Projektdokumentation: rainbowNotioN – Fotobot ... - Belleville AG

Projektdokumentation: rainbowNotioN – Fotobot voting tool in südafrika 

Kurzinfo 

rainbowNotioN – Fotobot voting tool an 5 standorten 

in südafrika. 

Auftraggeber 

Autorenprojekt Belleville AG 

Pro Helvetia liasion office south Africa 

Unterstützt von swiss re Zürich 

Zeitraum 2006/2007 

Leistungen Belleville 

- idee, Konzeption, design und Umsetzung 

der installation und Website 

- Programmierung (HtMl, linux, PHP) 

- Aufbau und Betrieb 

AUsGANGslAGe 

Auf einladung von Pro Helvetia haben die Fotobots 

ihre erste reise nach Afrika angetreten. die junge südafrikanische 

demokratie wird mit einer Abstimmungsinstallation 

spielerisch getestet. Je nachdem, ob 

man beim Ja- oder Nein-Fotobot ein Portrait macht, 

nimmt man stellung zu Fragen der gesellschaftlichen 

Befindlichkeit. eröffnet wurde rainbowNotioN in Cape 

town. Weitere standorte waren: KKNK-Festival in 

oudtshoorn, das National Art Festival in Grahamstown, 

soweto Kliptown Youth Centre (sKY), Johannesburg 

Cityvarsity school of Media & Creative Arts 

UMsetZUNG 

rainbowNotioN eröffnet spielerisch eine diskussion 

im realen, öffentlichen raum und im Netz. Wöchentlich 

werden die Passanten aufgefordert, auf neue soziokulturelle 

Fragen zu antworten, welche auf einem Banner 

grossformatig gestellt werden. die Passanten stimmten 

beim entsprechenden Fotobot mit ‚Yes‘ oder ‚No‘ ab. 

ihr ‚stimmzettel‘ ist ihr eigenes Porträt. dieses wird via 

Netzanbindung direkt auf einer datenbank gespeichert 

und kann über internet jederzeit eingesehen und kommentiert 

werden. 

im soweto Kliptown Youth Centre (sKY) kann als 

Folgeprojekt dank Unterstützung einer stiftung ein 

nachhaltiges Computer education- und Communicationcenter 

betreiben werden. 

FrAGeN UNd resUltAte: 

CAPe toWN: „should Cape town become more 

Africain“ Yes 1796-No 1225; „ten years from now: will 

people still leaving in townships around Cape town“ 

Yes 785-No 495. 

oUdtsHoorN: „Fokofpolisikar at AbsaKKNK 2006: 

Yes or No?“ Yes 739-No 1702; „is south Africa becoming 

like the rest of Africa?“ Yes 4779-No 6092. 

GrAHAMstoWN: „Can aids be cured with traditional 

medicine?“ Yes 3907-No 5295. 

soWeto KliPtoWN: „is Freedom square for me?“: 

Yes 3747-No 3017; „Will Kliptown have shacks com 

2010?“ Yes 640-No 627. 

installation in Cape town 

installation in Grahamstown installation in Kliptown soweto installation in Johannesburg Cityvarsity screenshot Website screenshot Website 

Belleville AG HArdstrAsse 219 CH-8005 ZüriCH sWitZerlANd t +41 44 448 42 42 F +41 44 448 42 41 CoNtACt@Belleville.CH

ainbowNOTION.com 

Final Report / Belleville AG / November 2006

ainbowNOTION.com 

Final Report – November 2006 

In 2006 the new media art installation rainbowNOTION.com was completed in four 

different cities of South Africa. This paper provides insights into the work including 

key concept, process and budget etc. 

Martin Roth, November 2006 2

Index of Contents 

General Project 

Starting position 4 

General concept for South Africa 4 

The projects name is rainbowNOTIONcom 4 

4 cities, 4 concepts 5 

Timetable 5 

Main parts of installation 5 

General design 5 – 8 

Language 9 

Questions 9 

Installation Cape Town 

Festival 10 

Location 11 

Opening 11 

Question 1 12 

Question 2 12 

Installation Oudthoorn 

Festival 13 

Location 13 

Question 1 14 

Question 2 14 

Installation Grahamstown 

Festival 15 

Location 15 

Question 16 

Installation Kliptown 

Township 17 

Situation 18 

Location 18 

Opening 19 

Question 1 20 

Question 2 20 

Conclusion 

Two Faces 21 

Highlight Kliptown 21 

The Future of the Fotobots in South Africa 21 

Budget 

Summary 22 

Details 23 – 24 

Credits 25 

Annex (article) 26 – 27 

Contact 28 


General Project 

Starting Position 

The project was based on an invitation of the Swiss cultural organization 

Pro Helvetia to realize a new media artwork in the public space of South Africa. 

