HOW IT BEGAN ?
It’s the story of people, those who create their worlds out of a passion, football fans who illustrate their enthusiasm through excentric and poetical constructions.
It’s about creative people but with little means, that one finds all over Africa.
Those who believe that during the game they are half the team.
That without the supporters there is no game.
Sometimes they perform in made to mesure extravagant outfits
or build football temples and exhuberant palaces out of disregarded materials,
and in wich they invite family, friends
and the surrounding population to sing and dance their emotions.
Durban, Johannesburg, Maputo, Lubumbashi, Doula, Addis Abeba, Ougadougou, Alexandria, Algers, Barcelone, Marseille
Footsak On The Ball 2010 is a film-relay linking one city to another,
where each step of the journey informs the next- adding a place-specific segment to the film.
It’s like tumbleweed in a desert
wich collects and spreads along the passage- images, history, sounds and stories.
Footsak is a participatory artistic process,
thought and enriched with local artists, supporters, thinkers and
other inhabitants, encountered along the journey.
It’s a game of discovery, a field of exploration,
in which the Footsak team aim to explore alternative thoughts,
build portraits of people and celebrate the creative strategies that communities bring into play.
An architect, a photographer and a visual artist, three compeers,
will kick a ball accross the African continent in between South Africa, Mediterania and Europe,
in the lead-up to the World Football Cup in 2010, hosted for the first time in Africa.
A football game has rules and pitch markings. But within these parameters, there is a space for endless
creativity, individuality of expression, co-operation. There are set pieces, and each player has particular skills, but the game is about the moment, the spontaneous instant of innovation. It’s a sort of organic plan of action.
So it’s about Creative Africa! and we are looking at those «Who make it where they are!»
How are these excentric popular creators changing gradually the vision one has of Africa?
Are there other ways to play the game when the goal posts are continually moving?
But just as important are unexpected questions that the local communities raise.
Loose balls, lucky shots, unexpected passes, freak bounces:
these are the quirks of the game that give life to the whole journey.
The creations and spirit that arise from these collaborations
are the basis for the film/relay from which exhibitions,
publications and films for local and international distribution are shaped
To be parteners in the journey if you wanna do something
join us at footsakontheball2010@free.fr
