Design News South Africa

International Creative Showdown part of Toffie Pop Culture Festival

The third Toffie Pop Culture Conference and Festival takes place in the Cape Town city hall 30 March-1 April 2012. This three-day festival and conference focuses on contemporary popular culture, design, music, magazine publishing, art and everything else that relates to everyday pop culture.

Curated by design agency, The President, the agency has invited seven international teams to compete in the International Creative Showdown. Each country's team will consist of four team members and they will compete against the other countries in various activities throughout the festival.

The following teams have been confirmed so far, with Spain seeming to be in the lead already in terms of organising and putting together their teams:

  • UK (Team captain: Tom Roope)

    International Creative Showdown part of Toffie Pop Culture Festival

  • Argentina (Team captain: Juan Frontini)
  • Australia (Team captain: TBA)
  • The Netherlands (Team captain: TBA)
  • Switzerland (Team captain: Bastien Aubrey)
  • Spain (Team captain: Alex Trochut)
  • South Africa (Team captain: Smiso Zwane)

The teams will be competing in the following activities:

  • One talk by the team as part of the main conference
  • Each member of the team presents an informal 15-minute presentation, as part of the Toffie small talks programme, which is created to allow delegates the opportunity to interact on a one-on-one basis with speakers. The capacity per talk is maximum 50 persons.
  • An exhibition
  • Each member presents a one-hour workshop for 20 conference delegates. The workshops are open to ticket holders only and bookings will open at the end of November, when the programme will be announced.
  • Teams will also compete against each other in one random surprise challenge: a dance-off.

"With this event, the agency is aiming to create an international design network and a platform whereby an opportunity is created for South African designers to be exposed to the best international designers. That is why we are creating additional opportunities to the conference, such as small talks and workshops, to facilitate intense skills and knowledge exchange," says Peet Pienaar, creative director and co-owner of The President.

Go to www.toffie.co.za for more.

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