Urban Culture Festival in Joburg

The festival will feature people like designer Marianne Fassler showing the public her Jozi; the work of luminaries such as William Kentridge and Steven Cohen and the Architect Africa Film Festival.

The general public has also been included in the seven-day event thanks to a variety of events and exhibitions across Johannesburg, including poetry readings, city walking tours, live music and drama performances and photography and architecture exhibitions.

Highlights include:

* Litshe Le Golide (Anglogold Ashanti Gallery in the Turbine Hall): Guy Adam Ailion and Andrew Bell conceived Litshe Le Golide (Concrete From Gold), a short film in C&CI's Moving Space competition in 2009. It will be screened as part of AZA2010 and the filmmakers are also presenting an exhibition of stills from the film, which explores a city built from gold with a mining heritage that has both scarred the land while giving rise to a formidable and modern Jozi. The filmmakers have incorporated National Geographic's assertion that in all of history only 161 000 tons of gold have been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools. (Tuesday, September 21 at 6pm and in the day during from 9am to 5pm during AZA 2010. Free entrance.

* Pecha Kucha (Atlas Studios): Pecha Kutch was devised in Tokyo as an event for young designers to meet, network and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events in cities around the world. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images that each last for 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise and keep things moving at a rapid pace. This year participants will be showing their take on "Heaven on Earth" in an evening full of fresh ideas. (Thursday, 23 September, with the first presentation at 8.20pm. No charge.

* Jozi Nite (under the M1 highway in the vicinity of Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown): The night's activities include a screening of performance artist Steven Cohen's "Chandelier", the Peep Dance and Gents of the City, performances by Smarteez, Sapeurs and Oswenkas. PeepDance - featuring choreographers and dancers from the Israeli-based Tami Dance Company as well as South African dancers - includes dance performances inside seven peep cells, which the audience will be invited to peek into. It has been staged around the world. Smarteez vs Sapeurs vs Oswenkas features a face-off between three different fashion sub-cultures. (Heritage Day, Friday, 24 September from 6.30pm.) R50.

* Playing on Image (Arts on Main): A two-part music, film and performance event. The first half is music by Philip Miller played live by Jill Richards to films by William Kentridge, Deborah Bell and Robert Hodgins. The second half is the world première of a new work by Philip Miller, written for Jill Richards and directed by Gerard Bester, titled Playing with a Cold Head and a Burning Heart. This is a music work with live video by Jurgen Meekel and Taku Keskela, which explores the relationship between pianist and piano. (Saturday, 25 September at 8pm and Sunday, 26 September at 3.30pm.) Free entrance.

* National Treasures (Hollard's Villa Arcadia, 22 Oxford Road Parktown): A celebration of the 100-year-old collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG). The exhibition is both significant and poignant. Completed in 1910, Villa Arcadia, which is now part of the Hollard campus, was the Sir Herbert Baker-designed residence of Randlord Lionel Phillips and his wife Florence. A leader herself in Johannesburg society, Florrie Phillips, together with Hugh Lane, was responsible for establishing the Johannesburg Art Gallery. There are works by, among others: Moses Kottler, Gerard Sekoto, Irma Stern, Alexis Preller, Cecil Skotnes, Walter Battiss, Penny Siopis, Willem Boshoff, Jackson Hlungwani, William Kentridge, Conrad Botes, Hasan and Husain Essop and Mary Sibande. (Sunday, 26 September from 10am to 2pm.) Entrance free.

* Minutes 2010 Video Installation (Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown): This video installation shows a set of new works from Minutes, a collaborative project by Theresa Collins and Mocke J van Veuren. The work comprises three simultaneous video projections of time-lapse films shot over periods of 24 hours and forms part of an ongoing study of cycles, rhythms, spaces and movement in the urban environment of Johannesburg. A large curved screen shows a series of timelapse films shot under water at three public swimming pools; two large facing screens show the rhythms of meditative spaces, such as graveyards and libraries; and a stereoscopic 3-D projection documents the cycles of movement over a series of days in a busy taxi rank. (It opens at 6pm on 22 September and runs daily from 9.30am to 4pm until 3 October. Cost is R20 except on the opening night, which is free.)

Walking tours

* Fietas: Fietas is made up of two small suburbs: Pageview and Vrededorp, and used to be a multiracial area until the late 1970s when most of the residents were relocated to faraway suburbs in the apartheid scheme of separating the races under the Group Areas Act. The two-and-a-half hour trail is led by former residents and includes the nearby Braamfontein cemetery. (Saturday, 25 and Sunday, 26 September. Bookings on +27 (0)82447 8080. R80 per person.)

* City Centre Walking Tour by Atelier Altshuler: More than 50 sites are highlighted in a city that is vibrant with activity. The selection of items includes a mixture of old and new structures that provide clues to the development of Johannesburg from a late Victorian and early Edwardian town, to a neoclassical and early modern city, to a modern and art deco metropolis, to a late modern and post modern megalopolis, to a current old and current new metropole. The tour lasts three-and-a-half hours and starts at Museum Africa in Newtown. (The walk is conducted from 2pm to 5.30pm on Saturday, 25 September and from 9.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 5.30pm on Sunday, 26 September. Cost is R100 with a reduced price of R80 for students. For the walk the South African Council for the Architectural Profession Category 1 CPD Credit Value is 0.4 credit. Bookings on +27 (0)11 442 7584.)

* Constitution Hill: See the art and architecture of the area with tour guides Jane Lane, curator of the art collection of the Court and Paul Wygers, architect from Omm Design Workshop, architects of the Court. (The tour starts in front of the Court building on Saturday, 25 September at 3pm and on Sunday, 26 September. They take 90 minutes. Cost is R150 which includes drinks and refreshments at the book store afterwards. Booking with Melissa Kruger on +27 (0)74 5666 704. Constitution Hill is situated on the corner of Hospital and Sam Hancock Streets in Braamfontein. Parking is available in the basement and on the site with access from Hospital and Joubert Streets.)

* Marianne Fassler Maboneng and Mai Mai walking tour: Designer Marianne Fassler leads this informative tour. The Maboneng Precinct is located in the eastern quarter of Johannesburg's historic Central Business District. Maboneng (Place of Lights) refers to the city's humble beginnings as a mining camp. It includes Jewel City, across the road from Arts on Main, which is the headquarters of South Africa's diamond industry. The nearby Mai Mai Bazaar is the oldest traditional African market in Johannesburg and has operated since 1920. (Meet at Canteen at Arts on Main at 11am on Saturday, 25 September. R70 per person (cash on the day). Book with Faeeza Khan on +27 (0)82 648 9781.

* Architect Africa Film Festival 2010: At the Architect Africa Film Festival 2010 the built environment comes to life on the big screen. A selection of leading international features are on offer in five cities across the country throughout September. Local content will be in the spotlight with two films that explore the issues around urban regeneration, specifically focussing on the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup. (Cape Town Nu Metro V&A Waterfront, 10 to 16 September; Durban Nu Metro Pavilion 17 to 23 September; Bloemfontein Nu Metro Loch Logan, 17 to 19 September and Johannesburg Nu Metro Hyde Park, 24 to 30 September.)

www.aza2010.org