The device that we were using is called Fotobot. This „internet portrait robot“ has 

been developed for the Swiss National Exhibition 2002 and already successfully 

used at different cultural occasions in Switzerland and abroad. Fotobot is essentially 

an automatic portrait-machine, which can be fixed on the inside of any shop window. 

From outside people can take a self-portrait by waving their hands and triggering an 

infrared-switch. The self-portrait will be instantly transferred to a website and can be 

found there at any time. 

The first Fotobot device in 2001 in Zürich 

General concept for South Africa 

For the South Africa Installation we used Fotobot in a similar way to the Torino 

Biennale 2002 in Italy. Two Fotobots are working basically as a 'voting-booth'. 

Passer-bys can vote with their own face at either a 'YES-Fotobot' or a 'NO-Fotobot'. 

Specific questions related to each city will be asked to the public. The questions are 

placed in two languages above the window as well as on the fotobot-screen. The 

interaction of the local people with this installation will give an impression of the 

self-awareness of each region during post-apartheid South Africa. 

The projects name is rainbowNOTION.com 

South Africa proudly calls itself a rainbow nation, referring to the great variety of 

ethnical groups living together in one country. Our work playfully brings up social 

issues by letting anyone who passes the installation vote. Since the visitors vote by 

taking their own self-portrait, the question of ethnic affiliation will be explicitly part of 

any interaction with Fotobot; it is just apparent. Against this background we named 

the project rainbowNOTION.com. Notion instead of nation, because it’s the notion of 

the pedestrian to go and participate, to choose between the YES or the NO-option. 


4 cities, 2 concepts 

The idea was to let this Fotobot-installation travel to major art festivals in South 

Africa throughout 2006 (Cape Town, Oudtshoorn, Grahamstown). However in 

Johannesburg, the final destination, the Fotobots will not be related to a festival or 

event and therefore not be placed in a major pedestrian area. The metropolis of 

Johannesburg is not clear and definite in its geographical setting, instead the city 

shows a huge, endless puzzle of socially distinct areas. Taking this in consideration 

we decided to focus on one specific social environment: the Freedom Charter Area in 

the township of Kliptown; a very needy and longtime neglected area in Soweto. 

Timetable 

Cape Town The Cape Town Festival 03.03.2006 – 24.03.2006 

Oudtshoorn Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees 01.04.2006 – 08.04.2006 

Grahamstown National Arts Festival 29.06.2006 – 08.07.2006 

Johannesburg Kliptown 04.10.2006 – 31.12.2006 

Main parts of the installation 

The Installation consists of 4 main parts. 

• The site in public space (shopping window on a pedestrian area). 

• The Fotobots and its computers (connecting the real world with the digital 

room). 

• Question on social issues posed to the public (placed above the Fotobots). 

• The website (working as portrait archive and discussion board of the project). 

The entire Fotobot equipment was shipped from Switzerland to South Africa and 

transported from location to location. Since the 4 locations differ greatly, our goal 

was to adapt the installation and questions to the local circumstances without 

loosing an overall identity of the project. All the questions, communication material 

and window stickers have therefore been developed and realized on site with local 

support. 

General design 

The visual concept of the installation and website of rainbowNOTION is a reflection 

of the South African Flag. Our idea was to play with its characteristics of colors and 

stripes in a way that helped to communicate both, spirit and content of the project. 

Inspired by the beautiful old overhead windows of the first location, Cape Gateway in 

Cape Town, we arranged the stripes radiating from the center of the fotobots. To 

match the international code of signalization the main color of the YES-window is in 

green, the NO-window red. 


South African Flag 

Capetown Oudtshoorn 

Grahamstown Kliptown / Johannesburg 


Websigte / Homepage YES alternating with 

Homepage NO 


Subhome of the location Grahamstown 

Image-archive, green pictures = YES, red pictures = NO 


Language 

In every location the installation was running on two languages, English and the 

main language of the respective region. 

Cape Town: English and Xhosa 

Oudtshoorn: English and Afrikaans 

Grahamstown: English and Xhosa 

Johannesburg/Kliptown: English and Zulu 

All the information and communication material at each location and on the website 

was translated accordingly. 

