Fashion and Art at St Clements on Saturday

‘Fashion and Art against Thunder: RE:BOOT Event at St. Clements’

What is the boundary between Fashion and Art? Is Food a Fashion? Is it an Art? Does commercialism cheapen or value Fine Art? Can a brand be artful? How can Art engage the public in a world of instant messaging? These are some of the questions that audiences will be asked to confront this coming Saturday 6 October 2012 at the inaugural ‘Fashion and Art Against Thunder: RE:BOOT’ event taking place at St. Clements Garden Café, 191 Musgrave Road, between 6.00 and 10.00pm.

In an evening filled with Fashion, Food, Theatre, Fine Art and Music, this popular and quaint venue will be transformed into an Adult Wonderland where guests will be invited to interact, confront and question the installations on show. At this present moment artists, designers and performers around Durban are dreaming up unique ways to ‘upset the applecart’ and entertain an enlightened audience often dulled by the complete onslaught of the media and popular culture.

‘Fashion and Art against Thunder’ is the brainchild of local entrepreneur and chef extraordinaire, Jason Turner; and actor/ writer turned model agent, Ian Gareth Hadfield – who have decided to pool their talents in a collective environment to re-invigorate the local Arts and Hospitality Industry. Jason is well-known amongst local food aficionados as the chef with passion and flair, having made a name for himself at illustrious venues such as 9^th Avenue Bistro, Plum, Café Jiran and most recently Bertoua Café Lounge. Ian has built on his career as a performer and writer, having appeared in numerous theatre productions around the country, by establishing his talent agency, Role Models, both in Johannesburg and Durban.

‘Durban, as a cultural centre, has the rather odd reputation of being progressive and forward in terms of food and the arts; yet, at the same time, strangely reticent in pushing this progressive agenda,’ says Jason. ‘In addition, we all know that times are hard and trend analysis tells us that we need to take a fresh approach towards the way we engage with, and present, our food and entertainment. Around the world there is a huge movement towards the concept of ‘pop up’ as a way of presenting challenging culinary experiments in an environment that is willing to take on this challenge without breaking the bank should the ideas not appeal to a general public palette.’

‘Coming from an Arts background we all know that emerging artists in all disciplines are often constrained in terms of the platforms available to them,’ continues Ian. ‘Jason and I then decided to put our heads together to create a series of events that allow us to combine our skills to create a unique an unforgettable experience for those who wish to be exposed to cutting edge experiments in across the board disciplines. This brought us to the question of where the extreme boundaries of the concept of ‘Art’ exist and ultimately: ‘What can become Art’ and then ‘What is Art becoming’.’

‘It all sounds terribly serious,’ continues Jason, ‘but in fact a large part of our brief to our participants was just to have fun and take your audience on an exciting journey! And we have certainly had fun putting this event together.’

Audiences can expect to taste a variety of different molecular gastronomy experiments and unusual and non-mainstream wines. Fine artists will both be exhibiting and creating works within the space. Models will show clothing that pushes the envelope in terms of construction and styling. Dancers will present performance interventions that question movement. Poets and Actors will perform and musicians will engage with projections and cinema. Live tattooing and performance installations will all combine to create a unique and unforgettable experience for all who attend.

Tickets are available from St. Clements or by telephoning Jason on 0846060846 or Ian on 0727085535. R120 a ticket

Source - Ian Gareth Hadfield and Jason Turner