#RhodesHasFallen, what will fall next?
#RhodesHasFallen VoiceMap is a location-aware audio documentary that explores statues, public art and memorials in Cape Town. Listen to unique soundscapes, interviews and commentary about Cape Town’s public art while walking through the city. Simply download the audio documentary to your smartphone, then start walking to explore the hidden stories and meanings behind our statues and public art!
What happened to Cecil Rhodes?
A group of students at University of Cape Town grabbed the attention of the world when they demanded that a statue of Cecil John Rhodes be removed from campus. Four weeks later the statue was lifted off its plinth and driven away on the back of a truck while thousands of students celebrated.
When the protests began, social media erupted into a fierce debate, and it was the subject of innumerable conversations around coffee tables, in taxis, and personal Facebook feeds. Not everybody shared the enthusiasm of the students to see the statue fall. Some made placards and took to the streets while others chained themselves to other statues.
But why? Why do statues that so many people never stop to look at bring out so strong emotional reactions? Why do we have the statues and public art we do? What does a statue say about our society? Who is depicted, who has been torn down, and who was never here in the first place?
What does this VoiceMap do?
This project is based on a curiosity to hear the myriad of opinions that may help us answer these pertinent questions. Using VoiceMap’s tech, we will create a walking audio documentary that explores these issues as you walk through the city, past the very statues we’re questioning. Using location-aware audio, the good people at VoiceMap describes their tool as:
“VoiceMap is a way of telling stories about places. It is a new medium, and while all the complicated technology that lives in your smartphone makes it possible, VoiceMap is also quite simple: it connects a voice to a location to create an experience that is uniquely immersive and intimate.”
Where can one find it?
You will be able to download the free VoiceMap app to your phone. In the app you can select the #RhodesHasFallen story, download the audio, and take to the streets of Cape Town. When you put on your headphones, through interviews, artists, historians and activists will tell you the hidden stories of our public art and it’s meaning, and along the way you’ll hear mesmerizing site-specific soundscapes to take you on an aural journey through our city. Back us and let us show you Cape Town like you’ve never seen it before!
Browse and Support our #RhodesMustFall Voice Map campaign
by clicking on this link ‘Rewards‘
Milestones
Milestone 1
We go live…YEAH! Your contribution helps to realize the production on a shoestring budget with help of our friends. We can pay royalties to our publisher Voice Map and shoot a bit of money into recording and post-production (mixing, sound design etc).
Milestone 2
YES! With your help we can start this production independently and in the quality we want! The money will go to: Research in archives, human memory and online, planning, pre-interviews, recording, editing, sound design, mixing, publishing and paying royalties to our publisher VoiceMap! Thanks again!
Where else can we find #RhodesMustFall online?
Facebook: facebook.com/SiriusTales
Twitter: twitter.com/siriustales
Website | Blog: siriustales.com/