Questions 

The questions, which can be answered by taking a YES or NO picture, always have a 

social-political impact and local flavor. The challenge was to formulate the questions 

in a way, that the YES- and NO-answers show not just the obvious division into 

groups like black/white, poor/rich, left/right. The question should resonate with all 

different social and ethnic groups. After all, the results of the polling aren’t that 

important (it’s not a scientific work). What interested us was the reaction of the 

people on the street (what was their reflection on the question, why would they 

choose the YES or the NO, did they speak to each other, etc.) Also we didn’t want to 

exclude one or the other group through simple provocation and suggestive 

questions; feeling exploited, somebody would normally not take part, the reaction 

and results would only show what we already know. However we shouldn’t forget, 

that many people just want to make a self-portrait. They don’t care much about the 

questions. They just want to interact with the installation and play around with the 

possibilities of making a photograph. 


Installation Cape Town 

The installation in Cape Town, the hometown of Pro Helvetia in South Africa, was 

our first appearance in SA. 

Festival 

The Cape Town Festival is the cities major festival including music, dance, theater, 

fine arts and a street festival called Vision. The focus of the Cape Town Festival is on 

the public at large. However the festival organization is not used to cope with the 

needs of a contemporary public art installation. Consequently we could not count on 

any support from their side. Regardless we were able to realize the installation in 

short time and high quality with the help of Pro Helvetia and professional 

subcontractors. 


Location 

With Cape Gateway on Long Street we found the ideal location for the installation. 

Cape Gateway is a government center that provides the public with information in 

the field of housing, education etc. Cape Gateway on Long Street has one of the 

most beautiful facades of the whole neighborhood and a large shop window that 

provided a perfect fit for the installation. Long Street itself is one of the busiest 

streets in Capet Town with a great variety of bars and restaurants (suprisingly very 

much like Langstrasse in Zürich). 

Opening 

The opening of the installation took place on the evening of Vision Night, which drew 

a lot of attention to the project (with more than 800 picture taken in 5 hours). Singer 

and percussion player Kholeo Mosala (who also did the Xhosa translation of the 

project) and his partner performed during the opening. 

The musicians and the artists during the opening 


Question 1 

Should Cape Town become more African? 

Ingaba iKapa lingaba njenge Afrika na? 

Why this question: 

Cape Town is beautifully situated at the very south end of the African continent. 

Behind the city lies the world famous Table Mountain. Because of this massive 

mountain Cape Town seems to be even more remote from the rest of the country and 

the continent. Cape Town’s point of view is literally and figuratively towards the sea. 

This perception has a powerful psychological impact. In a way, the world ends 

behind Cape Town’s back. What’s behind it is not that important. In the view of the 

rest of South Africa (especially of its main center Johannesburg), Cape Town did not 

transform enough since the end of Apartheid. Cape Town stayed the beautiful, white 

“leisure capital”, not taking enough responsibility for the huge changes this country 

went through in the last couple of years. The first question of rainbowNOTION.com 

attempts to investigate this background. In other words: is Cape Town really an 

African city? After 10 days 1796 voted YES, 1225 NO. 

Question 2 

10 years from now: will people still live in townships around Cape Town? 

Ingab’ abantu bazakuba behlala ezilokishini zase Kapa kwiminyak’elishumi 

elandelayo? 

Why this question: 

Here we wanted to test the beliefs of the Cape Towniens regarding their future. 

South Africa is a country with a very strong economic growth; with 5 % probably the 

highest in Africa and one of the highest in the world. This contradicts the fact that a 

majority of its black and colored population still life in poverty, many without 

electricity and proper infrastructure. Is the economic upsurge also going to affect 

these people? And how? Will these people still live under the same circumstances as 

they do now? In retrospect, the question is problematic because Townships are the 

homes of a great part of the population, also in Cape Town. The identification within 

the community is strong. In other words, most people wouldn’t want to leave their 

townships, but they realize that their infrastructure needs to improve. In that respect 

the question should have been something like: “10 years from now: will people still 

live in shacks?” 


Installation Oudtshoorn 

Oudtshoorn is a provincial town in the Western Cape with a major Afrikaans 

population 500km east of Cape Town. 

The Installation in Oudtshoorn Network specialist Francois du Plessis, 

finally the one helping hand in Oudtshoorn. 

Festival 

Every year Oudtshoorn hosts a major art festival, the AbsaKKNK, a modern festival 

focusing on Afrikaans culture but also on contemporary national and international 

artists (music, dance, theater and fine arts). Unfortunately the festival organization 

was very chaotic to work with, which caused a lot of unnecessary troubles (internet 

connection, window stickers etc.) After Cape Town and Oudtshoorn we had the 

impression that Festivals in South Africa are not used to host Internet based artwork 

and handle its specific problems. Fortunately the National Art Festival in 

Grahamstown showed the opposite. 

