In interview with Mail & Guardian, Peter Rorvik, the
secretary general of the creative civil society organisation, Arterial Network,
said it is a fundamental role of the artist to make us think. This year the
National Arts Festival moves towards a programme that prompts artists to engage
in material that unwraps the moral fibre of South Africa and that mirrors the
good and ugly side of society. Simply put, the festival this year is not
catering for a passive audience.
The festival puts satire and freedom of expression at the
core of the programme. The Oxford dictionary defines satire as the “use of
humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people’s
stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and
other topical issues”. In The Satire as a Social Mirror, satire is defined as
being helpful in “discussing serious social matters and asking questions that
need to be asked”. Artists are challenged to hold a mirror up to the issues
that affect Africans.
“The arts need to challenge and provoke,” said Ismail
Mahomed, the Festival’s Artistic Director in a press statement. “South Africa’s
satirists, cartoonists, commentators and court jesters need, now more than
ever, to be given the opportunity to be the public voice, the conscience, of
the nation.”
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