© Colleen Wafer/Market Photo Workshop	© Sihle Maku/Market Photo Workshop
© Colleen Wafer/Market Photo Workshop	© Colleen Wafer/Market Photo Workshop

WIDE ANGLE was a multi-platform project that took place from 23 to 26 March 2011 in Johannesburg. It included a discussion forum and an exhibition, which considered and reflected upon participatory photographic practice; how photography can be used as a way to participate in the world, rather than solely as a means of observing it. The 3-day forum brought together an exciting group of local and international practitioners and theoreticians. They discussed and explored projects that were produced with the participation and collaboration of individuals, groups and communities associated with particular public or social issues and spaces.

WIDE ANGLE aims to interrogate the relationship between social engagement and creative practice, to enhance visual literacy, and to stimulate teaching and learning environments by showcasing reciprocal and negotiated methods of creative interaction. It is also our hope that this forum would provide a valuable networking platform to open up opportunities for partnership and exchange between practitioners and participants.

PROJECT PARTNERS

WIDE ANGLE was conceptualised and produced in partnership with the Goethe-Institut, Wits School of Arts, Market Photo Workshop and The Hotel Yeoville Project. The aims and objectives of the project intersected with the teaching, practice and cultural programming of each of these three institutions in the following ways:

GOETHE-INSTITUT Germany's globally active cultural institute encourages international cultural cooperation, promotes knowledge of the German language abroad and conveys a comprehensive image of Germany. The Goethe-Institut in South Africa is particularly interested in enhancing pan-African exchange and creates platforms for the arts throughout sub-Saharan Africa, in cooperation with its partners in South Africa and abroad. The forum Wide Angle forms part of the different cultural activities of the Goethe-Institut on photography as it relates to training, presentation and dialogue. In a world that seems more and more dominated by images, the ability to read and question photography has become a necessary skill in negotiating between the different realities we live in. With the forum Wide Angle we aim to explore and reflect on different ways of fostering dialogue and exchange through the arts. www.goethe.de/johannesburg

WITS SCHOOL OF ARTS is situated in the vibrant heart of Johannesburg, and is one the top multi-disciplinary arts institutions in Africa. We offer programmes in fine arts, digital arts, music, dramatic arts, film & television, history of art, and arts, culture & heritage management, to students at undergraduate, post- and doctoral levels. These programmes reflect our commitment to engaging critically with the rich and diverse cultural possibilities of contemporary Africa. We emphasise a comprehensive professional training combined with intellectual and academic rigour. The Wide Angle forum and exhibition engages both staff and students in ways which productively complement and challenge practices in higher education institutions. The partnership with the Market Photo Workshop, the Goethe-Institut and the Hotel Yeoville project demonstrates our increasing need to connect with outside agencies in order to produce an environment that prepares students to act independently and collectively in the world. web.wits.ac.za/Academic/Humanities/WSOA/

MARKET PHOTO WORKSHOP is a school of photography, gallery, and space for cultural exchange and production. As a school the Photo Workshop has played an integral role in the training and development of South Africa's photographers for over twenty years, ensuring that visual literacy reaches those in neglected and marginalised parts of our society. The Photo Workshop Gallery, situated on the same premises as the school in Newtown, is dedicated to the exhibition of photography as a medium and provides a platform not only for students and emerging artists' exhibitions but features work by celebrated photographers both locally and internationally. Through the development of an extensive and far-reaching public programme, which uses photography as a tool for transformation and cultural interrogation, the Photo Workshop seeks to engage and empower a wider community with broad-based skills that have a lasting impact. The dynamic combination of the Photo Workshop's diverse functions is embodied in our involvement in Wide Angle. Through encounters with the public practice processes, students are challenged to think more critically about key issues affecting the communities they reside in as well as the spaces they regularly negotiate and move through in their daily lives. www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za

THE HOTEL YEOVILLE PROJECT Is a collaborative, participatory, multi-platform art project housed during its first phase, within the brand new public library in Yeoville, a suburb on the Eastern edge of innercity Johannesburg. The majority of Yeoville's estimated 40 000 inhabitants are migrants: micro communities from every part of the African continent. The project comprised an interactive exhibition and a website. The shell of the new library became an inclusive and intuitive user experience. Using any one of a series of private booths, visitors could tell stories of Johannesburg, home, dreams, loss, love and longing; map their roots and journeys across Africa; generate a photograph of themselves in the Photo Booth; make a video to upload to YouTube in the Video Booth, and use the online community directory and classifieds section. By sharing intimate snippets from their everyday lives, participants contributed to building a social map of the pan-African suburb in which they live. At the same time, they added to the development of the website's community and social networks, helping people to gain access to hidden resources and navigate the city more easily. The project is based within the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand. www.hotelyeoville.co.za