Location 

The installation was placed at the pharmacy on one of the main streets of 

Oudtshoorn. The window was rather small in comparison with Cape Town. However 

because of its situation in the main area of the festival, the attention was quite big. 

We set up this installation only a few days after Cape Town and already 3 weeks 

before the festivals opening. This gave us an opportunity to confront the locals with 

rainbowNOTION.com before the festival began. 


Question 1 (before the festival) 

Fokofpolisiekar at AbsaKKNK 2006: YES or NO? 

Fokofpolisiekar by AbsaKKNK 2006: JA of NEE? 

Why this question? 

Because of the invitation of the punk band Fokofplisiekar to this years festival, the 

AbsaKKNK was causing great conflict with the people of Oudtshoorn. This 

controversial Afrikaans band is well known for its provocations and its scandals. 

Concerned community members, mainly parents of young followers of the band, 

started a campaign against the band’s appearance at the festival. The conservative 

authorities of the city as well as the church and the local media put a lot of pressure 

on the festival organization. We took this opportunity to ask the public whether they 

want to have this band playing or not. Fokofpolisiekar at AbsaKKNK 2006: YES or 

NO? The result was clear-cut. 1702 people would have eliminated the band form the 

festival, only 739 wanted them to play. The band played anyway… 

Question 2 (during the festival) 

“Is South Africa becoming like the rest of Africa?” 

Is Suid-Afrika besig om soos die res van Afrika te raak? 


This controversial question was already planned in Cape Town. Because of its 

negative connotation and patronizing subtext we did not use it there. However, since 

we believed in reading between the lines, we placed this question here in 

Oudtshoorn. The question aimed at the very concrete and actual public discussion: 

because of the lack of improvement of the country’s energy supply South Africa 

suffered constant power failures, especially the province of Western Cape. Many 

people read this as a sign that South Africa can’t retain its position as a national 

leader in Africa under the present black government. South Africa would suffer from 

the same infrastructural problems that plague the rest of the continent. 4779 

approved this question, 6092 denied. 


Installation Grahamstown 

Festival and town 

The National Art Festival of Grahamstown is the oldest, biggest and most important 

festival of its kind in South Africa. And it clearly showed itself to be the best 

organized venue of our SA-tour. Grahamstown itself is a provincial town two hours 

from busy Port Elisabeth. It is famous throughout the country for its great 

universities and private schools. Besides the many students, Grahamstown also has 

a large black population. The festival runs during South African’s winter, 10 days in 

June/July. 

Location 

As in Oudtshoorn, the installation was placed at the main festival road, ironically 

again in a window of a pharmacy. A perfect opportunity to ask a question about one 

of the major problems of this country: AIDS 


Question 

Can AIDS be cured with traditional medicine? 

Amayez’esintu angayinyanga na iAIDS? 


Similar to western societies, you’ll find a lot of believers in alternatives to the 

chemical treatments. Thus, the practicing physicians of traditional methods can 

present many success stories and spread hope amongst the millions of HIV-infected 

people. Nevertheless, the discussion about HIV-treatment in South Africa had its 

absurd moments, reaching the highest level when Jacob Zuma, Deputy President of 

the ANC and candidate for the next presidency of South Africa, was accused of 

raping a young HIV-positive friend of the family. His answer of how to protect 

against the HIV virus was simple: taking a warm shower after having sex will be 

sufficient. Indeed, a rather irresponsible signal to send a society with one of the 

highest percentages of HIV-infected people in the in the world. Also South African’s 

president Thabo Mbeki did not help to educate his country by saying that it is not 

proven that HIV causes AIDS. While international scientific consensus holds that 

antiretroviral medication is an effective treatment for HIV, Mbeki has claimed that it is 

harmful and unsafe. Drug companies, he argues, have exaggerated the importance of 

ARV treatment in order to further their profits. 

see http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm 

In a situation of controversy and misinformation we wanted to know: Can AIDS be 

cured with traditional medicine? 4779 said YES, 6092 NO. 


