24 Aug |
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The annual spring flower display was out along the paved avenue up from the hothouse, families picnicked on the grass, a mongoose scuttled along the edge of the lawns and francolin wandered about looking confused. Sunny skies and slip-slops on, we could have been heading for one of the Sunday evening summer concerts. And then a strange new addition to the Gardens caught my eye. A wide rusty iron roof and earthen walls sprouting plants. The grass around it was roped off, so we presumed it was a work in progress. Happily the ropes are just to let the grass recover, and this unusual structure is most certainly open to the public. It’s an art exhibition (with no extra entry fee) called UNTAMED, and is a collaborative exhibition between Dylan Lewis (a South African sculptor renowned for capturing human and animal forms in bronze), Enrico Daffonchio (an architect specialising in sustainable design), Ian McCallum (poet, psychologist and specialist wilderness guide) and Kirstenbosch. It's a small exhibition of half-a-dozen sculptures, but the wonderful 'living wall' architecture and raw animalistic pieces, paired with McCallum's thought-provoking poetry on the nature of man and wilderness, is wonderfully engaging. It's worth visiting Kirstenbosch just to wander through UNTAMED, but with the vygies and Namaqualand daisies in full bloom you can also get your spring flower fix. And all this for just 35 bucks per person... what a deal. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites            |