CHR’s Ukwanda Puppets off to Germany
The CHR is delighted to share Ukwanda’s incredible achievements. CHR artists in residence in puppetry, Siphokazi Mpofu, Sipho Ngxola and Luyanda Nogodlwana of Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Collective were invited to collaborate with the Staatstheatre in Augsburg, Germany to work on a project dealing with water scarcity, a concern shared by Cape Town and Augsburg which has Europe’s oldest urban water system.
In March 2019, Ukwanda spent a week in Augsburg with performers and the production team there workshopping ideas for the theme and storyline for this collaborative production. For the past six months, Ukwanda has designed and constructed the puppets for the Augsburg collaboration at the Greatmore building in Woodstock. These remarkable puppets will be packed and shipped to Augsburg in Germany whilst Ukwanda puppeteers will travel to Germany in early March. After the production is performed at the Staatstheatre in Augsburg it will return to Cape Town for performance at the Baxter Theatre in June 2020.
More about Ukwanda
Barrydale 2025: Steek my Weg
Join us for the Barrydale annual giant puppet parade and performance, 14 December 2025 at the BFO Primary School, Tinley Street, Barrydale.
Holding a Thought – The puppetry of Ukwanda
‘Holding a Thought – the puppetry of Ukwanda’ will launch at Micealis Gallery on 23 July 2025. Curated by Premesh Lalu and Kurt Campbell, this exhibition engages the work of CHR Artists in Residence, Siphokazi Mpofu, Luyanda Nogodlwana and Sipho Ngxolo who make up the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Arts Collective.
Minister De Lille joins Net Vir Pret and the CHR at Barrydale’s annual Reconciliation Day Festival.
The CHR was delighted to host Minister De Lille, at the annual Reconciliation Day Festival in Barrydale.
Luyanda Nogodlwana wins Best Puppetry Design at the 59th Fleur Du Cap Theatre Awards
It is with great pleasure that we announce Ukwanda Puppets and Design Arts Collective member, Luyanda Nogodlwane’s, award for Best Puppetry Design at the 59th Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards.
MAXEKE: “This work is not for yourselves”
This production premieres at the Star Theatre at the District Six Homecoming Centre (formerly the Fugard Theatre) on the 7th February until the 11th February 2023.
The Net vir Pret Barrydale Puppet Parade and Performance: 18 December 2022
Rehearsals are full steam ahead in Barrydale for the 2022 Puppet Performance and Parade created and produced by members of the CHR and aesthetic education partner, Net vir Pret.
Isingqala Samanzi/The Call of Water
The CHR’s Ukwanda Puppetry Collectivein collaboration with the Staatstheater Augsburg bring “Isingqala Samanzi/The Call of Water” to the Baxter Flipside Theatre from 22 to 24 September 2022 at 20:00 nightly with a Saturday matinee.
Isikhalo Somlambo/Der Ruf des Wassers
The CHR is delighted to announce artists in residence, Ukwanda Puppets Collective’s collaborative puppetry performance, will be performing at at the Augsburg Staatstheater in Germany this July.
Puppet Walk and Performance at Boschendal’s Plum Harvest Festival
After the great success of the elephant puppet walk at the Boschendal Plum Harvest Festival in 2021, we will be celebrating this year’s festival with giant puppets to raise awareness of the living waters and aquatic life of our planet.
In the Press: Buhle Ngaba on CHR Charlotte Maxeke Production
CHR Artist in Residence Buhle Ngaba is writing a screenplay for a groundbreaking puppetry production on the life of Charlotte Maxeke.
Spotlight on Documentary
The Documentary Film Project at the CHR is key to rethinking the humanities PhD, incorporating audio-visual content into a reimagining of an aesthetic education.
What A Wonderful World
The 2021 Barrydale Puppet Parade and Performance centres on a family living in Barrydale and the connection a young woman has with an ancient indigenous tree, Old Gwarrie, as well as with the wonderful world she calls home.
Walking with Amal: When Nights are Dark
“When Nights are Dark” is part of The Walk – a travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees, with Artistic Direction from Amir Nizar Zuabi and presented by the Jungle, Good Chance, in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company.