Installation Kliptown/Soweto 

Living in Kliptown 

SKY Youth Community Center in Kliptown 

Township 

For the Installation in the Johannesburg area we choose Kliptown, a part of the 

Soweto Township, the largest and most famous township of South Africa. Kliptown 

is considered one of the poorest and underdeveloped parts of the Soweto. However 

it plays an important role in the history of overcoming apartheid (the Freedom 

Charter was passed in Kliptown in 1955). The government has therefore put a lot of 

effort into developing the infrastructure (for example: the new monument “Freedom 

Square”). However, parts of Kliptown still remain in great poverty. One just has to 

walk from Freedom Square over the nearby train tracks and finds oneself in the slums 

– a mixture of functional housing projects and a large number of shacks and other 

informal dwellings, all of which form part of the Freedom Charter area. This very poor 

neighborhood, which has basically been neglected by the government and business, 

is the home of the non-profit organization Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY). SKY faces 

the everyday challenge of helping children and young adults to grow up safely, 

attend school and believe in their own identity as well as of supporting elderly people 

in the area. Through Henri Vergon of the AFRONOVA gallery in Johannesburg we 

met Bob Nameng, the charismatic director of the SKY Youth community center, who 

recognized the potential of the project for his community at first sight. 


Situation 

In comparison to the other 3 (festival-)cities the situation in Kliptown was very 

different. Here we placed rainbowNOTION in a township neighborhood, at a 

community center in the middle of people’s homes. It was a great opportunity for us, 

not only to confront the community with a new media installation, but also to open 

the doors to the World Wide Web. For many of the young, black community members 

this installation would be their first real confrontation with the Internet and its 

possibilities. Therefore our focus was not only to set up the installation but also to 

show the team members how to maintain it and use the Internet for their own 

purpose. To achieve a certain degree of independence and sustainability, we would 

hold a workshop everyday. We connected all existing computers of the center to the 

Internet, registered everybody at an email-provider and taught the basic use of the 

email and Internet. And together we were fighting the odds of the bad infrastructure. 

Half the time for example the Internet line was dead and the services of the national 

service provider not working. 

Location 

The SKY community center is situated at the main road of this Kliptown area. The 

Center is well known throughout Kliptown. It consists of several one-story buildings 

arranged around a main plaza. Instead of printing and applying the design to the 

walls and windows of the building (as we did in the other sites), we asked our team 

members to paint it directly onto the facade. The great result showed a very local and 

“African” style interpretation of rainbowNOTION.com. 


Opening 

In opposite to the rather small openings at the other 3 locations the opening in 

Kliptown was truly exceptional. Besides the people of this Kliptown neighborhood, 

the team members and a few Johannesburg artists and affiliates we found ourselves 

among 200 cheering children. Several speakers explained the installation, how to use 

it and why it is here in Kliptown. Spectacular percussion and dance performances 

made this opening an unforgettable happening. 

Bob Nameng, Director of SKY, explaining the project Janine Dreyer of Pro Helvetia coming from Cape 

Town 

wearing a shirt of the Swiss National Soccer Team 


Question 1 

Is Freedom Square for me? 

Ingabe iFreedom Square ngeyami na? 


Walter Sizulu Square of dedication (Feedom Square) is the new, huge monument just 

200 meters from the poorest neighborhood Kliptown. We were asking ourselves why 

the government would build such a monument without improving the poor 

infrastructure of the nearby neighborhood at the same time. Indeed it seems quite 

cynical since the square is so far very little populated by the locals and visited mostly 

by tourists. However, on the long run this development might have a positive impact 

on the community itself. The question is therefore not only what the square can do 

for the community but also how people can use it for their own reasons. In this 

context the people of Kliptown can simply ask themselves: Is Freedom Square for 

me? Results see www.rainbowNOTION.com 

Question 2 

“Will Kliptown have shacks come 2010?” 

Together with the Kliptown team we took this opportunity to ask the same question 

like in Cape Town but in a better way. 2010 is the big number for South Africa. The 

FIFA World Cup will come to the country with it millions of visitors and billions of 

euros. The soccer world cup will not only be a big window to the world it will also 

change the country through its investment and exposure. At the end of the day the 

question remains how the people of South Africa profit from this mega-event. 

Especially the poor neighborhoods in the suburbs of the major cities will go through 

big improvements of their infrastructure, at least that is the hope. But there is also 

fear. Is this event going to divide the gap between poor and rich even further? Let’s 

see what the Kliptowniens think. The question is still running. 


Conclusion 

The Kliptown Team celebrating the achievement 

2 Faces 

rainbowNOTION showed 2 different faces in South Africa. On one side the amount 

of people participating was stunning. Again the Fotobots proved to be a very 

attractive tool for interaction in public space. On the other side we experienced that 

people in South Africa did care less about the questions compared to the same 

installation in Torino/Italy four years ago. Surprisingly the political consciousness 

and appetite for debate seems be less distinctive than in a Europe country. Maybe 

because of the lack of democracy and the fear of suppression during apartheid, 

people are not used and didn’t learn to debate in public. 

