Graphic design students will exhibit their work-in-progress portfolios, which embrace a wide range of digital mediums for design of print or online publications, websites, online apps, animation, advertising, stationery, or other forms of visual communication at the DUT DigiFest which takes place on September 9 and 10 at DUT’s City Campus. Pictured here going digital is graphic design student Xabisa Xolo.

 

DURBAN University of Technology’s will be hosting its third annual DigiFest on September 9 and 10 at the university’s city campus in Durban.

The two-day event will include a series of live art activations, exhibitions, panel discussions, workshops, music, theatre, poetry, comedy and dance.

The opening night, on Friday, September 9, includes a DUT Alumni fundraising event for the Missing Middle campaign which gives funding support to students.

The award-winning a-capella trio The Soil will be performing at the fundraiser, which also serves to launch the 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art (#ISEA2018), which takes place in Durban in 2018.

Interior design students will present an exhibition of flat-pack lazer-cut chair prototypes, designed and manufactured in conjunction with the Durban Art Deco Society and Makerspace Durban; and the fine art students have researched, mapped and manufactured a series of objects for the Digifest entitled ‘no-tech to lo-tech’.

Bending Blackboards, an eLearning collection, includes work from practitioners interfacing with art, science and technology; and the journalism programme offers photo essays and short documentaries.

Written, video and audio coverage of the DigiFest will also be streamed on the Journalismiziko online publication and online radio.

The Rise of the OXX project will see students from the departments of fashion and textiles, graphic design, jewellery design and interior design showcasing their work in an exhibition and fashion show.

Jewellery design students explore the interaction of their jewellery with the world, through a visual and audio installation, titled Perception, and photography students have worked with 3D mapping artists to exhibit a selection of images.

Looking for a Leader will be staged at DUT DigiFest. Pictured here are (back left) Lulama Nyembezi, Smangaliso Zungo, (front from left) Mpilonhle Makhaye, Mzikayise Mthsali, Ndondo Mabaso, Sabelo Chule and Lungelo Zitha. Photo: Val Adamson

Live performance features at the sixth annual DUT Children’s Theatre Festival, which takes place at the Courtyard Theatre from September 8 to 11. DigiFest will stage a satellite production of Looking for a Leader, and dance students from the drama department will stage two performances.

Other highlights include:
• Award-winning digital artist and DUT fashion lecturer Nirma Madoo-Chipps’s latest work Labtayt Sulci. This series, shot partially in Iceland, is inspired by the NASA exploration of Enceladus, one of Jupiter’s moons, and extends the notion of the digital fashioned body.
• An exciting installation from the Maker Space will be capturing sound clips from the local space and converting these into a visual and three dimensional forms and sculptural objects.

There will also be music from The Soil, Felix Laband, Raheem Kemet, Easy Freak, DJ Lag, DJ Merlon, Strage and Nkululeko Dlamini; and a series of PechaKucha talks on the subject of digital art, design and innovation.

DigiFest takes place at the DUT City Campus, Corner of Dr Pixley Ka Seme (West) Street and Julius Nyerere Road (Warwick Avenue) on Saturday, September 9 from 12 pm to 10 pm, and on Sunday, September 10 from 10 am to 10 pm. Entrance is free.