21 Dr Finzi Saidi (HOD Department of Architecture) supported by GES funds, presented Unit 15X’s work at the Commonwealth Association of Architects Conferencein Kigali, Rwanda. Prof Raymond spoke at Art Base lin June, presented to Herzog & de Meuronas part of the Keleketla! Project and visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for a screening of analogue video work from the 2023 Venice Biennale. Strengthening academic ties, the GSA hosted international guests during Architecture Week in August, including Prof. Andre Clancy (Kingston University), Khensani de Klerk (ETH Zurich), Margarida Waco (Royal College of Art, London), and Olayinka Odeskun Ageyi (Lagos). The school also presented 15 public lectures and events featuring local and international practitioners and welcomed over 350 visitorsto its annual Summer Show. Further demonstrating its commitment to architectural excellence, the GSA participated in the national Corobrik Architecture Student Awards, reinforcing its role in global architectural education. UJ Arts and Culture entered 14 industry partnerships and collaborated on events and projects with four internal stakeholders. They also hosted three distinguished international academics who contributed to various programmes and projects, Professor Vanessa Byrnes from Unitec in Auckland, Professor Rickerby Hinds from the University of California, and Jordan Stewart, a PhD candidate in Educational Theatre and Drama Therapy from New York University. The UJ Art Gallery entered into partnerships and exchange agreements with four international institutions and associations. Executive Dean Prof Freschi and the Design Studies department hosted Distinguished Visiting Professor Annie van den Oever’s Inaugural Lecture titled ‘How Media Technologies Turn Our World Upside Down.’ Another notable milestone for Design Studies was Dr Landi Raubenheimer’s Visiting Scholar award at the University of Cincinnati in August 2024, working on a project titled ‘Art as a Catalyst for Global Understanding.’ The Department of Multimedia partnered with the Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) and the Wits School of Governance (WSG) on a project for their annual conference on civicorientated technology. The Department of Industrial Design launched several strategic initiatives, including the FADAFEBE Automotive Collaboration and a partnership for the Gwakwani Social Impact Project. An Erasmus+ agreement was signed between the Fashion Department and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Entitled Social justice through the lens of fashion knowledge and artistic-/fashion-based practice, the project aims to use scholarly visits, exchanges, and collaboration with the benefit of sharing decolonial knowledge and practices. Also funded by Erasmus+, Prof Federico Freschi and Mr Martin Bolton were invited to the Vilnius Academy of Art and Design in June. The Department of Architecture’s second year programme conducted a collaboration with the University of Botswana (UB) and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), aimed at creating connections and new approaches to thinking, learning, and teaching architecture between institutions across Southern Africa. The Visual Art Department has two International MOUs, one with the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest and another with the University of Cologne. The latter enabled ten students from University of Cologne to attend a weeklong workshop in the Department in 2024. In addition, three visiting academics from the Royal Academie in Antwerp presented a seminar on the Northern Lights Festival and attended the ARO Recycling Parade organised by master’s student Wilma Mutize. VIAD has many ongoing partnerships related to specific projects, including the Centre for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ), Zone2Source Testing Ground for Art & Ecology, The International Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Network (DESIS) and a number of local and international Universities (among others).
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