Highlight Kliptown 

The experience in Kliptown however showed the huge potential of this installation, 

especially in a second/third world situation. The closer you place the installation into 

a vital neighborhood and work with the locals, the more creative output you get, not 

only about the questions and its content but also on a level of project management, 

teamwork, media and communications etc. In that respect rainbowNOTION.com was 

a nice little success story, for us as well as for the team of Kliptown. It’s our goal now 

to raise more funding ensuring the sustainability of our work. The vision is to 

establish a free Internet café in the community center run by the SKY-member itself. 

rainbowNOTION.com was the first step towards it. 

The Future of the Fotobots in South Africa 

At the end of November the Fotobots will be transported to Johannesburg to our 

partners of Trinity Session/Premises Gallery (Stephen Jobbs, Marcus Neustetter). 

Among others also the city of Johannesburg (Steven Sacks, director of arts and 

culture of the City of Johannesburg) as well as the Johannesburg Art Gallery (Clive 

Kellner, Chief Curator) did show their interest in the project. We will work on 

solutions to use the technology either in connection of an art & media school 

(Jobbs/Neustetter) or in any other interesting, new context. 


Budget 

Summary 

The festivals participated on the costs by either covering the expenses directly (about 

CHF 5’000.00 in total) or paying a contribution to Pro Helvetia (see below). 

The costs of the project total at CHF 66’880.30. 

Total cost 4 installations CHF 66'712.30 

Contribution Pro Helvetia CHF 30'000.00 

Contribution Festivals CHF 3’732.30 

Contribution Swiss Re CHF 25'000.00 

Contribution Belleville AG (deficit) CHF 7’980.00 

For further details see next pages. 


Credits 

Art and production Martin Roth, Belleville Zürich, Switzerland 

Andreas Kohli, Belleville Zürich, Switzerland 

Design rainbowNOTION: Monica Märchy, Belleville Zürich, Switzerland 

Programming rainbowNOTION: Roger Wigger, lux idea Zürich Switzerland 

Programming Fotobot: Til Koschnik, Zürich, subnetz.org Switzerland 

Design Flyer Capetown: Peet Peinaar, Cape Town, South Africa 

Translation Xhosa: Kholeho Mosala, Cape Town South Africa 

Translation Zulu: SKY Community Center Kliptown, South Africa 

Net-connection Cape Town: MTN Network Solutions, Cape Town, South Africa 

Net-connection Oudthsoorn: Francois du Plessis, Oudtshoorn, South Africa 

Net-connection Kliptown: Ronan 

Net-connection Kliptown: Michael H. Wisch, Grahamstown, South Africa 

Technical assistance Kliptown: Mitch Said, Johannesburg, South Africa 

Driver Johannesburg: Phils Hayes 

Kliptown-team: Ntokozo Dube 

Taka Nzimande 

Jack Rampou 

Phetole Mohale 

Themba Moyo 

Nkululeko Shelembe 

Vusi Nkosi 

Morris Martin 

Lauren FitzHarris 

Barry Wallace 

Ronan Coyle 

Special thanks: 

This project could only be realized with the financial and organizational support of 

Pro Helvetia Liaison Office, Cape Town, South Africa, and the generous financial 

support of SwissRe Zürich. 

Personal thanks to: 

• Miriam Asmal, Janine Dreyer, Catherine Widrig Jenkins and Miranda Madikane 

Williams at Pro Helvetia Liaison Office, Cape Town, South Africa 

• Anne Keller and Rahel Gerber at Swiss Re, Zürich, Switzerland 

• Lynette Marais, Festival Director, National Arts Festival Gahamstown, South 

Africa 

• Tony Groenewald, Technical Manager, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown 

• Bob Nameng, director SKY Kliptown Youth / Community Center, South Africa 

• Kholeho Mosala + Simone, Cape Town, South Africa 

• Arthur Bissig, Fritz Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa 

• Cape Gateway, Cape Town, South Africa 

• MTN Network Solutions, South Africa 

• Stephen Hobbs/ Marcus Neustetter, Trinity Session, Johannesburg, South 

Africa 

• Henri Vergon, AFRONOVA modern and contemporary art, Johannesburg 

• Jolene Van Wyk, Virtual Care Pharmacy, Oudtshoorn, South Africa 

• Grahamstown Pharmacy, Grahamstown, South Africa 


Contact 

For any information about rainbowNOTION.com or Fotobot please contact one of 

the following addresses: 