Performing Charlotte Maxeke
With 2021 being declared “The Year of Charlotte Maxeke,” the DSI-NRF Flagship on Critical thought in the African Humanities at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, has embarked on a special production based on the life of Maxeke.
Breaking Ground at Greatmore
With construction underway on Greatmore, a sod-turning ceremony was held to celebrate the coming to fruition of the proposal for an arts and humanities hub supported through the DSI-NRF Flagship and the NIHSS.
Friends of Little Amal
The CHR is delighted to celebrate and support the journey of young refugee and 3.5-meter puppet Little Amal as she walks 8000 km from Turkey to Manchester, UK.
A Celebration of Puppetry at the Boschendal Plum Festival
Life-sized elephant puppet Mnumzane strolled across the Boschendal Estate on Sunday 14 March 2021, accompanied by little elephant Alfie, their path criss-crossed by the boisterous Dassie puppet.
The Way to Greatmore
Inviting Artists and Scholars to Reimagine the Future of the Humanities Beyond the Divided City.
From the Office of the Vice-Chancellor: Statement on the Barrydale Reconciliation Day Festival
Statement from the University of the Western Cape Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Professor Tyrone Pretorius, on the Tenth Anniversary of the Barrydale Reconciliation Day Festival.
Reboot Eden: Celebrating Ten Years of Puppetry in Barrydale
The Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (CHR), in partnership with Net vir Pret are celebrating 10 years of puppetry in Barrydale. Reboot Eden will be an online program of four new puppet performances that will be available online from the 16th -19th December 2020.
Reboot Eden: The Art of Recovery
For the past ten years the Centre for Humanities Research’s Laboratory of Kinetic Objects has been engaged in a mutual education and arts initiative (along with partners Net Vir Pret, Handspring Puppet Company, uKwanda Puppetry and Design Collective, and Magpie Collective) in the village of Barrydale some three hours outside of Cape Town. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, this years Barrydale parade is set to convene remotely.
The Walk: UWC & Boschendal Wish Little Amal Safe Travels
As South Africa celebrated Heritage Day this year, Boschendal Estate in Franschhoek provided an ideal backdrop for the first steps of Little Amal, a three-metre puppet created by the Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa to represent the plight of a refugee child.
The New Normal Life
The New Normal Life is a film with puppetry about the pandemic, written, directed, performed, filmed and edited by the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Collective
CHR Artists in Residence, Ukwanda Puppetry and Art Collective take part in the National Arts Festival.
CHR Artists in Residence, Ukwanda Puppetry and Art Collective will take part in the premier tonight of their collaborative project with Pop Art, Fak’ugezi and the National Arts Festival at 6pm titled The Lonely Sailor Weather Report.
The Final Spring (Barrydale 2019)
The Centre for Humanities Research and partners Net vir Pret present the ninth annual Barrydale Giant Puppet Parade and Performance.
KINESIS: Of Moving and Being Moved
Between July 6th and July 10th 2019, the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects (LoKO) at the CHR hosted a colloquium on Subject/Object relations, in an ongoing exploration of Animation, Animism, Thing Theory, the Subject and the Object, Puppetry Arts and performance.
Ukwanda Wins at Makhanda
The CHR production of Warona performed by Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Collective has been voted the 2019 Standard Bank Ovation Award at the Makhanda Arts Festival.
New Work by Ukwanda Puppetry Collective and LoKO
The CHR's artists in residence, the uKwanda puppetry group, is in rehearsal, working with director Thando Doni (who is currently in performance in the acclaimed play […]
A conversation with Ukwanda Puppet Artists from South Africa
Ukwanda Puppets & Designs Art Collective was developed through the mentorship of Handspring Puppet Company.
Tribute to Ncedile Daki and Mluleki Sam
The Factory of the Arts of the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape invites to you a tribute to artists Ncedile Daki and Mlu
Olifantland – Barrydale Parade 2016
The 2016 Barrydale Puppet Parade and Performance brings you Olifantland, a multilingual visual theatre show featuring five majestic life size elephant puppets by Adrian Kohler from Handspring Puppet Company in collaboration with UKWANDA Puppet and Design Collective.
Images from Factory of the Arts
Arts Education Workshops in Puppetry, Performance and Visual Arts Arts Education workshops were conducted with 20 Grade 10 learners from Chris Hani and Luhlaza Secondary […]
