Let More Good Things Come to You (part two)

Turn your computer screen into your private museum guide. Or allow it to establish a cinema in your living room. You can even consider making it your personal conflict mediator or enlist it to help you create your own herb garden. Mirandi Nel gives the lowdown on four services for all you discerning people.

On-Screen Museums

When the curfew door clicks shut behind you every night at ten, there is still a world awaiting you. One of the joys of the lockdown is that museums have opened up online. So, do the Alice thing, disappear through the screen and enter an entire universe of art on your phone or computer.

The Rupert Museum is opening its doors on 4 September, with the museum café running specials for the opening weekend. Yoga at the museum starts on 10 September at 13:00: book online at www.rupertmuseum.org. The class will be live-streamed and you can join for free on Zoom (meeting ID: 983 3782 0378; password: 305817). There are even more exciting events waiting just around the corner, like the Museum Saturday on 26 September, with workshops and talks, also streamed online. We’ll keep you posted!

Cape Town’s Zeitz MOCAA launched #HeadtoHead on Instagram live as part of an ongoing series of conversations with leaders in the art world. Go to Youtub to rewatch these favourites. In a delightful move the Zeitz has taken the art sessions for children online  with MOCAA Kids: Online Open Studio Sessions and you will have as much fun as any child in creating a scratchy cat inspired by William Kentridge, or Nicholas Hlobo’s impundulu, the lightning bird. All just by using odds and ends.

The Norval Foundation’s social media channels are abuzz with informative talks. Their #60secondArt discussions feature clips of a still image or video of a specific artwork and an artist, curator, musician, writer or museum team member gives their views about it. There’s also an enjoyable #60 Second Art  For Kids. 

Mindful mediation

Attorney and Stellenbosch University alumna Olivia Krouwkam, an accredited mediator and non-violent communication practitioner, recently created an online platform called The Mindful Mediator. “I am passionate about people, connections and communicating how to live life with more awareness,” she says. This has driven her to make a dedicated study of conflict resolution and how it can be incorporated into everyday life. She concerns herself with questions like these: Why are we not able to communicate our troubles peacefully? Why is it so difficult to get to the core of conflicts? As she dives deeper into the study of conflict and communication, she invites you to join her.

Homescreen joys

You can bring home the delights of the famous Labia Theatre, a cinema in the best tradition, by streaming their curated films as a pay-per-view video-on-demand. This gives you, at minimal cost, access to top movies, often foreign films with subtitles. The system is very easy to use and to stream via a compatible laptop or computer, which you can connect via a HDMI cable to your Smart TV. Or you can simply watch the films on your laptop. After you have bought your voucher, you will receive a code that you can use to watch any film at Labia Home Screen. The voucher is limited to one viewing only.

The roster changes constantly and to what movies are available, go to to their website.

Green fingers

Touch the future by developing green fingers yourself. Start off by ordering seedlings through ADTech‘s Farming For the Future website. These are not ordinary seedlings. They are sprouting from Stellenbosch start-up ADTech’s efforts to respond to the need for food security and nutrition in many communities around the town. To grow a vegetable garden, the first participating crèche, Klapmuts Junior Academy, was supplied with seeds, high-grade growing medium, up-cycled cardboard growing trays and the ADTech team’s knowledge and monitoring.  “The project seeks not only to contribute to early childhood development, but also to educate children about the value of small-scale farming techniques,” says Wihan Bekker, the founder of ADTech.  

The project has already grown to the point where participants are not only growing fresh produce for their own food security, but also earning an income by selling seedlings. “We have a variety of seedlings growing at the moment and the easiest way for someone to order them is through the Farming For the Future website,” Wihan says. The dedicated FFF website can be found here or you can go through the ADTech website.  The seedlings can be collected from ADTech’s greenhouse in Klapmuts. If you can’t collect, they will send you more information regarding collection in Stellenbosch CDB, as well as delivery fees for various areas in Stellenbosch. You can also call Noma at 061 769 5206 and she’ll to send you more information and the seedling order form.