Switzerland 

Martin Roth 

Andreas Kohli 

Belleville AG 

New Media Producers 

Hardstrasse 219 

8005 Zürich 

Switzerland 

T +41 44 448 42 42 

F +41 44 448 42 41 

contact@belleville.ch 

www.belleville.ch 

South Africa 

Janine Dreyer 

Pro Helvetia Liaison Office South Africa 

c/o Consulate of Switzerland 

26 th floor, 1 Thibault Square 

PO Box 563 

Cape Town 8000 

T/F +27 21 425 47 01 

jdreyer@pro-helvetia.co.za 

www.pro-helvetia.ch/capetown 


Annex 

Article to rainbowNOTION.com from Villö Huszai in the online magazin Clickhere.ch 

«Easy Access» zu Kunst und Demokratie? 

Ein Experiment der Zürcher Agentur Belleville in Südafrika 

Die Neue-Medien-Firma Belleville tourt derzeit auf Einladung von Pro Helvetia mit ihrer 

Installation «RainbowNOTION» in Südafrika. «Die junge südafrikanische Demokratie wird mit 

einer Abstimmungs-Installation spielerisch getestet», so Bellevilles eigene Beschreibung der 

Aktion. Belleville ist während der Expo.02 entstanden und bewegt sich im Zwischenreich von 

Dienstleistung, Werbung und Kultur. Die Grossbank Crédit Suisse, aber auch die Zürcher 

HGKZ gehören zu ihren Kunden. Mit anderen Worten ist Belleville ein kleiner, aber 

exemplarischer Akteur der Schweizer Informationsgesellschaft und damit der hiesigen 

Wohlstandsgesellschaft – und «testet» nun die zehnjährige südafrikanische Demokratie 

«spielerisch»? Das ist ein ehrgeiziges Unterfangen und eine nähere Betrachtung durch 

clickhere.ch wert. 

Abstimmung als «Windows-Shopping»: die Installation «RainbowNOTION» in Capetown 

«RainbowNOTION» ist eine Art Abstimmungsmaschine für Passant/innen und wird, nach 

ersten zwei Stationen diesen Frühling nun ab 30. Juni in Grahamstown installiert sein. Sie 

besteht im Kern aus zwei sogenannten «Fotobots», aus zwei mit einem Rechner verkabelten 

Fotokameras. Dabei adaptieren Belleville eine eigentümliche Selbstentwicklung, die sie das 

erste Mal im Vorfeld und während der Expo.02 einsetzten: Der Fotobot lässt sich hinter 

jedem beliebigen Schaufenster installieren, das Bild bleibt jeweils hinter Glas und wandert 

direkt auf den Server von Belleville; via Internet-Zugang können die Passant/innen das Bild 

später abrufen. Die Expo-Nation schoss an 30 Standorten rund eine Million Selbstporträts. 

Für das Turiner Festival «Big Social Game» entwickelte Belleville den Fotobot noch im selben 

Jahr zur Abstimmungs-Maschine weiter: Je ein Fotobot stand nun für «si» oder «no» und 

dazwischen wurde in grossen Lettern eine Frage gestellt. Dieses Kunstprojekt hat Belleville 

nun für Südafrika adaptiert. 

Global lesbare Frage-Anwort-Spiele - vor spezifisch lokalem Hintergrund 

Die erste Station war ein Festival in Capetown im äussersten Süden des Kontinentes. Die 

Eingangssfrage lautete: «Should Cape Town become more African?» Das Ergebnis der 

Abstimmung lässt sich auf www.rainbownotion.com nachlesen: 1'796 PassantInnen haben 

die Frage mit «Ja», 1'225 mit «Nein» beantwortet. Sie hätten die Fragen spontan im Gespräch 

mit Leuten vor Ort entwickelt, , erklärt Andreas Kohli, der Belleville zusammen mit Martin Roth 

betreibt. Sie redeten mit Hotelbesitzern oder Taxifahrern und ihrem Übersetzer. 

Zwischen Wirtschaftswerten und afrikanischer Solidarität: «Should Cape Town become more 

African?» 

Capetown ist erstens eine Touristenmetropole und zweitens als Stadt Südafrikas ein Symbol 

der sogenannten «Leading Nation» des Kontinents. Kohli und Rot wollten erfragen, wie sich 

die Capetowner Passant/innen zu diesem Sonderstatus der eigenen Stadt stellen. Auf der 

zweiten Station, in der Universitätsstadt Oudtshoorn, lautete die Frage ganz ähnlich: «Is 

South Africa becoming like the Rest of Africa?». Unterschwellig zielt die Frage aber ganz 

konkret auf eine gerade aktuelle Diskussion in Presse und Strasse: Aufgrund des 

versäumten Ausbaus der Energieversorgung traten zu der Zeit gerade Strom-Engpässe auf. 

