hire for hip gatherings and shoots, and it’s in hot demand. It’s already been used by Visi Magazine and MTV Base, and part of the latest SA movie, Jozi Kings, was shot here.
Photo: Architects Brian McKechnie and Thomas Moldovanos check out the view from Space at Anstey's
Transport architecture
.jpg) This story was derived from Nicola Theunissen’s story for Archi-technology
“Transport facilities are some of the most ‘public’ of buildings within a cityscape,” says architect Gunther Wagner of Urban Solutions, “they are very much a portrayal of the identity of the city - and of the country.”
Tom Steer, senior associate on the Gautrain Architects Joint Venture, agrees. “When people arrive in cities with well-organised transport networks, they breathe a sigh of relief. The brand identity of the transport system forms an integral part of the city’s identity and the way it is perceived internationally.”
This view is also endorsed by architect Moken Makeka of Makeka Design Laboratory: The role of the transport facilities of a city is essential. It is often underplayed in this country.”
Photo: There is no reason why local public transport systems can’t match international counterparts
Soccer ball brightens tower
 Derived from Liezel Hill’s article in Engineering News
A 35-ton fibre glass soccer ball has been hoisted 96 metres above the ground on Telkom's Hillbrow Tower, in Johannesburg, as the city counts down to the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The hoisting began on November 28 last year, and was completed about two weeks later.
Photo: Did you ever wonder how that huge soccer ball got onto the Hillbrow Tower?
I am not afraid
 To celebrate the Market Photo Workshop’s 20th Anniversary, the Johannesburg Art Gallery and Camera Austria are hosting the exhibition I am Not Afraid at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
The exhibition has been curated by Christine Frisinghelli and Walter Seidil to celebrate the 100th publication of Camera Austria. A panel discussion will be held at 2pm on Sunday 7 February; panellists include John Fleetwood, Khwezi Gule, Zanele Muholi and Jo Ratcliffe. The exhibition opens at 4pm that day.
For more information, phone Antoinette Murdoch on 011 725 3130 or e-mail her on antoinette@joburg.org.za. The gallery is on King George Street, between Wolmarans and Noord Streets, Jourbert Park, Central Joburg.
Photo: The exhibition celebrates the lengthy existence of the Market Photo Workshop. This image is by David Bieber.
World Cup in 3D?
 This story was derived from http://www.telegraph.co.uk ; the story was on www.filmcontact.com and was written by Harry Wallop.
This year's football World Cup will probably be broadcast in 3 dimensions, allowing viewers to watch the ball as if it were flying out of the screen.
ESPN, one of the world's biggest sports broadcasters, will film 25 of the World Cup matches in 3D at this year's tournament in South Africa. It’s the first time that a 3D broadcast will be seen in anyone's home, after years of technology experts predicting that 3D would take off.
Photo: Get ready to see the World Cup in 3-D
Tribute to Ngatane
 A retrospective exhibition of Ephraim Ngatane’s work will run at the Standard Bank Gallery from 9 February to 13 March 2010.
Cecil Skotnes said that Ngatane “put his thumbprint on the history of South African art”. In the course of his short-lived but illustrious career, Ngatane made a marked impression on the art of the 1950s and 1960s, creating artworks that captured the essence of township living and that conveyed emotion and depth.
Photo: Ephraim Ngatane's works will be on display soon at Standard Bank Galley
Preller depicts the old Joburg
.jpg) Karin Preller's images are carefully extracted from the haphazard pictorial archives left to her by time and circumstance: home movies, family albums, and especially photos. These inscribe her family's presence, remembered and forgotten, into the stream of consciousness of Johannesburg, the city in which she grew up and still lives, and which remains integral to her art. Her images uncover embedded layers of nostalgia, amnesia, desire, danger, trauma and loss.
City and Suburban, the title of this exhibition, is a phrase Preller remembers reading on buses in the streets near her childhood home. Only later did she connect it to the particular section of Johannesburg's inner city where her father used to work as a bureaucrat in the department of Native Affairs.
Photo: Preller’s images came from old home movies
The Start of the Female Century
 Taken from Dion Chang’s article in The Media Online
In February 2010, ten of the country's leading thinkers in a broad array of disciplines will gather to present their insights into trends beyond the economic meltdown at a one day conference in Johannesburg: the 2010 Flux Trends Review powered by BlackBerry.
Hosted by trends analyst Dion Chang, the 2010 Flux Trends Review will give a unique South African perspective to social, business, technology, political and marketing trends.
Photo: Dion Chang will talk about the new empathic, 'female' century
Sculpting the Land
 NIROX Foundation and Sylt Foundation present Strijdom van der Merwe: Sculpting the Land at NIROX Projects, Arts on Main.
The exhibition opens on 11 February and runs until 28 February. The opening speaker is Johan Myburg. Please come for a drink with the artist and writer, Charl Pierre Naude. For details, visit www.artsonmain.co.za
Photo: Life is a beach! If you haven’t visited Arts on Main yet, your life is the duller for it ... there is so much going on there, night and day ... music, art, fashion, books, events ...
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