Entsprechend gross wardie Sorge, dass Südafrika seine Vorreiterrolle in Afrika unter der 

jetzigen schwarzen Regierung nicht würde halten können und dieselben Probleme bekäme 

wie der Rest des Kontinentes. 4779 haben die Frage bejaht, 6092 verneint. 


Fragekunst für die Strasse statt... 

In Grahamstown, der dritten und vorletzten Station von «RainbowNOTION», soll die Frage 

lauten, ob Aids mit Naturmedizin heilbar sei. Diese Frage zielt nun unmissverständlich mitten 

in ein maximal heikles Thema, quasi in den Intimbereich eines ganzen Kontinentes. Kohli sagt 

dazu: «Wir möchten eine Frage, die jeweils haarscharf daran vorbeischrammt, dass man sie 

mit Ja oder Nein wirklich beantworten kann. Sie soll innerlich eine solche Komplexität haben, 

dass es das Denken über die konkrete Ja-Nein-Antwort hinaus anregt.» Und: «Wir wollen 

die Leute nicht verletzen. Aber wir wollen sie auffordern, sich mit solchen Fragen 

auseinanderzusetzen.» Die Fotobot-Aktion spricht die südafrikanischen Passant/innen so 

direkt an, wie nur noch die Plakatwerbung und andere Aufmerksamkeitshascher im 

öffentlichen Raum es vermögen. Ist es sinnvoll, dass Schweizer Künstler derartige Fragen 

stellen? 

...statt elitärer Kunstbetrieb? 

Ist es überhaupt Kunst, konkret «Kunst im öffentlichen Raum», was Kohli und Roth auf 

Einladung von Pro Helvetia in Südafrika unternehmen? Für Kohli ist das «zweitrangig»: 

Projekte mit Neuen Medien würden nicht in die gängigen Schubladen passen. So mache der 

Programmierer immer mehr, als was das Kunstsystem noch tolerieren könne. Die 

Technologie bestimme doch oft über Gebühr mit. Permanent werde der Kunstrahmen 

gesprengt: So könne jedermann ein Netzprojekt anschauen, es mache keinen Sinn, dass es 

jemand besitze. Die Frage nach dem Kunststatus ist für Kohli nicht so «irrsinnig spannend». 

Wichtig sei für sie vielmehr, was ihr Projekt im öffentlichen Raum auslösen könne. Pro 

Helvetia engagiere sie gerade dafür, dass der Fotobot den Sprung vom Museum auf die 

Strasse und damit in die Kommunikation mit breiteren Bevölkerungskreisen ermögliche: 

«RainbowNOTION» biete «easy access» statt Zugang nur für die Gebildeten und sei eine 

Ergänzung für das sonst eher elitäre Kulturprogramm von Pro Helvetia in Südafrika. 

Beitrag zur jungen Demokratie? 

Die Grafik der Netzplattform hat Belleville zusammen mit afrikanischen Kollegen entwickelt. 

Die Gegenfrage der Kritikerin lautet: Generiert der Fotobot, dieses eigenartige Gebilde, 

wesentliches Verhalten? Verführt er seine Nutzer/innen nicht zu einem eher absurden, 

künstlichen Verhalten, das nur in Zusammenhang mit eben diesem «Fotobot» und keinesfalls 

im Kontext von so etwas Allgemeinem wie «Demokratie» Sinn macht? Tatsache ist, dass die 

Installation nicht nur an der Expo, sondern nun auch in Afrika eindrücklich grossen Anklang 

findet: In der ersten Nacht in Capetown wurden 1'000 Bilder gemacht, während an der Expo 

maximal 300 Bilder pro Tag auf den Server gelangten. Das bedeute, so Kohli, dass die Leute 

Schlange stehen mussten, was nicht ganz ihren Vorstellungen einer differenzierten 

Entscheidungsfindung entspreche. Überhaupt würden die Ergebnisse «noch einer 

Auswertung harren». Trotz dieser Bedenken ist Kohli doch grundsätzlich überzeugt, etwas 

beizutragen zur jungen südafrikanischen Demokratie wobei er selber einschränkt, dass ihre 

Initiative im Rahmen des Kulturellen bleibe, nicht als politische Aktion gewertet werden solle.

Projektdokumentation: rainbowNotioN – Fotobot ... - Belleville AG

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